How to Decorate Your Living Room in Ethnic-Eclectic Style

The ethnic-eclectic living room has a look that says "A world traveler was here" - even if you never left home. Here are some ways to achieve an exotic atmosphere.

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Things You’ll Need:

• Fabrics
• Home Furnishings And Accessories
• Plants

1. Choose seating in a basic neutral and let accessories - kilim-covered pillows, for instance - carry the theme. Or use pieces covered in ethnic prints.
2. Go for a more casual look with seating in natural woven wicker or rattan.
3. Find ethnic-look lamp tables, possibly carved or hand-painted ones from India or Mexico. Or use Asian-style tables, with their showy hardware.
4. Select lamps with exotic bases: woven wicker, porcelain ginger jars, rustic terra-cotta or cast resin elephants, monkeys, tigers or palm trees. Keep shades in the theme with woven wicker, pleated linen, handmade paper and the like.
5. Find a coffee table in wicker and iron with a glass top, or use travel-related pieces, such as a steamer trunk (with stamps suggesting faraway destinations) or a stack of leather luggage. Or search out a large kilim-covered ottoman with a relatively flat top (or two smaller ones placed side by side) that you can top with a tray to hold snacks and beverages.
6. Look for an area rug in a faux animal print, or choose an Oriental design or a handmade rug - coarsely woven wool or cotton dhurrie from India. Consider sisal, too.
7. Scavenge for appropriate vacation souvenirs, folk art (carvings, clay sculptures, ceramic figurines and paintings, for example), candleholders, and embroidered or hand-stamped textiles such as batiks for your art and accessories.
8. Cover the windows and walls with fabrics and papers in patterns that suggest rattan and wicker or ethnic textiles. Or use grass cloth.
9. Accent the room with a potted palm or other exotic-looking plants, such as dracaena, ficus, orchids or cactus.

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