At Just Wood Furniture, we know that many of us are feeling the urge to reconnect with nature, even within our own homes. This desire is only increasing further in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, with many of us having been stuck indoors, yearning for the outside world.
However, achieving a bit of the natural world in your own kitchen, be it a brand new kitchen, or wooden furnishing relocated from a different location, it doesn’t have to be a laborious task, and can be done in several easy ways.
The following are some simple tips to bring a bit of nature into your wood-made kitchen.
Click to see contents
Natural Woods Integrated Into Your Kitchen
Natural wood is making a comeback in many homes. From oak, to cherry wood, birch wood, to ash and pine. Many homeowners and kitchen designers are opting to integrate wood into their kitchens for the warm, Earthly, and even nostalgic qualities it offers.
Read: Tips for Decorating a Wood-themed Home with Flowers
Choosing the Right Wood
Your choice of wood for your kitchen can come down to a number of factors. Here are just a few of them:
- The texture of your wood can be crucial. Do you want a more softwood with a lighter color, such as maple, or rubberwood? Or would you prefer a darker and harder wood like walnut and teak? This decision can come down to what you are using the wood for. If you are using wood for a work surface or counter, then hardwood is better for its durability.
- Color is also important. Softwoods and hardwoods offer different colors and shades. If you wanted, you could even paint your woods to achieve different colors. However, natural color is always best.
- As well as color, an important visual element of wood is its grain pattern. A few examples include:
- Mahogany, which has a more subtle and smaller grain pattern
- American Cherry, which features more concentric grain patterns
- Oakwood, which boasts both rings and straight grain shapes
Read: MDF vs. Solid Wood – Which Type of Furniture Material Is Better?
Choosing Nature-friendly Materials Besides Wood
To bring nature into the kitchen is not all about the wood. You should incorporate other eco-friendly materials, such as ferrock and timbercrete.
Read: Sustainable Materials – by Just Wood
Control Lighting Conditions for a Sense of Nature
A wonderfully simple method to create a natural feeling in your kitchen is finding new ways to allow natural light into your kitchen.
Natural light is a wonderful resource that creates a sense of nature and has multiple other benefits. Natural light can increase an individual’s mood and increase productivity and help maintain a circadian rhythm, help maintain a sleeping pattern, and reduce stress levels.
How to Increase Natural Light in your Kitchen
There are a number of effective ways to increase the levels of natural light in your kitchen. Here are just a few of them:
- Opening curtains, blinds, windows, and maybe even doors can allow for light to bleed into any room and create a little life. You will want your windows to be clean to allow unfiltered light in.
- While allowing light to come in through windows is one effective measure, light may not reach across the whole kitchen. Adding a few reflective surfaces such as mirrors, glass tables, and glass shelving can allow light to carry further.
- Plantlife thrives off of natural light and can look resplendent in the light of the shining sun. Watching plant life thrive off of natural light is also pleasing to the mood.
Kitchen Layouts & Features
If you are creating a brand new kitchen space or renovating an existing one, the layout of your kitchen can be crucial towards creating a sense of space that allows for natural light and fresh air to flood in. Additionally, ensuring the right kitchen wiring & circuits is crucial to what and how you could do with lights.
As well as this, adding features such as well-sized doors to access gardens can allow you to get in direct touch with nature. A great day-to-day tip is putting wood ash to use in your garden. Different styles of furniture and appliances can also create a rustic image that suggests a more natural lifestyle. For example, changing your sink to a more vintage, deep-bowled style.
Read: Why Custom Hand-carved Wood Furniture is Better than Mass-produced Furniture
Choosing the Right Paints
Paints can also contribute to creating a natural feel in your kitchen, comments John’s Oven Cleaning. Lighter colors such as white and cream can emulate the look of natural light and help to reflect light that bleeds into the room.
Read: Step-by-Step Guide on How to Paint Laminate Cabinets for Newbies
Colors such as green and orange can also create a sense of nature, with green blending in wonderfully with the greens of plant life that may be thriving outside of your window.
Natural Scents & Aromas
Along with the physical aspect, the next best thing is to utilize scents and aromas. Be it with air fresheners, candles, or plants, having a relaxing and fresh atmosphere is the final touch in bringing nature to your kitchen. According to scent and essential oil experts Galen-n, mixing your own DIY mixture with lavender oil can both serve to polish wooden surfaces up to a shine and bring a beautiful flavor to the kitchen.