There has never been a time when our home environments have been more important. Lockdown has forced us inside for 23 hours a day, making our homes suddenly our entire worlds. 

 No longer just the place to put your feet up in the evening, our homes are also now our work and socialising spaces. Whether that means making your ironing board a part-time desk or pretending your kitchen table is a fancy restaurant for date night, we’ve had to adapt to no longer having whole cities at our finger tips.

Of course, it’s not possible for most people to re-decorate for lockdown off-the-cuff, but in a unique time which is challenging so many people’s mental wellbeing, there are some small changes you can make to create a happier home environment. 

One simple way of updating your decor to benefit your mind is to embrace the concept of biophilia. Homeware brand Habitat and interior designers Athina Bluff and Amy Brandhorst from Topology Interiors have partnered during lockdown to come up with advice on we can update our decor with calming, grounding influences, and they say this concept is key to feeling serene in your surroundings. 

Biophilia essentially means to love nature, but more specifically it describes human’s innate attraction to nature. It’s something which is in our genetics and means we’re happier when around elements of the natural world.

“Bring natural elements into the home to reconnect with nature,” suggests Bluff and Brandhorst. “Based on the concept of ‘biophilia’, people are significantly happier when surrounded by nature. You can benefit from the sensory variation that we experience in the natural environment by adding flowers and plants to your space, as well as choosing natural materials such as wood or stone,” they explain.

You see, we already know that houseplants not only look great and make great fodder for the ‘gram but that caring for them can be wonderfully therapeutic, as well as have health benefits.

But as Bluff and Brandhorst say, this decor idea goes beyond buying a few houseplants and includes looking for symbols of nature in other homeware accessories, too.

Below we’ve curated an edit of five ways to bring a bit of Biophilia in your home.

Images: Unsplash / courtesy of brands