Tropical Decor Style

Tropical decor is all about the materials that you use for the most everyday things. For instance, when your bed, bedside table, dresser, entertainment center, coffee table, dining room table and chairs, bar, patio seating, sofa and chairs, picture frames, table mats, and floor mats, and beaded door curtains, are all made of bamboo, or bamboo and rattan combined, you make a very strong statement that you are in a tropical frame of mind. Add gauzy white curtains to your windows, and drape your canopy bed in white filmy mosquito netting, and every breeze that makes the fabrics lift and sway will remind you of the balmy breezes on a tropical island.

Cover the upholstery on your seat cushions in a bamboo-silk print featuring birds of paradise or banana leaves for a splash of color.

Frame your favorite photo of the beach or waves on one wall, and on the opposite wall, hang a picture of palm trees. If you then rig a hammock in your living room, you'll be able to look at the sea on one side, and the palm trees on the other, just like you would if you were there on the island. This is even more effective if you paint murals on the walls, instead of just hanging small pictures. Some posters can be enlarged to the size of a wall using a special laser printer. If you attach a giant poster to your wall using wallpaper glue, it will be like having a mural. You'll feel like your room is much bigger, and be able to fantasize about walking or sailing off towards the horizon.

Accessories made of coconut shells and sea shells really help to set a tropical mood. These are available in candle holders, cooking utensils, carved animal figures, and all kinds of other goodies to reinforce the tropical theme.

Tropical paradise is all about an abundance of large perfumed flowers. Silk flowers in pink, orange, and red would make a lovely focal point for a room. Spread them around so that the whole space feels covered in flowers. Then burn a candle under a dish of perfumed oil and water. When it evaporates, the room will smell like the perfume. Choose a scent that smells like a tropical flower, and the silk flowers will seem to come alive.

The tropics have an an enormous variety of fruit, so be sure to include paper-mache fruit in the decor. You can hang these colorful decor accents from the curtain rods or canopy frame at different heights.

Fill the room with exotic plants if they will survive in your climate. If not, simply fill the room with as many broad leafed and fern type plants as you can.

Wrap the arms and legs of a stuffed monkey toy around one of the canopy posts, or the side of the entertainment center, so that it looks as though it is climbing the furniture.

Paint or attach a mural of a tropical reef to the wall across from the bed. The rainbow of colored fish make for a delightful focal point when you lie in bed drifting off to sleep to the recorded sounds of the surf on your CD player. You can also paint parrots in flight on the ceiling and upper part of the walls. Attach a row of painted wooden parrots to the top beams of the canopy over your bed. They will look as though perching there on top of the mosquito netting. As parrots come in a variety of colors, you can make lovely decor accents this way.

Paper parasols hung upside-down from the ceiling make good ceiling light shades, and are often painted with pretty designs on colorful paper. In addition to the parasol, add a huge painted fan as wall decor; these will give your tropical decor a South East Asian flavor. If you prefer an Amazonian theme, be sure to include a mural of a huge river with pink dolphins, rather than an ocean themed mural. If you would prefer to be in the tropics of Africa, add stuffed gorilla toys to the room, and misty mountains covered in lush vegetation to the mural, rather than an ocean or river theme.

Bright green snakes and large predatory felines help to convince us that we are in the tropical jungle. These can be introduced in the mural, or with stuffed toys. The stuffed snake will look good spiralled around a canopy post or beam. These are available with wire to make them bend more easily and stay in place. The cats can be stretched along tree branches in the mural, or lounging on the furniture. If you have real cats, they will look particularly impressive in this setting.