Celebrate your Culture Through Home Interior Design
Contributed by Agostina Chemello of https://porch.com/
Our Black Feather and Bead necklace works in concert with other ethnic decor. Click the photo to pre-order a necklace. Photo courtesy of @ourbrickhousestyle of Instagram
You’re proud of your ethnic heritage. Why not bring elements of your culture into your home as a celebration of all that is uniquely you? With a bit of planning and some lucky finds, you can create an environment that feels like home, even if home base is miles or continents away. Introducing culture to your decor keeps you connected to your roots.
Cultural diversity within a community is one of the things that makes it so special. Use your ethnic ancestry as inspiration for your interior design for an engaging way to embrace your past, present and future and share your culture with others.
If you share a home with others, you can look for ways to incorporate multiple cultures, fusing them into one total design package of distinct personalities, beliefs and backgrounds. Your design elements can pay tribute to the history that brings your family together.
Your culture may be clearly defined or a loose collection of family influences and places your ancestors lived. Perhaps you identify with a culture from a place you’ve visited. It’s up to you to decide how you honor or showcase your own or adopted heritage.
Keeping the sights, sounds, or scents of your culture close can even help stave off homesickness. At times, we can feel alone when we’re far from our native country or ancestral community, missing family, friends, or our traditional way of life. It helps to have items of comfort and familiarity around.
Find the vintage basket and beads in our Africa collection.
Displaying cultural reminders in your home, apartment or dorm room also opens up conversations with family and friends, introducing them to things that are significant to you. We’ve gathered some ways to inspire your desire to bring your culture alive in your home and day-to-day life.
Celebrate Your Culture at Home
There’s perhaps no better place to display your ancestral roots than adding representative touches to your home decor like tapestries, photos, art, furniture or lights. Every room of your home can play host to your heritage.
Change up colors, textures, patterns and materials in honor of your family’s past. Paint walls of your home in the traditional colors reminiscent of your home country, whether it’s where you are now or far away.
Different cultural influences from a family blended through adoption, marriage or shared space can exist harmoniously within your home. Incorporating cultures, customs and traditions can help loved ones keep in touch with their own heritage while learning about and appreciating the origins of others, sparking meaningful conversations.
How to Add Ethnic and Cultural Elements to your Interior Design
Feel free to design your living space around your heritage or incorporate smaller ethnic elements. It’s up to you. Don’t worry if every piece of furniture, every painting, is not authentically your heritage. You can blend your present decor with cool cultural finds for a beautifully eclectic look.
You already have your own distinct style, but you can blend cultural decor with your existing theme. Add a piece of home country furniture to a corner or a wall-hanging above the sofa. Try to find a common thread to pull your space together, melding colors, patterns, and scales of size.
You don’t have to transform your home overnight after watching a home decorating show. You can add a piece at a time, and move it around until you’re pleased with the placement. Try different combinations, and don’t be afraid to bring an intriguing ambiance to your space.
Small sculptures like these from our Africa collection are a great way to introduce small elements that make a dramatic impact while exhibiting cultural heritage.
Whether your accent pieces exude whimsy or warmth, vibrancy or subtlety, let them illustrate your ethnic pride. Browse the internet or home decor magazines for inspiration, and shop import or thrift stores and flea markets for finds that might bring your room together.
Concentrate on a focal point of each room and then choose a culturally influenced piece. If the piece is large, pair it with smaller companion pieces. Or, display a smaller cultural piece. You don’t want the space so busy and cluttered that important pieces are overlooked.
Rugs, Blankets and Tapestry Designs
Adding decorative rugs, blankets or wall accents like tapestries can bring a beautiful accent to your room. Fiber art creations can bring your space together beautifully and set a soft, textural tone for a delightful corner reading nook. Drape an ethnic tapestry, shawl or scarf across the back of a comfy chair or use as a dining room table runner for a finishing touch.
Colorful, patterned rugs can embrace multiple cultures and remain as popular in today’s rooms as they were centuries ago. Center a piece of furniture like a table or bed on an eye-catching rug, or use one as a smaller accent piece that protects your floor from heavy traffic while adding a cultural element.