Home Decorating - Adding Touches of the Native American

Native American culture is really very diverse and visually rich, making it an interesting theme to incorporate into your d9cor. However, there's no fixed fashion of interior decorating that is clearly labeled as belonging to the cultural group. You will thus have to settle for smaller and more subtle touches that you will have to integrate into your existing decorating theme.

For this purpose, it's probably best to emulate the aesthetic of the Native Americans from the southwest. If you take a look at some of their home items like their pottery, you'll notice that each item is discrete enough to fit in yet detailed and striking enough to stand out as an individual piece. Their predominantly dark and neutral colors also ensure that it won't be randomly sticking out against most color schemes. It's this kind of aesthetic that will work best when integrating a completely new theme into an existing motif.

Before leaving the example of pottery behind, it has to be mentioned that pottery is one very big item you can have to add that Native American touch into a room. They're excellent design pieces that are very functional as well. Using them for storage is a great way to incorporate them into the theme. If you get a big enough pot, you can even make it a designing centerpiece by decorating a certain space around it.

It's also the same case with baskets. There's a strong association between baskets and the Native Americans so adding baskets to a room will be a very big and very strong visual cue. They're also functional, so you're sure that they won't randomly stick out against your current design elements. Adding a couple as simple containers or as magazine racks will really add a Native American accent.

Another discreet way to add those Native American touches is hanging up artworks made by or inspired by the cultural group. You can easily find Native American prints or reproductions online. Framing them properly and hanging them up in the right places can really help in bringing out the Native American 'feel' that you're trying to achieve.

Trinkets, instruments and tools, in the right quantities, will further emphasize the Native American theme. Putting one or two big and free-standing pieces around a room will be sufficient to bring out the accent that you're after. If you want to get smaller novelties and bric-a-brac, make sure you arrange them on a shelf or in a display case. Doing so turns the small items into one big design element, making them easier to identify and unlikely to be seen as mere clutter.

When decorating a room with Native American touches, it's really best to just let things happen and buy items as you see them. The Native American aesthetic was closely tied to nature, to the world and to letting things be. Buying pieces that catch your eye and then placing them where you feel like doing so will make that Native American 'feel' all the more authentic.

Milos Pesic is an expert in the field of Remodeling and runs a popular Home Remodeling web site. For more articles and resources on Home Remodeling related topics visit his site at: http://remodeling.need-to-know.net/