Kiva ladders are popular Southwestern decorating accessories.
Southwestern decorating is also called Santa Fe décor. Southwestern decor relies on warm desert hues highlighted with bright fabrics and rough textures. Handcrafted objects complement the Southwest look and tie it to Native American and Mexican cultures. Natural elements like desert plants and water also play a role in a Southwest-style bedroom. This decorating style is not limited to homes in the Southwest; it can bring a warm, desert feeling to any home. Does this Spark an idea?
Instructions
1. Choose colors that reflect nature. Paint three walls the color of sand and highlight the fourth with a burnished orange like a desert sunset. Use a textured paint that resembles stucco. Throw a bright Aztec-inspired spread on your bed, accessorized with cactus green, yellow, orange and brown throw pillows. Sponge paint a corner fireplace, known as a kiva, in soft beiges and sands. Choose the palest blue for window and door trim, adding a touch of sky.
2. Select rustic furniture. A bed fashioned from logs or a heavy wooden one stained in a dark shade with solid head and foot boards will draw the eye. Or go with one painted in a desert green or distressed red. To anchor a wall, choose an oversized armoire sporting intricate carvings for a Mexican flair. Place a roomy armchair in a sunny corner accompanied by a floor lamp made from logs or crafted to look like a cactus and topped with a suede shade. Choose tooled leather bedside tables and top them with heavy, wrought iron lamps. Hang a wrought iron chandelier above your bed.
3. Decide on textiles. Upholster your chairs with linen, leather or suede. Dot the floor with coarsely woven throw rugs in American Indian motifs resembling primitive cave drawings. Choose a soft cotton comforter cover with an animal or desert pattern. Hang nubby linen or handwoven curtains from wrought iron rods at your windows.
4. Shop for handcrafted objects like pottery and baskets and arrange them on shelves, tables and dressers. Fill a corner with cactus of different heights planted in terra cotta pots. Drape a rustic woven blanket over a chair back or the foot of your bed. Hang one on the wall. Lean a kiva ladder, like those used in Native American cliff dwellings, against the wall. Use it as a place to hang your scarves and necklaces, or display a collection of quilts, weavings or bunches of dried herbs. Add punch with copper wall art in sun, lizard, cactus and moon motifs. Create an oasis with a small fountain.
Tags: wrought iron, from logs, like desert, Native American, Southwestern decorating
