April 18, 2009

Decorating African Style…

How to decorate your Home or a room with an African Touch

Africa is a place that gets into you in one way or another.  When you leave it, there is something that you miss such the sounds, sights, smells, the vibrancy of colors.

Now I was running a Victorian Bed and Breakfast with doilies, frills, lace.  It just was not the same.  The old Victorian furniture was nice, but it certainly was not me. 

I lived on the top floor of the house, there were some treasures that I brought home from places such as Rwanda, Kenya and Uganda.  They were nice, but there was something missing, the colors, the hues of Africa, those touches that can transform most any room into something that expresses what you sense and feel. 

There is no store where you can just walk in and pick up all the things you might need in order to transform a room, in my case a whole apartment.  Yes, there are stores that sell African artifacts and that is great, but I wanted to transform my living space into a place that expressed what I liked and felt about Mother Africa.  Besides, I am not a decorator, I am simply a person with certain tastes and likes

Enter the concept of grazing…Meaning, you go into a store such as Pier 1, Winners in Canada, Home Goods, TJ Maxx, Ross in the USA.  Whatever store you enter, you look for that something that will be part of the African touch for your home, that certain something that has a bit of African Decor in it. 

You can find things most anywhere, but you have look, spot it, and then in your mind place it in that place at home where it would blend in with what you already have.  The word “African” or Made in Ghana or Kenya does not have to be on it, it simply has to add to what you already have, and blend into the overall picture of what you want to create-that African Touch.

Goodwill, Salvation Army, a store called Stupid Prices, Costco, and even a head-shop (had some great sheets that looked African and became African wall décor and added one sheet as a canopy over my bed). 

A Bistro Table from Pier one with basket weave look went into my eating area, a close out of the “Ivory Coast Pattern” from Mikasa graced that table with some great funky silverware made somewhere that just complimented, glasses that could pass for African decor. 

Pillows with lots browns in them, some patterned, some reflecting the red clay of Africa.  Sheets with patterns that were African, none made in Africa, but they all had that look.  I took put some pictures of Africa and decorated the wall, batiks on another, masks on another with fabric behind them, the fabric was simple sarong, but it looked like a Kanga from the Swahili Coast of Kenya. 

Doors that were boring were accented with dark bamboo that I nailed against the post and framed a plain white door.  Wooden beaded curtains, and lots of plants.  Miniature palms, even a miniature banana plant to remind me of the Matoke gardens of Uganda.  Even a Christmas tree with wooden African Animal ornaments, a bit different, but it expressed what I liked..

When you entered the place, you thought you had entered another world, Africa, a touch of it was here in an 1896 Victorian house in Bellingham, Washington State.  It felt like home, it felt like Africa. 

Here I am back in Kampala, in the midst of Africa living in a small apartment in a typical African neighborhood, the things I used to pick up weekly are often harder to find here in Uganda than they were back in North America…but once again I have become my little quest to add a touch of Africa to my home…It’s not hard…it simply takes a look, grazing for what will fit into your place…to create a touch of Africa, the way I like it...jon