Natural Textures
I love design and decor. I could spend hours poring over design books and magazines and scrolling through Pinterest makes my heart happy. I like different styles but in my home, casual elegance feels like the right way to describe the style I love the most.
I believe texture plays a HUGE role in creating a particular vibe in a space. My particular weakness is natural textures. I swoon whenever I see something woven and I'm pretty sure all my decor accents in my home are split equally between ceramics and woven pieces. I mean, how could I not? I have never been able to walk past a woven basket, box or tray without my heart speeding up and in almost every room of my house, you can find a woven piece.
Wicker is pretty easy to come by in Jamaica, as this continues to be an easy-to-source material and thankfully, the craft is still being passed down from generations before ours. You will see wicker or woven pieces for sale on the sidewalks of busy roads, in the craft markets, in home stores and sometimes in larger department-style stores. The quality and workmanship vary as well as the durability of the pieces.
While I am no connoisseur when I pick up a piece I ask myself three questions:
Where/how will I use it?
How will I clean it?
Has it been sealed?
Obviously we aren't buying things to just have them, because it's 2020 and we are educating ourselves about sustainable living and reducing waste. So, I always imagine in my mind where I will put the piece when I go home. I use my woven pieces as both storage and decor because natural textures are beautiful! I store or display things that are not aesthetically pleasing.
For example, the magazine baskets are storing old CDs, and printed legislation I'll need from time to time but won't stand well in the bookcase.
I also have a basket to store my handheld steamer, spray starch and water bottle for ironing. The wicker boxes from Beeny Bud are in my living room and they store my son's smaller toys for a quick clean up before bed time.
My little tray is multipurpose and I use it to set out linen napkins and flatware when I have guests over to eat.
I have two large baskets that were meant to be hung in my office before COVID happened that are temporarily hung above my TV and my kitchen cupboards. When I build my table one may serve as a topper, and the other will go on the wall in my office if we ever go back to work and school full time again.
Wicker isn't wipe down or furniture polish friendly, so you may be wondering how to clean it. I usually dust it every week or so with a clean, dry cloth and give it a quick vacuum with a handheld.
What about you, do you love natural textures? Do you prefer cane or rattan to wicker or do you love them all like me?
Shop the pieces from my home at the following retailers:
Beeny Bud for the lovely wicker boxes.
Matahari Jamaica for the round woven planter and the wicker remote tray
Ashley Furniture Home for the large round baskets.
City Decor inside Tile City for the woven magazine baskets
Shop pieces I love online here:
Please note that the links below are Affiliate Links. If you shop using these links, I am paid a small commission, this does not mean that the items are priced higher. I have not been paid to write this post and all opinions are my own.:
