African Safari Decor – 8 Ways To Turn A Room Into An African Jungle
Here’s a novel idea! For those who can’t make it to the wilds of Africa and experience a safari first hand, how about bringing the safari right to your home.
The popularity of African safari decor has been literally exploding in the past few years and has become a very popular form of decoration for children’s rooms. Parents are going online in droves looking for ideas to decorate their kid’s rooms but the truth is, you don’t need to spend a fortune doing it.
African Safari Decor Ideas
Yes, you could head to the nearest exotic shop and buy African safari decor but if you are on a budget, then this cost could become rather prohibitive.
Let’s take a look a few ideas to turn your son’s or daughter’s room into a safari setting. Remember, this can be an ongoing project so it doesn’t need to be done in a hurry.
- For the effect of vines, material such as braided twine is relatively inexpensive and by heading down to your nearest dollar store, you can pick up either green paper or garland and create a leafy look. Simply hang your vines from the ceiling.
- Also to create an effect of growing vines, wrap some of the twine along your curtain rods and around the outside of the door frame.
- For animal effect, head down to your nearest charity store and pick up toys which would match an African setting. Lions, monkeys giraffes – as long as they are native to Africa. There is no limit to the number of toys you could find. Yard sales are another great place to pick up old toys on the cheap.
- For greater effect, painting a mural on one or two of the walls with a jungle theme will add a real touch of the exotics to a room.
- Bamboo and palm plants are excellent for creating a more realistic jungle effect.
- Transform a layer of netting into a hummock and put it in a corner of the room.
- African ornaments such as drums, spears and shields may take a little finding at the right price but can only give the room more Africa-style flavor. This is true African safari decor and worth looking for.
- Cut out animal pictures from books and paste them around the room. Use animal covered wrapping paper to decorate further and use a safari hat and a pair of binoculars for further effect.
For a chance to Win African Art in our Afrik-Jungle Sweepstakes. Click here!
Top Spring Decorating: Getting Rid of the Winter Blahs
The days are beginning to feel warmer, and the landscape with its many shades of green is awakening. One only needs to listen to the birds in the early morning to know that spring will be here before long. This is a wonderful time of the year to include a touch of the outdoors in your home interior decorating ideas.
• Let’s start with ‘bird-themed” home decorating ideas which can be used in every room. A pretty birdcage makes a whimsical three-dimensional framework for a spring display. Inside of the birdcage place a craft-store twig nest with faux eggs or a petite flower arrangement.
• Ceramic egg cups can be used for decorated Easter eggs, jelly beans or pastel candies.
• To bring the “bird-themed” décor into the powder room, use iron-on transfers to print or color-copy a picture of a bird onto a linen guest towel.
• Look for egg-shaped soaps at specialty shops to use in your guest bathrooms.
• “Bird-inspired” iron-on transfers can also be used on table linens. Inexpensive paper coasters featuring pictures of birds add a further touch to the springtime table.
• Another natural look to add to your spring decorating ideas is the color, green. Whether you use leafy lettuce green or a serene shade of mint, you will find that a wide range of green represents what you already find in nature.
• Green is synonymous with life and renewal and is plentiful in our natural world. It is a peaceful color with calming effects. Use a variety of shades of green for a fresh, springtime feel.
• Because of the endless selection you will have no difficulty finding a suitable shade of green paint color. However, if you don’t want to make a long-term commitment, adding home accessories in the desired shade of green is an easy and effortless way to add nature’s color.
• Home accessories in shades of green include glassware, vases, pillows, afghans/throws, artwork and fabrics.
• Something as simple as putting garden magazines and flower books on the coffee table will help to bring nature inside and add color to your room.
• Simplify your interior decorating by displaying only the things you love. Clutter is distracting and adds stress to your life because of constant upkeep.
Spring is the time for renewal, beautiful flowers, green grass and the songs of birds. Enjoy each and every day!
“Every spring is the only spring, a perpetual astonishment!” – Ellis Peters
Author: Lynn Cressy
Using African Decor For Entryways
African decor can add spice and zing to any sleepy or boring entryway in your home. For example, an African framed or textured mirror on an entryway wall can add an element of space and openness. A mirror placed correctly on a sleepy entry wall can give any dreary space added life and sparkle. A skillfully placed mirror can perform multiple interior design duties. For example, an African styled mirror can add the illusion of space and depth to your entrance.
If placed across from a window, a mirror will help to reflect sunlight and make your entryways lighter and brighter. Nothing greets a guest to your home better than a bright and cheerful entrance. For your entryway consider an African patterned or Moroccan flavored rug or other floor covering. You’ll find rugs or other types of floor coverings with colored patterns work to hide dirt, scuffs and wear.
For that African feel, you can give your entry a warm, cozy feeling by using natural or organic floor coverings. Natural materials like wool, cotton, even sea grass and many other organic floor materials will give any floor the African interior look many people desire.
Greet Your Guest With A Touch of African Flair
African textures and designs for an entry provides an exciting and spicy first impression for visitors. African wall decor can help to great your guest without taking up valuable space. African wall accents is a quick way to add depth and uniformity most boring and fractured entryways lack. One of the first places someone walking into your home looks is on your walls, do they reflect the right mood to your guest?
African mosaic wall or floor decor, such as mosaic tiles can give a boost to your depressing entrance. The exotic and adventurous look of North African Moroccan tiles feel of a Moroccan palace.
Planning African interior designs and accents will help to add character and clarity to any listless entrance. With so many colors, textures, patterns and styles to choose from, you’re limited only by your creativity and vision. With so many choices available, you have the benefit of adapting an element of African decor to any interior design challenge you may face, whether it’s big or small.
African Accents Can Balance Other Design Choices
Most African decor blends well with any contemporary or traditional interior decor you may already have. You can use an African accent to enhance your other design choices. You can often use certain African design pieces to help balance the rest of your decor choices.
African home decor can do more to create the mood you want your entrance to convey. For example, your entryway can reflect a bold and exciting atmosphere, a warm and cozy mood or a combination of styles. The flexibility continues as a popular benefit of using African accents.
Yes, the entrance to your home reflects the mood and personality of it’s owner to visitors. What does your entryway say about you to your quest? By using African decor you have a variety of ways to express your mood, attitude or sense of adventure.
Author: Roy Primm
Decorating your Home with African Art
Being the second largest continent in the world, Africa is as beautiful as it is diverse and is constantly changing. Believed to be a name originated from the latin word ‘aprica’, which means sunny, Africa is home to a large number of ancient tribes. Due to this, the tradition, culture, art forms, music form and religious practices of each tribe varies from country to country. Scientists also believe that Africa is the original home of the human race and the foundation of today’s civilization.
This vast ocean of culture, tradition and art forms have captivated the attention of lot of people and African art has found its way into our daily lives, especially in the decoration of one’s home. The African theme is a very popular decorating art with its wide range of soothing color options and earthy fabrics and other art choices. Whether a person is looking to decorate a kitchen, a living room, a bedroom, a bathroom, a baby’s room or even the whole house, using an African theme can change the look of the entire house into a faraway haven.
African artifacts include subtle animal prints, masks, statues and rich nature-based color tones. Using these tribal treasures, a room or even an entire home can be given a warm and wonderful ambiance. The most popular of African decor art is masks. African tribal masks are available in a variety of colors like bright red, green, orange, blue or dark wood shades. These masks can be placed in the living room coupled with African statues and smaller masks, teak furniture and several animal print rugs. The colors of these masks can be co-ordinated with the sofas in the living room. These masks also look great as the dining room decor with a beautiful nature inspired table linen cloth placed on a dark wood dining table along with an African mask on the wall. The master bedroom can be drastically altered by strategically placing a few ancient masks on the wall and draping the four poster bed with animal print bed linen. This decorating theme can be extended into the bathrooms also.
In case an individual is looking for African art on a budget then there are cheap options available in a large number of shops selling home decor items like antique stores, flea markets or thrift shops. Although, the items that an individual might get at these stores may not be genuine African art. In case an individual is particular about getting genuine African art forms, then the local auction house can help and at a relatively less expensive cost and also in good condition. Another option to ensure that the art is genuine African art is to consult an antique professional.
How to Get Top Quality African Art at Affordable Prices
African art, crafts, and clothing are more popular than ever in North America and Europe. People love the way genuine African items let them connect with a peaceful, thoughtful world view that is the hallmark of many African cultures.
These days headlines in the West frequently report on Africa. Millions of tourists fly, ride, and even walk all over Africa every year. Because African art is so impressive and so uplifting — while being quite affordable — visitors and tourists almost always bring art, clothing, and crafts back home with them.
Why all the interest in Africa? Africa is different. Go to just about any large African city and you’ll see what I mean. The downtown area may be populated with high rise buildings and people wearing business suits. It may not look all that different from the business districts of Chicago or Paris.
But then take a look at how people are getting to and from work. Most don’t drive, they walk, often for miles. Huge freeway-sized paths filled with thousands of people walking flow in and out of the city.
That’s often a Western visitors first clue that being born and raised in Africa helps you see the world in a dramatically different way. The more time you spend in Africa, the more you begin to appreciate the open, relaxed, thoughtful, and inspired view that permeates society. It can be a big breath of fresh air for anyone who normally lives in the hustle and bustle of LA, London, or even Albuquerque.
African art items deeply capture important aspects of the cultures in which they are created. A very skilled artisan can create an African mask, sculpture, or piece of jewelry that gives you a profound spiritual boost every time you see it.
Today you no longer have to spend tens of thousands of dollars to travel to Africa in order to get truly top quality art. Art experts living in Africa are working with Western business to establish ways to efficiently export quality art to consumers in the West.
Many of these changes happened when my long-time friend Joseph Bilson, who is an art expert in Ghana, West Africa, joined with me to figure out a way to make all the great art he was seeing in Africa available to people in the West. We soon realized we could create a web site called AfrikBoutiK.com, we put high quality photos of our art items on it, and let people purchase the art with credit cards through an e-commerce system.
Rather than convince the likes of Wal-Mart or Bloomingdales to carry the art, no doubt with a huge markup, we are able to bring Africa’s best art directly to the consumer at a dramatically lower price.
More so now than ever in history, the connective power of the Internet is making even the best art in Africa readily available to interested people all over the world.
