How to Decorate a Home Office in Ethnic-Eclectic Style

The ethnic-eclectic home office uses elements from around the world to achieve a well-traveled, multicultural ambience. Here are some ideas.

Things You'll Need

• Candleholders
• Craft Paints
• Desk Chairs
• Fabrics
• File Cabinets
• Home Furnishings And Accessories
• Plants
• Wastebaskets

Instructions

1. Find a desk with ethnic flavor or one in wicker and iron - or faux paint a plain old wood table with zebra or tiger stripes for a fun look.

2. Complement the desk with an old-timey mahogany desk chair (a tropical wood, mahogany immediately suggests foreign shores), a chair made partly of cane or rattan, or a standard office chair.

3. Use a conventional metal file cabinet or basket-type files. An old file cabinet could also be painted with an animal-skin motif to complement the painted desk.

4. Light your work surface with a lamp of wicker, cast resin (perhaps in the shape of a small palm tree or elephant), pottery or a porcelain ginger jar.

5. Look for a painted canvas floorcloth with a foreign theme (perhaps an antique world map), an Oriental-style carpet, an animal-skin rug or a flat-woven dhurrie.

6. Accessorize the room with handmade objects: tribal masks, carved wooden boxes and imported candleholders that are molded, painted or hand-carved.

7. Paint walls with a faux stone texture, or cover with grass cloth or ethnic print wallpaper. Hang a few folk art paintings on the walls, but don't go overboard or you'll have too many distractions in the room.

8. Continue the theme with small office supplies: baskets or ethnic-inspired ceramics for pencils, an unpainted woven wicker wastebasket.

9. Dress the windows in a bamboo or palm frond print fabric. Or choose bamboo matchstick blinds or 2-inch-wide wood blinds - either can be used in combination with fabric at the window.

Tips & Warnings

• Add a potted palm, Dracaena marginata or other exotic-looking plant. Leave it in a clay pot, or place it in a cachepot of painted ceramic or a basket.