How to Recognize Garden Style

By eHow Home & Garden Editor

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Garden style decor blurs the boundary between indoors and outdoors, with a light, bright ambience. Here are some ways to identify this fun, casual look.

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Instructions

Difficulty: Easy

Things You’ll Need:

Lattice Panels
Area Rugs
Curtains
Flowers
Glass Tabletops
Large Terra-cotta Pots
Potpourri

Step1

Notice that windows offer a view of the garden, with a bounty of flowers and lush greenery framed by the windowpanes.

Step2

Study the walls framing a window. The furnishings against that wall and the accessories on it continue the garden look, as does the rest of the room.

Step3

Check out the textiles. The sofa or chair under the window may well have a floral-print upholstery, and the rug could be a natural fiber, or it could have a floral pattern.

Step4

Note the window treatment, which may be absent or might be lattice, suggesting a trellis. Other options are airy sheers, lace, floral and picnic-tablecloth checks sewn into a simple design.

Step5

Consider the furniture, which should be light in color and feel. Wicker pieces, glass-top tables and light-colored painted pieces are suitable. Painted pieces could have a floral or trompe l'oeil garden motif (a pot of geraniums, for instance) or a weathered finish suggesting they were used outdoors in the past.

Step6

Remember that many outdoor furnishings - tables and matching chairs, benches and even trellises - may be put to use indoors in garden-style decor.

Step7

Accessorize this look with flowers - potted, cut, dried and in potpourri and wreaths. The room also will rely on compatible artwork, garden tools and ornaments, and nearly anything found in the garden, including decorative birdhouses and aged concrete or stone ornaments.

Tips & Warnings

The overall look will be airy, somewhat busy and heavily suggestive of plants. Let your imagination run wild by pressing garden items into use as furnishings - two large terracotta flowerpots, for example, can be topped with glass for a coffee table.
Garden style is closely related to cottage style, and may employ elements of shabby chic, country and even Victorian styles.