Decorating
13 Ways to Bring Tropical Style Home
Beat a tom-tom, get out your tiki-bar tipples, sling on a sarong and celebrate an islander lifestyle at home with these tropical decor ideas
What do you do with a haul of trinkets brought home from an island-hopping holiday? With just a few simple styling tricks, you can arrange your loot to evoke the sense of a tropical lifestyle and set the scene for a relaxed way of life at home. There are also grander gestures you can make. String up a hammock under a swaying palm, drape swathes of foliage-printed fabric across your bed, or line the walls with palm-frond matting. Then cook up a coconut curry, shake up a cocktail, and ask the gang over for a hangi and hula.
2. Line the walls with a weave
Natural materials often suit an islander theme. In your bedroom, or somewhere similarly intimate, you can cosy up your space by lining the walls with palm-weave matting. Decorative matting features a subtle texture and pattern created woven palm frond strips, and it applies a tropical look to any flat surface. Use the mats to soften any floor, wall, ceiling or other area that is in need of tropical treatment.
See more of this Caribbean island home
Natural materials often suit an islander theme. In your bedroom, or somewhere similarly intimate, you can cosy up your space by lining the walls with palm-weave matting. Decorative matting features a subtle texture and pattern created woven palm frond strips, and it applies a tropical look to any flat surface. Use the mats to soften any floor, wall, ceiling or other area that is in need of tropical treatment.
See more of this Caribbean island home
3. Choose a bold accent colour
Tropical interior decorating is often known for its exotic and vivid hues, such as aquamarine, mustard, emerald green and, as in the room above, coral. This vibrant hue has been used to striking effect, especially in the form of a stunning pendant light that looks like a enormous piece of coral itself, but is actually a tree branch made into a chandelier.
Select upholstery in this vibrant coral tone; here it’s been teamed with black for added drama. As for walls, try a softer hue such as a sea green colour, or hang large-print wallpaper on an accent wall. Lastly, fill display cases with natural objet d’art, such as sculptural corals and shells, and put any native artworks in pride of place.
Tropical interior decorating is often known for its exotic and vivid hues, such as aquamarine, mustard, emerald green and, as in the room above, coral. This vibrant hue has been used to striking effect, especially in the form of a stunning pendant light that looks like a enormous piece of coral itself, but is actually a tree branch made into a chandelier.
Select upholstery in this vibrant coral tone; here it’s been teamed with black for added drama. As for walls, try a softer hue such as a sea green colour, or hang large-print wallpaper on an accent wall. Lastly, fill display cases with natural objet d’art, such as sculptural corals and shells, and put any native artworks in pride of place.
4. Welcome guests in style
The hallway offers a perfect opportunity to set the decorative tone for the rest of your home. Make a big splash with wallpaper and choose something with a tropical motif. The wallpaper seen here features an engraving of a pineapple. In black and white it adds all the drama without the fuss that would most likely come from a coloured print. On a console you can display your favourite holiday finds. Or style it up with a mix of curios picked up from interior design stores and antique markets. Add a decorative mirror, nautical lamp and some shells and your work is done.
More details of this project
The hallway offers a perfect opportunity to set the decorative tone for the rest of your home. Make a big splash with wallpaper and choose something with a tropical motif. The wallpaper seen here features an engraving of a pineapple. In black and white it adds all the drama without the fuss that would most likely come from a coloured print. On a console you can display your favourite holiday finds. Or style it up with a mix of curios picked up from interior design stores and antique markets. Add a decorative mirror, nautical lamp and some shells and your work is done.
More details of this project
5. Fashion a bedhead with a foliage print
No island-style designer worth their weight in kina shells would decorate a room without lush green foliage in some form or other. The easiest option is to move a selection of potted palms indoors, but if you want a less boho look, upholster a bedhead, an old chair, or a banquette cushion in a quality cotton that features a palm print. As the unofficial emblem of a tropical dream home, palm fronds make everything look hot – in a cool way, of course.
No island-style designer worth their weight in kina shells would decorate a room without lush green foliage in some form or other. The easiest option is to move a selection of potted palms indoors, but if you want a less boho look, upholster a bedhead, an old chair, or a banquette cushion in a quality cotton that features a palm print. As the unofficial emblem of a tropical dream home, palm fronds make everything look hot – in a cool way, of course.
6. Add a vacation vibe in your living room
A Borneo longhouse is ideal for a tropical-themed block party, but you can still host smaller affairs at home. An open-plan area is ideal – set up a table for your famed coconut curry and kava cocktails, then fill out the rest of the space with as many seats and sofas as you can. Just be sure to leave enough space to accommodate a conga line to weave in and around the furniture. To finish, add some indoor palms, a seagrass mat and a fan or two to cool everyone down when the joint gets jumping.
A Borneo longhouse is ideal for a tropical-themed block party, but you can still host smaller affairs at home. An open-plan area is ideal – set up a table for your famed coconut curry and kava cocktails, then fill out the rest of the space with as many seats and sofas as you can. Just be sure to leave enough space to accommodate a conga line to weave in and around the furniture. To finish, add some indoor palms, a seagrass mat and a fan or two to cool everyone down when the joint gets jumping.
7. Take advantage of a view
Imagine kicking back on a designer daybed, sipping ice tea and enjoying a fantastic sunset view across the panoramic vista of a beach, the ocean and verdant palm-studded hillsides beyond. If this is unattainable back in your patch of heaven, get the look with a little imagination. If you have a blank wall to spare, dress it up it with trompe l’œil trickery in the form of a painted mural or wallpapered backdrop depicting your favourite south-sea island destination.
