I love to surround myself with nature, even when I’m indoors. Decorating the home or office with beautiful images of the environment helps foster a connection to nature on a daily basis. In addition to this, nature scenes usually feature strong patterns and lines, which can improve the feel of a room. Here are some suggestions as to how you can use images to create “illusions” in your home.
A wall print can create the illusion of length in a small square room. One way to achieve this is to hang several images in a horizontal line, but only on one wall. This will create the illusion that the room is longer than it really is. To achieve this in a more powerful way, choose images with strong horizontal lines. I have taken many nature photographs that feature this pattern. Deserts, reflective water, coastal dunes or even scenes like those in our Nature Montage Galleries are examples of images with strong horizontal lines.
On the other hand, images with strong vertical lines will make the ceilings in a low room appear higher. Prints of forests, wildflower fields or even wildlife with strong lines (for example, schools of fish) work exceptionally well.
If you have a narrow room, perhaps a hallway or sunroom, you can make it look wider by hanging a large framed print on one of the end walls. This will instantly give the illusion that the wall is closer, creating a sense of width within the room. Landscapes or images that depict wide-open spaces are perfect for these situations.
What I have always liked to do is use my images to decorate rooms to a theme. For example, if I wanted a space to represent a billabong, I would hang a large print of still, reflective water, surrounded by smaller images of waterlilies, waterbirds and lily pads. A room of rich red and brown furnishings could be enhanced with a huge image of Uluru. The options really are endless!
