Hi there! Welcome to the “Ask Alexa” series. I’m Alexa Drees, the Design Center Director at Drees Homes, and I’m excited to bring you weekly tips, advice, and answers to your dilemmas to help make designing your dream home an easy and enjoyable process. Each week, I’ll be rolling out a new feature. (If you missed our first 17 videos, you can watch them here.)

Today, we’re diving into a topic that is trending as the concept of “casual organic” becomes a highly sought-after decorating approach. Whether you consider your style casual or sophisticated, organic touches of natural wood and clean lines are going to mix well and elevate your look.

Popular Incorporations

Beyond furnishings, many homeowners are opting to pull elements of nature into the permanent design of their home. As you can see in the dining room above, we have completed an entire wall with layered stone. Feature walls often become a go-to incorporation for showing off raw materials such as stone or wood paneling.

In the photo above, you’ll also notice that the designer brought birchwood into the room to drive home a sense of nature.

Beyond the Obvious

Beyond the obvious statement wall, we have been introducing natural influence in all kinds of materials lately. Everything from beautiful naturally stained hardwood floors and ceiling beams to marble-look quartz countertops and stamped concrete tiles. We are loving all of these earthy materials!

Join us next week as we discuss the two-story family room and who is typically drawn to this type of design. For the first look at our new segments, be sure to follow along on Facebook. We look forward to having you join us on this journey of design explorations!

All the best,
Alexa Drees