20 Boho Living Room Ideas for a More Relaxed Home
If you want your living room to be warm, inviting, and filled with romantic touches, you should embrace the bohemian design style. Boho living rooms create a welcoming, free-spirited vibe and a space that encourages relaxation and community within your home. This design style easily adapts to any mood you're in without requiring much effort. Although everyone might think they understand this laid-back, eclectic style, it can be challenging to know where to begin. Whether you want a full boho living room or just want to incorporate a few key elements, our guide offers plenty of inspiration from designer homes.
The boho aesthetic has a rich history and many layers. You'll find elements of this beloved style everywhere, from the Anthropologie store down the street to your favorite coffee shop. "Originally, the bohemian aesthetic was a counterculture in the late 18th century following the French Revolution," says designer Kim Gordon. "A rebellion that reflected a section of society that lived an unconventional and often nomadic lifestyle."
We've highlighted 20 unique boho living rooms to inspire you. The sooner you decorate, the sooner you can relax in your new space.
For more living room inspiration:
Focus on Organic Shapes
Since bohemian design is influenced by a free-spirited mindset, don't use a lot of rigidity and straight lines in the bulk of your decor. Organic shapes and a lack of structure are two pillars of this design style, which is why designer Kim Gordon used a curved couch and rounded ottoman in this boho living room.
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Layer Patterns and Textures
"What’s nice about the boho aesthetic is that you can simply add to your living room now. Bringing that exciting and eclectic feeling into your home means layers and patterns," Gordon says. You don't need to change everything about your space to create your dream boho living room. Because it's extremely customizable, simply adding more accessories, decor, colors, and prints will allow you to capture the style without major projects.
Mix in Local Styles
This boho living room takes stylistic cues from its Palm Beach setting. The design team at Dekay & Tate Interiors used a bold color palette in this living room along with florals, organic shapes, and antique pieces, explains Nina Grauer, the principal designer at the firm.
Go Heavy on the Greenery
Using a lot of vegetation and flowers in your interior can really help bring out the boho style. Interior designer Frank de Biasi transformed this Park Avenue apartment in NYC to have a tropical garden vibe, enhancing the bohemian style with a lot of patterns and more traditional decor.
Upholster Your Walls
A boho living room is cozy by default, but you can make it feel even cozier by choosing to upholster your walls. Okay, maybe not all of them—one accent wall is all you need. Designer David Mann upholstered the wall panels behind this daybed to make the space feel like one giant pillow. We'd love to nap here.
Look to the Architecture
You can easily capture bohemian style with your decor choices, but focusing on the architectural details will bring your boho living room up a notch. In this sunny living room porch area, designer Lisa Tharp added arches to the windows to match the rest of the house. However, the curved lines help bring out a more eclectic vibe so easily.
Pile on the Plush Pillows
Layer more colors and patterns in your boho living room by filling your seating areas with joyful throw pillows. In this colorful room, designer Molly Luetkemeyer displayed five fun pillows on just one side of this big custom sectional, bringing different hues and eye-popping prints to the space.
Paint Your Ceiling
In the same home as above, Molly Luetkemeyer painted stripes on the lounge ceiling. It evokes a beachy cabana vibe, enhanced by the curated mix of eclectic furnishings in this boho living room.
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Include Vintage Pieces
Mix vintage furnishings with modern pieces in your boho living room to encourage a free-spirited aesthetic. As seen on this table vignette designed by Molly Luetkemeyer, new and old combine beautifully for a super vibrant, lively space.
Use Heavily Saturated Colors
Bohemian style favors mellow hues over boldness. For your boho living room, choose heavily saturated colors instead of garish, bright ones. Designer Janie Molster balanced the strong architecture of a historic home with blue walls and red curtains to achieve this look.
Take Inspiration From Nature
Designer Wendy Wurtzburger and her husband called their boho living room the "nature room" because it was filled with organic objects they had collected over the years. Bohemian style often draws from botanical motifs, so let the natural world inspire you as you style your living room.
Make It Golden
Mixing textures and materials is essential in bohemian design, so bringing in a pop of gold that reflects the light can bring a lot of life to your space. In the same home as above, Wendy Wurtzburger used dark, moody colors in this living room, but the gold frames in her gallery wall make it feel more playful.
Bring in Animal Motifs
Along with layering plants and naturalistic motifs into your decor, add an animal accent as well! To take your boho living room to the next level, use quirky and eccentric animal figures, patterns, and prints like Wendy Wurtzburger did with these vases.
Give It a Relaxed Energy
'Bohemian' and 'free-spirited' are basically synonyms, so your boho living room shouldn't feel stuffy in any sense of the word. Designer Schuyler Samperton has such a relaxed vibe to her space that she lets her dog, Tricky, freely roam around the house, no matter the room.
Hang Up a Chair
Make your boho living room feel like a casual lounging space by installing a hanging chair. This rattan one from Serena & Lily that designer Frances Merrill hung in this California home really helps make the room feel more casual and laidback with a calming energy.
Add Warmth
Does your boho living room feel as cozy as it looks? Along with layering in color and texture, the furnishings themselves should invite guests to sit back and chill out. In this space, designer Frances Merrill chose a roomy, leather sectional that can accommodate numerous sitters and throw pillows.
Bring in Lots of Rattan
Bohemian design draws on many prominent influences and motifs such as Moorish style and rattan accents. This unique outdoor boho living room in Ashley Sharpe's Palm Beach home showcases these elements beautifully.
Go Heavy on the Wood Paneling
Even if you have a "less is more" attitude when it comes to furniture and decor, you can still capture a bohemian aesthetic with other aspects, such as wood paneling. In our Whole Home from 2018, this boho living space isn't filled to the brim with furniture—it still leaves a good amount of space to move around and breathe—but it heavily relies on the wood-paneled wall to help bring in the free-spirited vibe. The layering of the rugs helps too.
Take It (Partially) Outside
Even if you don't have a green thumb, the outdoor scenery might be all you need to evoke a lush look. If you have enormous picture windows and a stunning view, creating a boho living room is nearly effortless, as the natural scenery acts as ever-changing wallpaper.
Throw on a Quilt
This gorgeous sunroom in our Whole Home from 2023 mixes elements of traditional and European design, creating what designer Claire Staszak likes to call "luxury boho". She makes it feel homier and slightly more eclectic with the gorgeous sari quilt lying across the couch, beckoning whoever is home to snuggle up on it.
Related Story: 32 Dreamy Sunroom Ideas to Make Your Space Even More Relaxing
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