African Style: How to Adapt It for the Apartment Interior  

Africa is a continent that has not yet been 100% explored. Its exotic charm beckons and attracts many people: unusual flora, unusual fauna, and strange climactic twists and turns are ambiguous but at the same time beautiful. Projecting the characteristics of the mainland onto a modern apartment, one thing becomes clear: it is these features that will help push excessive urbanization into the background. Therefore, if you are looking for a bright and cozy design for decorating an apartment, then the African style in the interior is one of the most attractive options. Saturated warm colors, natural materials, and unique decor will beautify any room; ethnic-looking motifs are always relevant.

However, it is not easy to create a harmonious environment – sometimes, it is difficult to resist not adding a few more little things to the decoration. How to maintain balance without turning the room into a museum or souvenir shop?

Furniture

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First of all, there shouldn’t be a lot of it – the interior can not be overloaded but even ascetic. Synthetic coatings and facades should be avoided whenever possible because the African interior style is defined by using only natural materials. Choose from the following options:

– angular furniture has heavy shapes;

– mainly from dark breeds of wood;

– artisanal or colonial;

– rattan furniture is appropriate, a wicker vine is suitable (choose the best manufacturers and suppliers, such as Parasol);

– furniture items with African accents – small stools, ritual attributes (staves, drums, bowls).

Decoration

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Many building materials are suitable for surface finishing – stone, wood, wallpaper with a pattern characteristic of Africa. You can paint the walls in a warm sandy tone or wallpaper the same color. Paintings of animal silhouettes and tropical flora can also be used to embellish the walls. Choose stone or a wooden board for the flooring. An alternative to stone can be large-sized ceramic tiles that imitate it. It is advisable to make the ceiling light or beige. It can also be covered with bamboo slabs or drapery made from fabric.

Lighting

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Soft diffused warm light from various sources dominates the African interior. The wrong light may ruin even the most beautiful African interior. Warm light bulbs are preferable to cold light bulbs for this type of interior. Warm lampshades, chandelier shades, and yellowish lampshades will help to mask the cold morning.

Textile

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There are many natural fabrics in the African interior: linen, cotton, and silk. A rough stone or wooden floor is covered with deliberately “handmade” rugs and mats. Animal skins or imitations are hung on the walls, laid out on sofas, armchairs, and beds. Windows are most often decorated with plain linen curtains.

Decor

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The rooms are decorated with paintings depicting everyday scenes and landscapes, painted with wooden ritual masks – original symbols of African art. Archaic clay, wooden or bone figurines, vases, and jugs with original ornaments are placed on horizontal surfaces.

Plants

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If appropriately chosen, plants will be the final note in the African interior. It could be holly plants, palm trees, or exotic flowers.

Begonias and geraniums are examples of flowering plants that do not match the African style. It’s also crucial not to go overboard with the landscaping and transform the apartment into a tropical paradise.

African Style Kitchen

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We want to highlight the kitchen and talk about the features of the African style in its interior. After all, the kitchen is a place that brings the whole family together every day. Stylistic African accents can be placed in different functional areas of the room:

• To design a kitchen apron, you need to use tiles or panels of wood and plastic. To protect the surface from grease and moisture, such panels should be covered with heat-resistant glass.
• For wall decoration in African style, vinyl wallpaper or ceramic tiles are used. Artificial stone coverings will look great, painted or finished with washable whitewash.
• It is allowed to install compact and functional pieces of furniture. If wicker models look better on the veranda, in the dining room, and living room, then the kitchen is allowed to use a concisely designed soft corner with plain upholstery. Another option would be to use wooden furniture and stone finishes to match the souvenirs. Curtains, a fabric panel, or a carpet away from the cooking area will help place accents.
• Textiles in the kitchen should be combined with patterns on the surface of towels, tablecloths, and blinds. Kitchens with high window openings and wide window sills allow you to equip a place to relax. You will need to use roll-curtains with drawings and fabric pillows in a traditional design.

The creation of the African style in the interior is not limited to strict rules. Here you can experiment, but you need to remember that the design theme itself is very bright, expressive, energetic; it can become a source for the accumulation of strength, so the hot colorful direction is most suitable for enthusiastic, brilliant people who are looking at life with great optimism.