With the cooler weather and the seemingly endless rainy days, it is at this time of the year that we spend most of our time indoors.

It is so easy to begin feeling cooped up, starving for the natural environment but no matter how much you want to be outdoors (even if it is just to have a coffee in the backyard) the weather just won’t permit.

The solution is simple; bring the outdoors, indoors.

1)   Flowers

It takes just a minute to grab a bunch of flowers on your way out of the shops, or to run in to the local florist on your way home from the school run. A bunch will instantly brighten up your home and bring some life indoors. It is a proven fact that flowers improve your mood.

2)   Wall paper

Bring the outdoors, indoors with a tree or flower inspired wallpaper. It’s a little more difficult than simply picking up a bunch of flowers from the shops on your way home but installing wallpaper can be a great weekend project. If you don’t want to make a permanent change to your walls, you can create your own wallpaper prints to hang around the home.

3)   Indoor herbs

Put a selection of herb pots on the kitchen windowsill to bring the outdoors, indoors. Not only does it look great and bring a bit of greenery inside but they smell fantastic and can be used in your cooking again and again.  

4)   Moss bowls

A clever and beautiful way to bring the outdoors in. There’s moss everywhere at the moment so it doesn’t take much to find some, collect it and stick it in a bowl. It’s a gorgeous, unobtrusive way to decorate with greenery – just make sure that no one mistakes it for food!

5)   Natural light

As much as you might want to close all the blinds to keep out the cold, we urge you to leave them open. Natural light does wonderful things to your mood!

6)   Branch arrangements

Sick of using flowers around the home? Collect fallen branches, arranging them in buckets, bowls or a vase. For something a little extra, use a clear bowl and fill it with a selection of rocks, leaves and moss.

7)   Indoor plants

We left the most obvious for last. If you want to bring the outdoors in, literally do it! Bring pot plants inside, leaving them in corners or even on the kitchen bench. One thing that you need to ensure is that the plant can cope with living inside… without enough light, there are some plants that simply won’t survive so do your research first! 

IMAGES: Flowers: mandco.typepad.com | Flickr ; Wallpaper: Charlotte Holmes | Flickr ; Indoor Herbs: Donna Tomlinson | Flickr ; Windows: David Joyce | Flickr ; Indoor Plants: Dave Fayram | Flickr