Bohemian style decor is trending again in 2021 and it’s no surprise since it is an excellent style to not only spruce up your home with but it’s a playful style that allows for maximum creativity. In this article, you’re going to learn the tenets of what it takes to capture Bohemian style in your own home and the methods used to achieve the iconic Bohemian look.
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Fabrics
Bohemian style (more commonly referred to as Boho) is where you create a clash between different styles and the most notable way of doing that to capture the Boho spirit is with fabrics and for now we’ll look at rugs. A good example of a Boho style fabric clash is by mixing rug styles, say like having Santorini with a Lily in the same room. If you take a look at these rugs you’ll see they are different in colour, pattern and texture.
Scatter cushions are another good way of showing Bohemian style. Mash up the sizes and add a variety of cushion covers differing in appearance from colour and texture. Imagine plain denim being alongside a white-blue mariner pattern, or chequered blue and white on coarse cotton alongside coral swirls on smooth polyester.
Bohemian style decor is all about layering different fabrics, patterns and textures. Let’s carry on exploring Bohemian style decor for your home so you get a better idea because there’s more to Boho than just rugs and fabric when it comes to layering the textures, patterns and colours.
Mix & Match Furniture
Just like mixing fabrics, to capture Bohemian style decor when rearranging your furniture you should also mix it up and not just the style of the furniture but the materials used in its design as well.
Try to keep black furniture to a minimum, however, because it is too much of a severe gradient that undermines the true spirit of the Boho style which relies on a myriad of colours. A stainless steel stool with black distress leather cushion is a good example because the reflective metal legs outclass the severity of the black as does the distressed texture of the material of the cushion. Anything block black in colour and modern would be a bit too much for a Bohemian fit. If you do utilise black in a Bohemian style decor, keep it sparse and wisely selected.
When it comes to implementing Bohemian style decor in a room, switch between styles of furniture. For example, if you have a heavy walnut headboard on your bed, offset it with a white chic vanity table and a wicker chair. When you picture this, you’ll see there’s three elements at work here: a contrast in style, texture and colour with their own unique pattern. That’s the spirit of Boho right there. Speaking of a contrast in patterns, let’s now explore that a little bit.
Alternating Patterns
A fundamental aspect of Bohemian style decor is the use of patterns. You’ve already seen the contrast between Santorini and Lily rugs and walnut wood and wicker, so extend that further to bed linen and wall decor. A great contrast could be using Memphis geometric wallpaper on the top of a wall and then applying wooden surround or pattern rendered wall to the bottom of the wall. To compete with the walls, for the bed linen you could have plaid. This is the essence of Bohemia.
Something you should notice with the difference in patterns is their own distinct style within Bohemian style decor. When you see examples of Boho decor, you’ll notice that one pattern will be tight and intricate while the other will be loose and simple; another pattern will focus on block colours while the opposite will have a lot of different colours. This is the secret to achieving the perfect Bohemian style decor: patterns within patterns and textures opposing other textures. A good idea would be to use stencils to combine patterns.
Lighting
One thing to absolutely love with Bohemian style decor is the way you’ll get to play about with so many different elements and lighting is one such facet. Just like all the rest before it, you get to toy about with different lamps and lighting. A good setup with Bohemian style lighting is to switch up modern lamps and mix them with others, particularly vintage or homemade.
A particular setup that works well is using Moroccan or Turkish lamps with modern and vintage. The reason for this is the mosaic styled glass of Moroccan or Turkish lamps provide a coloured and textured patterned light of medium intensity whilst modern provides bright and vintage provides soft. On top of that, the actual design of the lamps compliments the Bohemian style decor. Picture the brass stand of an exotic Turkish lamp when coupled with the wood and metal of the vintage Edison lamp. It’s beautiful in its eccentricity and that is what makes Bohemian, Bohemian.
Ornamentation
If you’ve ever seen a Bohemian style decor then you’ll also have noticed the sparse array of ornaments in a room. Sparsity is key because you don’t want to distract from the actual decor here but adding ornaments in the right way can double the character and fun nature that makes Boho what it is. Just like lamps, furniture and fabrics, mix it up.
One of the most popular ways to display Boho ornamentation is having handcrafted figurines with traditional objects. For example, you could have a handwoven wicker figure standing adjacent to a silver bell-ringer alarm clock and then a seashell bordered photo frame. The clock is traditional yet retro; the figurine is rustic while modern; the photo frame is organic and artistic. Another classic example is the trend of old fashioned wood stoves either working in full or just ornamental. You’ve got three different elements here: texture, pattern and style. That’s Boho.
There are actually no rules as to what makes a Bohemian style decor other than layers, textures and patterns as a base. It’s that simple and therefore it gives you unlimited options when choosing the colours and style you actually want or how strong or subtle you want it to be. With Bohemian style decor you get to be a grown-up child, playing about on walls and furniture instead of paper.
