I'm afraid I don't have any tips on chillin' out like a '60's beatnik, where to find a local poetry reading, or if black turtleneck sweaters are right for you, but I can tell you how to add a bohemian vibe to your pad.
Rooms like the one shown above, designed by Roman Alonso of Commune and featured in House Beautiful, typify the look. Here's a list of things to add to your home to help create a similar hippy chic mood. Try one, or try them all!
- Flokati rugs: These wool shag rugs are great in low traffic areas and can be maintained by monthly shaking and cleaned occasionally in a large washer or bathtub with mild detergent.
- Kilim rugs: These flat weave rugs from Turkey are made with geometric patterns in a variety of styles and colors. They look great by themselves, but are extra bohemian layered in groups.
- Jewel tones: Look for fabrics with deep vibrant colors in ethnic prints or florals. Ways to add this fabric to your home is through curtains on windows or in doorways, pillows, upholstery, or blankets. You can also try painting furniture or your walls a nice jewel tone.
- Wall tapestries: You can use small scale rugs or ethnic fiber art to hang on your walls for a bohemian feel. Check out this post for more inspiration: Hanging Tapestries as Wall Art
- Casual book storage: Instead of neatly arranging your books on a shelf, by color, or by size, try letting loose and letting your collection have a mind of its own. Stack up books on tables — or on the floor — and use them as a base for lamps and other decorative objects.
- Lots of pillows: The point is to provide an atmosphere where people can chill out. I'm not talking about perfectly punched pillows, but rather piles of pillows haphazardly placed on sofas, or even better, on the floor. The best kinds of bohemian pillows are ones made from old kilim rugs, needlework cushions, or round shaped pillows.
- Informal art arrangements: Try steering away from perfectly placed artwork and hang a collection of beloved art, record albums, or even just loved objects, on your walls in an informal fashion. You might even go so far as to tack or tape up a collection of photos or pieces of your paper collection.
Image: House Beautiful
Which Wall Color Gives the Best Sleep?
Ana Creates a Community at Home
Good Food to Share 
The Big Book of Small, Cool Spaces 
Apartment Therapy Presents 
The Eight-Step Home Cure 
Z2 iPod Dock and Wi...
Soda Recipe: Homemade Ginger Ale
Recipe: Spring Fruit and Nut Tabouli
Guide to chillin' 60's style:
* Listen to these musicians--preferably while enjoying a spliff-- with friends (you know, people you just met 30 minutes ago): Spirit, Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin
* Avoid botox, boob jobs, and bankers
* Never wear a watch
* Always makeout / love the one you're with
* Do not be afraid to be different, follow your own beat, be an individual.
* Turn off the TV and turn on to books by Sartre, Nietzsche,and Helen Gurley Brown...
* Get a 1 bedroom walkup apartment on 10th Street in NYC for you and your 5 roommates (none of them related to you)
* Distrust anyone over 30 (especially people who were under 30 in the 60's)
gah, if only my brain would allow my apartment to be so loosey goosey. i'm envious of those who can pull this off beautifully.
The key to being loosey goosey is to keep it very clean. It only starts feeling unkempt when you can see the dust on the surfaces of your many jewel-toned treasures.
Hah, too funny. I recently wrote a blog about Bohemian Style/Kilim Pillows/Commune:
http://wanderloot.wordpress.com/2010/12/16/kilim-pillows-galore/
Another great source for this look is the book on mid-century modern interiors "Handcrafted Modern" by Leslie Williamson. The Eames house (Case Study #8) could easily be a place designed by Commune.
I love the bohemian look, though I like an eclectic look that incorporates more subtle colors with pops of luxurious purples.
This blog post is very similar to this one:
http://moodboard.typepad.com/my_weblog/2010/12/my-entry.html
I lived in Greenwich Village from 1968-1975, and have fond memories of one wall in the living room painted purple and green..and hung an orange painting (I found on the street) on the green side. Tiny place, with a shower in the kitchen. Had fun painting all the trim and exposed pipes in the kitchen acid green and bright pink (Betsy Johnson colors). I live in the midwest now, and have refined the bohemian style in a very personal way. Couldn't afford them then, but now have Turkish kilms, along with great doorway hangings from Turkey, Morocco and India. Never did like the Flotaki rugs. But will always love the Bohemian influence.
wish i still had my pillows from back then :(
Cute post. Although I'm an artist, I'm too OCD to be this Bohemian. Pretty groovy place, though.