Ideas for wall murals
Imagine kicking back on a designer daybed, sipping ice tea and enjoying a fantastic sunset view across the panoramic vista of a beach, the ocean and verdant palm-studded hillsides beyond. If this is unattainable back in your patch of heaven, get the look with a little imagination. If you have a blank wall to spare, dress it up it with trompe l’œil trickery in the form of a painted mural or wallpapered backdrop depicting your favourite south-sea island destination.
Ideas for wall murals
8. Assemble adventurous collections
You can have a lot of fun with this look and assemble some unusual traveller trinkets and treasures to great effect. Cowry shell necklaces from Java, pineapples from Queensland, bark paintings from the Tiwi Islands, carvings from Papua, bleached corals washed ashore – all add levity and show your interest in relaxed yet decorative interior design.
You can have a lot of fun with this look and assemble some unusual traveller trinkets and treasures to great effect. Cowry shell necklaces from Java, pineapples from Queensland, bark paintings from the Tiwi Islands, carvings from Papua, bleached corals washed ashore – all add levity and show your interest in relaxed yet decorative interior design.
9. Introduce a basket weave
Go cane crazy with natural-fibre furniture or accessories. Add a few woven storage baskets, hang up a rattan light shade, make use of a bamboo tray or add a cane chair to the mix of furniture in a room to provide an instant islander update.
Why bamboo should be indoors
Go cane crazy with natural-fibre furniture or accessories. Add a few woven storage baskets, hang up a rattan light shade, make use of a bamboo tray or add a cane chair to the mix of furniture in a room to provide an instant islander update.
Why bamboo should be indoors
10. Bring the outdoors in
What better room to transform into a tropical island escape than the only one that can record a high humidity – the bathroom? To get the look, surround your tub with lush tropical plants and line the shelves with heady frangipani and jasmine-scented bath oils. In the shower, hang a loofah at the ready for a quick skin scrub before drying yourself with a super soft and absorbent bamboo bath towel.
What better room to transform into a tropical island escape than the only one that can record a high humidity – the bathroom? To get the look, surround your tub with lush tropical plants and line the shelves with heady frangipani and jasmine-scented bath oils. In the shower, hang a loofah at the ready for a quick skin scrub before drying yourself with a super soft and absorbent bamboo bath towel.
11. Give your outdoor area a tiki bar makeover
Sling some palm-leaf thatch or even freshly cut banana leaves up and over the roof of a cabana or shed, add a weathered timber bar and some matching bar stools and you’ve instantly created a homespun version of Trader Vic’s iconic Polynesian bar. If you really want to get into the swing, try your hand at mixing up a Mai Tai; the recipe below isn’t the original and signature one that Trader Vic invented in 1944, but it comes close.
Ingredients:
Method:
Sling some palm-leaf thatch or even freshly cut banana leaves up and over the roof of a cabana or shed, add a weathered timber bar and some matching bar stools and you’ve instantly created a homespun version of Trader Vic’s iconic Polynesian bar. If you really want to get into the swing, try your hand at mixing up a Mai Tai; the recipe below isn’t the original and signature one that Trader Vic invented in 1944, but it comes close.
Ingredients:
- 2 oz of an amber rum
- juice of one lime
- ½ oz orange curaçao
- ¼ oz rock candy syrup
- ½ oz orgeat syrup
Method:
- add all the ingredients to a shaker and fill with crushed ice
- shake vigorously
- garnish with a sprig of fresh mint and a lime wedge
12. Illuminate your home with a soft glow
Many island-style living rooms benefit from mood lighting, courtesy of low-wattage, but you can also install LEDs to replicate the warm, slightly yellow glow of old incandescent globes. Fish traps and other woven baskets turned upside down can make great shades, but there are also plenty of woven pendants to choose from that are expressly made for this purpose. Bunch them together at different heights to create an impressive visual focus above, as seen in the nine on display in this hut.
Many island-style living rooms benefit from mood lighting, courtesy of low-wattage, but you can also install LEDs to replicate the warm, slightly yellow glow of old incandescent globes. Fish traps and other woven baskets turned upside down can make great shades, but there are also plenty of woven pendants to choose from that are expressly made for this purpose. Bunch them together at different heights to create an impressive visual focus above, as seen in the nine on display in this hut.
13. Set up a spontaneous siesta spot
An outdoor bed, shaded by palms – or indeed any tall trees – is irresistible to those wanting to de-stress with an afternoon nap. If you don’t have an extra bed, use a hammock to achieve a similar effect. If you are lucky enough to be able to complement this with the sounds of waves lapping nearby, your tensions will soon be a distant memory.
TELL US
Do you have any holiday island-bought homewares, treasures or trinkets? Tell us about them in the Comments section.
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So Your Style Is: Tropical
An outdoor bed, shaded by palms – or indeed any tall trees – is irresistible to those wanting to de-stress with an afternoon nap. If you don’t have an extra bed, use a hammock to achieve a similar effect. If you are lucky enough to be able to complement this with the sounds of waves lapping nearby, your tensions will soon be a distant memory.
TELL US
Do you have any holiday island-bought homewares, treasures or trinkets? Tell us about them in the Comments section.
MORE
How to Bring Balinese Style Home From Your Holiday
Palm Prints Make a Welcomed Appearance Indoors
So Your Style Is: Tropical
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If you were ever to find yourself washed up on a tropical island, living in a simple beach hut with gentle waves lapping at your door, you would more than likely want to spend plenty of time outside in a shady spot, with only the sound of native wildlife and the crash of a wave on a distant reef to distract you. I guess you are thinking ‘Oh, if only it were so’, but don’t worry, be happy, for you can get this look at home.
This blissful scenario can be created by simply setting up an outdoor living room on your deck or patio. Low-slung seating will set a casual tone for informal parties and gatherings, especially if teamed with a mix of floor pillows and chairs to lounge about on.