Interior Design Inspiration: Sedona and the Grand Canyon

Published: March 27th, 2017

New places and environments always inspire me. I hadn’t been to the American Southwest for decades, but a February destination wedding beckoned me to the stark yet colorful landscapes of Sedona and the Grand Canyon. I had forgotten the dazzling nature of a high desert Spring and the intricate interplay of light and shadow on the dramatic rock formations there. Hiking to the top one of those formations in Sedona and surveying the bed of forest and stone below restores a sense of physical and even psychological scale. Modern life surrenders to something transcendent.

The blue-green hues of bushes and succulents along a Sedona trail seemed other-worldly to my Midwestern eye. Low-hung clouds receded to reveal the deep reds and browns layered into the sides of mountains.

The following day, a trip to the Grand Canyon immersed me in a humbling enormity of space.

Perhaps we have always sought to recreate this sense in built environments. I think of the graceful descent of the Baha’i Gardens in Haifa and the seaside expanse of Piazza San Marco in Venice. Both are stunning in perspective and space, but nature itself remains unsurpassed.

I am moved by the variations of texture embedded in the Canyon’s walls as the shadows of clouds sweep silently across the Earthscape, creating a calliope of color and form.

Longing to retain the spirit of Sedona and the Grand Canyon, I couldn’t resist a search for some interior design gems that capture it. Here are some spot-on favorites! A fabulous coffee table from Holly Hunt looks like it was carved right out of the walls of the Grand Canyon.

A gorgeous wall covering from Trove evokes the layering of stone.

An abstract motif in a fabric from Zinc Textiles freshly updates the Southwest look.

A rough-hewn stone forms a natural base to this table lamp from Circa Lighting.

One last shot of contentment — with my husband in Sedona. Wishing you a resilient Spring!