8. Handmade objects.
You must see Hippyxic style. She is great! http://www.flickr.com/photos/hippyxic/sets/72157607122996546/
Just saw a good book on this subject--
Bohemian Chic: Decorating with Vintage and Salvage (Volume 1) [Paperback]
Marie Minnich (Author) Has a lot of good ideas in it.
darbyo... you make me want to see your space!!!!
I was a little kid in the 1960s and my brothers, who were ten plus years older, were hippies. We spent a lot of time with them babysitting me and my younger sister at their various college apartments (they went to school in the same town we lived in). What I remember about 60s style was people not bathing, and dirty apartments. Not my idea of a good time--then or now.
Bohemian living is not something you can create by imitating a "style". It is derived from making due with very little, and being attracted to the creative part of life. A Bohemian would not usually be worried about dust as suggested above, being too busy pursuing other things. And of course a Bohemian bookshelf is not carefully arranged because the books are read, and are appreciated for their content, not thought of as props or accessories. I don't think Bohemian is something to try and fake.
bohemian style was invented well before the 1960s. dirty apartments are not really a feature, just an interpretation.
Beatnick and hippy were two entirely different periods and lifestyles. Beatnicks were much more related to bohemians - and black turtlenecks - than hippies were.
I would consider bohemians to be the pre '50s subculture that influenced the beatniks, then the hippies, now the hipsters... it's just an eb and flow. Try not to get hung up on the semantics and enjoy the fun idea of letting loose a bit in the home decor department. :)
I thought the whole point of being bohemian was to not have to follow a style.
or you could just buy from Anthropologie
hrm... so if 5 out of 7 apply to me.. could i have been 'living bohemian' and not even have been aware of it?
I have a flokati rug that I had dyed purple. I was just wondering today if there was any decorating situation that it would actually look good in. Now I know!
Indeed, princessfiona, and before Wilde and William Morris in Britain there were the Parisians: think Georges Sand's circle, and the whole world tour wanting to bring the warmth and exotisme back home of European C19!
The comment about dust was assuming that the term "bohemian" has been co-opted by the design/style community (which it has, like it or not) to name or describe a very real style trend, not necessarily a historical lifestyle. In any case, the dust is not attractive. I speak as a poet, crafter, crazy-lover and poor person: you can be bohemian and keep a clean home. :)
I like some of the colors and patterns, and wouldn't like the extra housework.
agreed, cagutierrez !! Well said :)
Was expecting more eye candy.
I would love to visit darbyo's home.
I enjoy vibrant colors and the *idea* of living in a space like this, but the kitsch/ethnic elements are too close to (my childhood) home and the bohemian-ness of it all reminds me of my artsy college in the 90s where we were pretending to live in the 60s. Fun times, but now that I'm over 30 (and clearly not to be trusted, lol) I want something more polished... though still colorful.
"Instead of neatly arranging your books on a shelf, by color, or by size, try letting loose and letting your collection have a mind of its own...." You know, as if books actually had something to say.... I love how arranging by author or title - like you might do if you read and refer back to your books - is not even part of the "neatness" equation!
lolafabiola,
I read, and refer back to, my books very frequently yet still keep them in no order. And I have quite the collection. It's just how I roll. But lack of order (or non-traditional order, such as color) isn't always indicative that the owners are not well-read :)
I suppose there IS some sort of method to my madness now that I think of it -- my most frequently referenced books seem clumped together....the lesser read books remain tucked away or used as platforms for vases and pottery....but beyond that it's pretty random
My first nonfiction sort is by subject, and my books are kept ordered because they come and go enough that I may not recall their appearance. Reference is easy, and any book that's here can be found fast. People with better memory for appearance may find strict ordering less useful. Whether the extra time and effort is worthwhile is up to the individual book owner.
"People with better memory for appearance may find strict ordering less useful. Whether the extra time and effort is worthwhile is up to the individual book owner."
Exactly. Very well-put Miami's Elaine :)
I love it!!!