Summer is the perfect time to get in touch with life beyond the walls of your house – a walk on the beach or through the bush, a dip in the local river, or relaxing under the stars in the evening with friends and family.

While you’re out and about, stop and look at the way Mother Nature puts together her colours. Nature can offer great examples when it comes to compiling schemes for your own interiors. If it looks great in nature, chances are it will also work inside.

‘Natural’ schemes featuring warm browns and muddy greens are set to be a feature of interior trends for 2015, what better inspiration than the forest. Inky blues are also set to continue as a key colour this year, so look to the night sky for your colour lead. Soft coastal blues are a perennial favourite, so indulge in a bit of beachcombing and collect shells to start your colour palette.

Remember that the colours in nature are rarely one tone only. Just look at these shells as an example, with colours that range from bone white, through pink blush and deep apricot. A beach palette also has varying textures from gritty sand, to translucent blues and pearlescent shimmers.

Taking inspiration straight from the ocean, a balance of pale Resene Escape, chalky Resene Bellbottom Blue, and hint of blue Resene Solitude on walls, doors, and trims will remind you of summer all year long.

Sprinkle your room with fiery tones, such as Resene Blaze, Resene Touche, and Resene Oscar, to warm up an otherwise cooler scheme.

In this forest oasis, all the richness of colour winds through the trees above, whilst the ground is scattered in cooler tones. To replicate, complement walls in Resene Triple Friar Grey with a feature wall in rich, emerald Resene Kaitoke Green; complete the striking balance with cabinetry in Resene All Black.

Introduce cooler tones to complete a harmonious scheme – try flooring in Resene Chill Out, with accents painted in Resene Sunkissed, a golden, ochre yellow, and furniture in Resene Paddock, a soft, pastoral green.

There’s a constellation of colour to be found in the night sky. Use a feature wall in Resene Coast as a backdrop to furnishings in Resene Resolution Blue, pink-tinged purple Resene Smooch, and white Resene Half Athens Grey (also perfect for trims).

Ground the scheme with a neutral hue – try timber wood stain Resene Natural, or the sharper, black-based brown Resene Blackout.

All these tones can be found in the Resene The Range fashion colours 16 fandeck.

If you have your own nature scenes to use as inspiration, load your photos into the Resene Colour Palette Generator and it will suggest some Resene colours for you to help get you started, see www.resene.co.nz/picturepalette

This article has been supplied and adapted with permission from Resene. For the original visit:http://www.habitatbyresene.com/be-inspired-nature