Bohemian style is a global design style. Global styles are all about your worldly adventures and telling your story! They are usually very colorful, rich in bold designs and natural textures, and use patterns, colors and arts and crafts of various cultures. Each piece has a story and becomes a conversation starter. Treasures are displayed without rules or grouping by the part of the world each piece is from. Antiques mix with modern pieces, and natural objects such as animal horns, plants and rocks add to the charm. While global design styles are eclectic and may mix and match items from a variety of countries, you may be drawn to the colors and cultural artifacts of some countries more than others.
If you are drawn to Bohemian style, you probably like warm earthy colors, metals and jewel tones. Bohemian decor often uses deep browns, greens, grays or other neutral colors for base colors, then accessorizes with saturated purple, fiery orange, and electric blue and other jewel tones.
You are carefree, dislike rules and want to follow your heart’s desire!
You probably like vintage furniture and light fixtures, globally inspired textiles and rugs, and love displaying your collections of cool things found at markets. thrift stores and in your travels.
You like to be comfortable and relaxed and don’t mind mixing glamorous fabrics, lighting and accessories with well-worn items, antiques or cool pieces from other styles. Anything goes if it makes you happy. More is more!
Bohemian Style- Get the Look
So how do you get this look and pull it all together? You could go all out and incorporate all the elements of Bohemian Interior Design, or you can add some key elements to your existing decor.
Try lamps, pillows or rugs or art incorporating jewel tones. Try furniture, accessories or rugs from various countries, incorporating different textures and patterns. Include some soft and sumptuous fabrics like velvet. Incorporate various metals. Mix modern and vintage pieces. Show off your treasures and memories, so your decor tells stories of your travels, adventures and your life.
Think about the end result you want. Although Bohemian style often epitomizes “more is more” with interesting objects everywhere, the key to a great end result that does not look cluttered is to curate your results a bit and be a little selective, giving space around key objects so they have a chance to shine and really tell their story. A more curated and elegant look is often described as “Haute Bohemian”. This is the look I personally prefer.
Here is an example of a recent Edesign I did for a Bohemian style living room and my thought process on what I included and why.
Inspiration
I started with the art which I wanted to make a focal point for the room. The three main pieces are fractal art pieces I designed and with the beautiful jewel tones, I thought they would be perfect for Bohemian design.
Here are some of the other products I used in the design you might like. Click on any of the pictures to find out more. Some contain affiliate links, which means if you purchase, they give me a small commission but it does not change your price.
The next inspiration piece was this gorgeous turquoise rug, which inspired the color of the sofa.
Go green with this eco-friendly sofa from Stem Furniture and get a 5% discount using code NLS5 at checkout. I always try to use eco-friendly products in my designs when possible.
To provide contrast and continue with the theme of using rich jewel tones, I selected these pieces from Interior Define.
I loved this beautiful chaise and chair in a soft velvet fabric from Interior Define.
This beautiful folk art ceramic pottery from Mexico pulls in the colors of the fractal art and copper table above.
These lamps incorporate beautiful jewel tones in blue.
These pillows, designed by me use fractal art and jewel tones to create a perfect bohemian look and match the colors in the fractal wall art.
This beautiful copper table from Mexico is unique and adds metallic elements.
The beautiful eco-friendly side tables are made at Medley. Get 5% off anything on their site with code NLS5 at check out.
This beautiful handcrafted mirror from Mexico pulls in some of the beautiful blues and reds from the art and the beautiful red chaise and side chair.
These beautiful side tables are made in India with traditional Indian motifs.
I love this sculpture, which looks like dancers from an exotic land.
This beautiful glass bowl was selected for the rich jewel tone colors.
These are just a few ideas of how to capture this beautiful style in your home. For help creating your own Bohemian style room, or other Interior Design or color needs, call 907-362-0065 today for a design consultation or check out my Online and Edesign Services.
Your Custom Bohemian Interior Design Style Pinterest Board
For daily inspiration, check out your custom Pinterest board on Bohemian Interior Design. I update it weekly with new ideas.
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I love the fractal art pieces and the overdyed oriental rugs are such a new classic to impart a rich look. Haute Bohemian is a great descriptor indeed!
Thank you Janet! The fractal art is a joy to make and I love being able to create designs and then home decor for specific projects! The over-dyed rugs really are beautiful, I love how rich the colors are. And they are sustainable too, as they are created to give new life to a vintage rug in many cases. Thanks for reading!
That fractal art is so cool, I could see that working for other design styles as well!
Thanks Jill! I think it works great for all types of global and modern styles. Thanks for reading!