Back to Bohemian decor: My house...

Bohemian style is all about mixing styles, patterns and influences using what you have and creating new things, so I got inspired one day to finally clean, and rearrange and decorate the living room....this is what I came up with using only what I have at the moment....

I collect cobal blue glass and previously the pieces above were on the windowill to catch the light. Thr problem is, it's getting colder and some of my plants needs to be moved indoors. So I cleared off the junk that had accumulated on my IKEA bookshelf, and placed them on here. It's not completely done, but it's close. The decorative boxes on the left hold candles extra wax, and room fragrances. I put tealights in every glass container that I could fit one in, this was taeken in the daytime but at night the effect is spectacular! The glass crescent moon holds mints. I'm a huge fan of decorative but functional items.

Anther IKEA bookshelf, this one is the bigger version of the one shown previously. It is big enough to hold most of my books, if they are double stacked....focus on the top though, where I used horizontal stacks of older books, a brown clay eastern euopean wine bottle, a Tibetan singing bowl, and a few other knick-knacks to make the space more interesting. One day I will be able to afford another bokshelf and make them all a bit more pretty and organized....

Fireplaces, even fake ones, are awesome stages for more stuff. The key is not to put too much stuff. I have some urns and flower arrangements I needed a place to put, so they're all crowded here, in between them are a couple nautical decorations and 2 gold bowls which are used as tea light holders. And the black marble is a great showcase for my hubby's trophies with an infinity candleholder behind them. A light coloured tablecloth on the coffee table (also IKEA, see a theme here?) hides the shelf of stuff under it, and protects the surface from (more) damage. Put a couple cool books ( preferably with photos) on the coffee table for guests to read, in this case I put a giant art book and a crochet instrution book for which my daughter is a model (and on the cover!). I had to, I'm her mother!

I know I know. It's neutral colours! Ok, I know I said I love colour etc. And this is mostly whites, creams browns right? Well, sadly at the moment it's all I have! The couch is vibrant red, and from IKEA. We got it from the thrift shop for £100. I have already moved some of my plants to the window, and to keep our privacy, as the house is right next to a busy road, I have painted tracing paper with watercolours to try and imitate stained glass. It was pretty, but not what I wanted, but for now, it works!!! I think I might take the white covers off the couches, cover the blue pillows, with...something vibrant and patterned....something...although the neutrals look very nice and grown up, it's wintertime, and the grey outside needs to be balanced with a dash of colour inside...

Oh I so wish I could paint the walls!!! And the windows...the walls would be a gold/turmeric colour in a sponged finish: http://www.artsparx.com/sponging.html a rag-rolled finish: http://www.artsparx.com/ragroll_ac-pmethodr.html or a colour-wash finish: http://www.artsparx.com/a_colorwash.asp
The colours I'm thinking of would be similar to these....for the living room, 

for the kitchen I would LOVE a vibrant yellow or a golden yellow, or perhaps with one red wall, I have a lovely little collection of handmade Mexican ceramics I got in Los Cabos in a cobalt blue design with yellow suns and white moons, so incorporating those colours would be fun! I also have a hand woven tablecloth from there as well with vibrant blues, greens, oranges, pinks yellows and reds. And a white china dinner set with gold edging. I need to find a way to mix the two styles... However, my husband has bought a VERY modern large art print of NYC...which is black and white, with bits of it coloured in bright colours. And we have a very nice, but very traditional formal dark wooden dining table and white brocaded-seat chairs. So none of these really fit together....oh, and did I mention the huge reddish orange wood corner shelf, with carved chinese dragons on it from Hong Kong? Yeah, where the kitchen is concerned, it's a bit random...