Feel completely yourself in a bohemian kitchen

Is your kitchen ready for a makeover, do you love colour, exotic prints and doing your own thing? Then the bohemian kitchen is perfect for you!

Bohemian, also known as ‘boho’, is a style adopted from travelling peoples such as the Roma and Sinti. The style originally comes from France, where artists, writers and poets began to distance themselves from the prevailing social norms in the nineteenth century. They wanted more freedom, both in life and in artistic expression. By adopting the style of travelling peoples, they felt more connected to that freedom.

The style was colourful, featured many natural materials and happily coloured outside the lines of prevailing norms and values. The French people who adopted this style called themselves ‘bohemians’, and applied it not only to interiors, but also to clothing and artistic expression.

The bohemian style contains plenty of colour. The palette is based on nature: light shades such as beige, cream and eggshell, and earthy shades such as sand, ochre and saffron. Colours can be subtle, but they can also really pop. You can also incorporate colour in fun prints on the wall or tiles with an exotic motif.

Don’t want to make the kitchen too busy? Then use the 60-30-10 rule. Sixty per cent of the surface is for the main colour, which you might use for the walls and ceiling, for example. A lighter shade is usually chosen for this. Thirty per cent is for the second colour, which you might use for the kitchen cabinet doors and window dressings, for example. Ten per cent is for the accent colour, such as in kitchen accessories and tea towels.

The bohemian kitchen contains many natural materials. Travelling peoples used whatever they encountered along the way, incorporating it into the interiors of their caravans. Natural materials also come into their own in the kitchen. Think, for example, of a natural stone worktop, wicker baskets on the worktop and a rough wooden kitchen table. Choose linen curtains or wooden blinds if you want a slightly more luxurious look in the kitchen. Cleaning wooden blinds is very easy, and by fixing the blinds in a particular position you determine the level of privacy and light entering the room yourself.

Are you opting for darker colours in the kitchen, such as dark blue, deep red and black? Then make sure you have extra light, preferably in the form of natural daylight. Keep the window as unobstructed as possible and don’t put a large plant on the windowsill or a chair in front of the window. Choose window dressings that don’t cover the window when open, such as pleated blinds or a roller blind for the kitchen. Choose dimmable spotlights and aim them so that there isn’t a dark corner in the kitchen. By choosing dimmable lighting, you determine the atmosphere in the kitchen yourself. Dimmed mood lighting for dining, for example, and bright light when you’re cooking.

Bohemian interiors often make references to travel and the exotic. This gives you plenty of freedom to have fun with accessories, such as souvenirs from trips or day trips, decorative tea towels and kitchen accessories. Want more references to nature? Then put a few plants in the kitchen!

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