Celebrate National Parks With Outdoorsy Style
Embrace nature with design inspired by America's Best Idea.
Did you know that the National Park Service is celebrating its 100th birthday this summer? We’re so excited that, here on HGTV.com, we’ve started exploring how the national parks influence design. (Our friends at Travel Channel are highlighting all the ways you can explore the parks.)
Outdoorsy style — including plaid flannel, striped wool blankets and campfire-themed everything — is super trendy right now, but it’s not new. The outdoorsy look is really as inherent in American style as our national parks are to the culture, and the two are intimately tied together. National park style, sometimes called Parkitecture or National Park Rustic, can be seen in structures at parks throughout the country, structures that embody the ethics of sustainability and reflection of the landscape, as well as just downright coziness.
Architecture
Jeff Goulden
My personal favorite Parkitecture architect is Mary Colter, a renegade of her time for being both a female architect (nearly unheard of in the early 1900s) and for designing structures influenced by Native American ruins and the raw Southwest landscape. If you’ve ever visited the South Rim of the Grand Canyon, you’ve seen her work in Hermit’s Rest (1913) and virtually every other historic structure there, from Desert View Watchtower at the highest point to Phantom Ranch at the base of the canyon.
See More: Parkitecture Designs
Color
Architecture is one thing we love about the parks, but color is definitely another. What could be more inspiring color-wise than the most beautiful places in the country? Our editors picked their favorite national parks and built color palettes around them. The results couldn't be better.
See More: National Park Palettes
Decor
Laura Fruchterman
Like that Pendleton-bedecked Airstream above, your home can also benefit from a hint of park style. We've pulled together products inspired by the parks — from tile the color of hoodoos in Bryce Canyon to historical prints for your wall decor — to inspire you.
See More: Park-Inspired Decor and Park-Inspired Gifts
This is official National Park Week (April 16-24), when all parks across the country offer free admission and tons of fun activities, including on Earth Day (April 22). So we encourage you to get out and see "America's Best Idea," as the parks are often called. And while you're there, take a look around for some design inspiration!
