- Design Inspo
Elevated Boho Wall Decor Does Exist
“It’s not just macramé,” explains Nest Casa’s founder and creative director, Sara Colombo. Of course, Colombo refers to the infamous oversized macramé wall hangings synonymous with 1970’s counter-culture inspired home design. With those words, the design expert suggests that Boho wall decor can be anything but just a hippie den look. Today’s interpretation is equal parts earthy vibe and upscale tone.
Case in point, these hanging wall baskets from the award-winning social commerce enterprise People of the Sun. Preserving an age-old Malawi artisan weaving technique and providing fair trade opportunity, these wall baskets elevate the notion of a simple craft to high style. Also, it is a perfect example of texture. Texture, along with neutral palettes, and a carefully-curated world of color, are three chic Boho wall decor ideas to tap when executing the design idea in your own space.
Though it’s important to remember that boho wall decor expands beyond woven hangings. To demonstrate, Boho-style home decor is most commonly channeled through art, paintings, rugs, textiles, wallpaper, and other wall ornamentations, such as plates, ceramics, mirrors, and even clocks. Obviously, this is to say that mastering a Bohemian style room via the wall takes an eclectic and thoughtful mix of decor elements and bohemian-inspired objects.
NEUTRAL MOOD BOHO WALL DECOR
If your concept of Boho style conjures up images of a space filled with dense ‘objets’ – err clutter – then you aren’t alone. However, there is an art to making this look work. For instance, the images caught by photographer Miguel Flores-Vianna (shown here) displays the interior of an unknown “Haute Bohemian” whose wall decor holds together the many elements of this typically Haussmannian room. Giving it a sense of clarity and harmony, wall hangings that are neutral in color, allow the tightly-grouped pictures to live harmoniously and not overtake the space. Chiefly, this allows the owner to combine several favorite, but disparate, items in one environment.
Editors' Picks - Neutral
Gilded Grace - This hand-carved Louis Phillippe gilt mirror harks back to 19th-century French design and old money, an unexpected element to artfully integrate into a display of Boho wall décor.
Italian Drama - Typical of masks designed to drive away evildoers from Seminara in Reggio Calabria, Italy, these ceramic renderings are both ostentatious, grotesque, and one-of-a-kind. The perfect stand-out pieces to add character and dimension to a bohemian wall decor design.
Boho Bardot - Ultimately, a portrayal of a famous star from yesteryear, aka those decadent good ol’ days of the 1960s, is a Boho design 101 element for any wall.
Fan Fair - These raffia and sweet grass wall hangings resembling ancient fans are made by communities of Ghanian women through an ethical, fair trade partnership. They are the perfect accent pieces to add a rich textural element to any boho wall decor design.
COLOR WHEEL BOHO DECOR
Of course, a neutrals’ polar opposite palette is pops of color. To point out, one signifier of Boho style is the ability to combine and mix colors other design sensibilities shy away from as general practice. For example, this Bohemian-style bedroom is epitomizes the look yet is immensely refined. It’s the brainchild of The Decorators Club’s own Alexa Hampton. To demonstrate the concept, first, notice that color provides the base hue as it is rendered in the deep purple walls. Next, layer on a variety of paintings – including tableau hung from the ceiling. It’s essential to notice the colors and the different styles of art represented in the pictures. Although, perhaps the pièce de résistance here is the dramatic bed surrounded by contrasting textiles for an added texture and pattern play that adds compelling visual intrigue to the space.
Editors' Picks - Color Wheel
Color Forms - Bright, bold, and graphic, this geometric hand-painted wall panel by Mascia Meccani recalls the great shape painters of modern art; Wassily Kandinsky, Piet Mondrian, and August Macke.
Abstract View - This wall plate from Pierfrancesco Solimene, is a dynamic and cheerful plate finished in enamel, and is sure to catch the eye of anyone lucky to cross its path.
Craft Color - This Umuseke hanging basket is made from sisal by weavers in Rwanda. The name, which means “morning” in the Kinyarwanda language, will surely brighten the start to any day.
Boho Royalty - Ultimately, this is the final image of Talitha Getty and her husband Paul in Morocco from 1969, which recalls the two at the height of their bourgeois boho lifestyle.
Yves Drop - This contemporary abstract acrylic painting pays homage to the famous French blue named by Yves Klein.
Quirky Bird - Enclosed by a gold bamboo frame that reads both traditional or Mid-Century, this Soicher Marin Audubon flamingo print looks especially Boho when taken out of Florida.
TEXTILE LOVER BOHO DECOR
Are you the touchy-feely type? If touch is your greatest sense, then a texture-based Boho wall decor treatment is for you. For example, the Decorators Club’s shining demonstration is this room that borrows from tastemakers Bunny Mellon and Axel Vervoordt. In the party barn of fellow club member Virginia Tupker, the textured Bohemian living room decor from the pillows to the wicker extends to the walls. The double-height barn rafters are the perfect places to display vertical-hanging plants dotted across the space. Distressed wainscotting hosts two coordinating black and white pictures, while the white wall above (and below the rafters) holds another pair of mix-and-matched pictures.
Editors' Picks - Texture
Warming Walls - This winter still life doodles rug conceived by Faye Toogood imagines an abstract cold climate tableau as a curious wall hanging.
Tiger Is King - Certainly, you can almost hear the roar of this fierce beast woven onto this upholstered panel by Sicis Italy at home.
Spring Awakening - Expressly, Dawn Wolfe’s pink silk scarf with colorful butterflies channels a flighty bohemian vibe and looks as good worn as it is hung on a wall; your choice.
Yarn Tales - If you must macrame, this is the only way to go by scoring one of these modular art yarn pieces made in Los Angeles that takes cues from wild 1970s bohemian art.
Silk Road Home - Nothing says Boho wall decor like an authentic 19th-century Uzbek silk Ikat panel from central Asia, period.
Bead it - Whimsical and glamorous, glass beads create a pair of half-circle modern art tapestries from Roar & Rabbit designs.
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