If you’re tired of the ordinary, or you’re looking to buck the “neutral paint + shiplap accents = awesome” trend, then consider bohemian designs for your home.
Defining Bohemian Style
What is bohemian? The real question should be, what isn’t bohemian? Designers characterize this style as eclectic yet controlled. Bohemian is also described as unconventional and informal, meaning that it’s not your traditional interior design style. Whether you consider your style avant-garde, off-beat, or boho-chic, you likely fall under the bohemian umbrella.
The best bohemian designs for the home contain a mix of furniture and decor of different colors, patterns, shapes, and sizes. While this may seem like a chaotic mess to the unfamiliar or uninformed, that simply isn’t the case. In fact, there’s something refreshing about incorporating a little bit of everything that means something to you to make your space warm, inviting, and undeniably personal.
Five Elements of Bohemian Design
As the central hub for social gatherings and late-night lounging sessions, you spend a lot of time in your living room. And if you’re going to spend hours upon hours in a single space, it should reflect who you are. Even if you tend to skew traditional or even modern in your style choices, you really can’t go wrong when you incorporate a few eclectic bohemian home design elements in your house.
Here are five areas to help you get started.
Colorful Accents from Ceiling to Floor
Whether you’re looking to create a contemporary bohemian space or something a little more rustic, color matters.
Use a “warm look with touches from countries all around the world… including textures, fabrics, and colors that are warmer than just grey and white,” notes Tine Kjeldsen, Creative Director and Owner at Denmark-based TineKRoom. Take Tine’s lead and include a bohemian look throughout your home via spicy, global colors.
For novice boho-chic decor aficionados, start with a neutral base on your walls and your furniture upholstery, and then add pops of colors through your other furniture and decor. Accent pillows, throw blankets, and wall decor help provide small yet bold touches of color that increase the liveliness and comfortability of your living room.
If you’re more daring, find bohemian wall paint colors that reflect your personality. Try deep, rich purple hues contrasted by creamy mustard yellows and rustic orange-reds. Paint the whole room, or rely on accent walls to make a statement. Either way, the color will ensure your room stands out and tells the story of you. When it comes to these gypsy living, you honestly can’t use enough color.
Feature Unique Shapes with Furniture and Wallpaper
Straight lines and angles are trending in the modern and contemporary spheres, but if you’re a fan of the unconventional, this simplicity leaves much to be desired. When creating a bohemian room design, use those streamlined edges alongside circles and other geometric patterns. Mix and match picture frames, candle holders, and throw pillows to add a touch of guarded disorder.
For a bigger impact, match a circular ottoman with a square sofa or find a straight back chair with a round seat.
One of the most effective ways to make a statement using shapes is to use wallpaper. Today, there are many funky patterns to accentuate a hippie living room. Combine a colorful geometrical pattern with a neutral background alongside an accent wall painted in a solid color, and you’ve got the ideal palette to round out your room furniture and decor.
Sometimes, you can even find an interior designer who can help you match your living room upholstery to the wallpaper! It’s not a shape-overload; it’s a fun personal style preference!
Infuse the Space with Natural Elements
Wood and other botanical elements work wonders in transforming a space from standard to one a free spirit would enjoy.
For starters, you can add wood paneling and rattan light fixtures to add an infusion of nature. Wood is also the perfect material for your furniture. A solid, live-edge coffee table matches perfectly with virtually any style of room furniture, regardless of the colors and patterns it features.
To continue adding to your room’s color palette, plant a window box of herbs and flowers, or put a potted palm in what would otherwise be dead space. Small, subtle hints of nature bring an unparalleled level of liveliness into your boho-chic aesthetic.
Mix & Match Antiques + Modern Furniture and Decor
Most nonconformist design spaces include furniture and decor collected over the years, if not decades. If you’re a fan of antique wall clocks, or you just so happen to own a pair of mid-century modern end tables, you’re already on your way to expert bohemian designer-status.
Ideally, you want your space to look like an assemblage of items that mean something to you from every point of your life. Don’t hesitate to mix design styles, such as pairing an antique couch with a modern area rug or use current pictures to fill the frames you unearthed at a neighborhood estate sale.
Feature Metallic Accents Wherever You Can
The final element to help compile the ultimate bohemian room design is something that’s taking over the design world: metallics. Metallics add a bright, lively edge to any space. Although golds, coppers, and brushed nickel dominate traditional design spaces, if you use them correctly, they can easily increase the gypsy-look of your boho-inspired design plan.
The key here is to use a combination of different metallic accents as opposed to a single type. For example, feature a beautiful brushed gold ceiling light fixture near rose gold vases and a copper plated mirror frame. Ignore the “stick with one metal” rule and instead, go with what makes you happy.
Have you noticed a pattern here? “Bohemian” means merely designing for yourself, bucking trends, and showing your individual nature. If you’re eager to tell your story through your home furniture and decor, then bohemian home designs are the right style for you.
