Sustainable and natural home elements are a hot trend. They're also a responsible choice when you want to update your home's interior design. To bring more natural elements into your decor, start small and add more as your budget allows. After all, a sustainable home is one that evolves over time. Here are some of our favorite ways to add a natural touch to home decor.

Use Wood or Brick in a Feature Wall

Salvaged or reclaimed planks and bricks can make a beautiful feature wall for your home. Less is often more, so you don't need to cover all the walls in a room to make a statement. Instead, pick one wall as your feature wall, and cover it with reclaimed wood planks or bricks. As a bonus, these materials have their own patina that gives them a natural artistic touch.

To find materials, search online or contact reclaimed lumber and brick dealers or architectural salvage yards. If you live in a rural area, you could even drive around searching for old farm buildings. Don't forget to get permission from property owners before taking building materials from their land.

Add Plants and Flowers as Instant Decor

Potted plants help to clean indoor air while giving the space a natural touch. We're big fans of incorporating plants into the home, and we love everything from large rubber plants and philodendrons to small jade plants, trailing English ivy, and showy begonias.

If you're not the greenest thumb around, focus on dried flowers. You can even purchase or collect wildflowers, hang them upside down to dry, and then use them in unique floral arrangements. Find an attractive vase, fill it with little stones, and top with your choice of dried flowers.

Create a Mosaic with Seashells or Stones

Another way to welcome nature into your decor is to turn it into a work of art. Using seashells or small pebbles, you can design a mosaic that's truly unique and one of a kind. Polished and natural edge pebbles, along with assorted types of seashells, can all influence the look and overall style of your design.

You can use these materials for wall art, or you can focus just on pebbles for a unique floor mosaic — we don't recommend seashells here because they'd be too brittle for foot traffic. Thin-set mortar works well with floor mosaics, while nontoxic adhesive glue is ideal for lightweight art.

Bring in a Live Edge Slab

Do you love the look of natural wood grain and tree bark as much as we do? Consider adding the beauty of a live edge slab into your home decor. You could use it to replace your kitchen or dining table, or you could install a live edge slab as a sliding door to a bedroom or bathroom retreat. If you're skilled with DIY techniques, you can even turn a slab into a console table, floating shelves, end table, benches, or other creative furniture.

At Barndoorz, we love creativity and can't wait to dream up additional ways to be creative and sustainable with interior design. If you're inspired to welcome nature into your design, take a look at our collection of live edge slabs and rustic sliding barn doors to see if one speaks to you. We're ready to help your home shine.