Dark Boho Decor: How to Get the Look in Your Apartment Styling
Looking for dark boho decor inspiration? Let’s talk about how to get this groovy, moody decor look in your apartment styling!
In this video, I’m talking about what dark bohemian decor is, how to find interior design inspiration for it, and how to achieve the look with your small apartment decor.
If you want dark decor inspiration, love the boho interior design style, and want some ideas on how to marry the two, look no further! Let’s get you started on your dark boho apartment decor with a bunch of visual inspiration and interior styling tips!
Video Transcript ↓
A lot of people, when they think about Bohemian decor, conjure an image of a bright, airy space covered in plants, with pristine white walls and pops of Southwestern patterns... An overall very clean, breezy, well coordinated and well curated room that gently whispers, “I am boho”.
Now, I'm not knocking it. I actually love that kind of boho. I think it's gorgeous. But there's an entirely different kind of boho out there that you should know about…
It's dark boho! And in this video, I'm going to talk all about what dark boho decor is, how to find inspiration for it and how to do it in your space.
And if you’re new to my channel, my name is Steffi and I’m the creator of the interior style blog Moda Misfit as well as the online course Small Apartment Styling School.
And you’re watching Living Pretty, the place for apartment styling tips! So if you want to get inspired with me every week, be sure to subscribe!
Also, have you downloaded my free Apartment Styling Handbook yet?
It's a bite-sized roadmap for decorating your apartment so that you can create a space you love - without feeling like you're stumbling alone in the dark. Because sometimes you just want someone to tell you what to do to decorate your apartment, right?
So download the FREE Apartment Styling Handbook for some extra help!
What is dark boho decor?
So what is dark boho decor? First of all, there are lots of ways to do it. There is definitely no exact formula.
In fact, in last week's video - part one of this dark decor series - I talked all about the fact that dark decor is all about freedom. Freedom of expression, freedom from any set rule book, and the freedom to express whatever little dark shadows might be within you.
You can watch that video right here:
Even though there’s a lot of freedom when it comes this style, I'm gonna give you an idea of what typically constitutes dark boho decor.
Dark boho decor will typically marry a dark color palette with an eclectic mix of patterns, textures, and layers.
It should feel sumptuous and even indulgent - in a good way. And you can also think of dark boho decor as boho, but with a little bit of a dark edge.
But really, the number one rule when it comes to dark decor is that there are no rules. Remember it's all about freedom!
Finding visual inspiration for dark boho decor
Now let's talk about how to find visual inspiration for dark boho decor!
So first of all, there is, of course, the tried and true, old faithful:
Pinterest.
Here are some pins that really embody dark boho decor:
In addition to using Pinterest to find visual inspiration, there's the other old faithful:
Instagram.
There are some amazing dark boho decor Instagram accounts out there. Here are a few of my favorites!
@couthyhome
Dark boho decor meets maximalism.
@huizedop
Dark boho decor meets minimalism + scandi
@bealach_uige_bothy
Dark boho decor with playful pops of color
How to do dark boho decor
Now let's talk about how to make dark boho happen in your very own apartment!
I'm gonna walk you through, step by step, how I would start shopping for my apartment if I were going for the dark boho vibe, which I pretty much actually did in my space; my apartment is a pretty dark boho style place!
But if I were starting with a completely blank apartment with no current furniture or decor, here's what I would do first:
I would get organized.
I think one of the big things that stops us in our tracks when we are shopping for decor is the sheer overwhelm, number of options, and how difficult it is to keep track of everything.
Honestly, the shopping process can be so intimidating that I think it stops a lot of us in our tracks and keeps us from decorating our apartments at all.
If I were shopping for dark decor, I would start with my Living Pretty Organizer.
It's a brand new tool that I recently created that will help you shop for decor in a more organized, inspiring way!
The Living Pretty Organizer is basically a done-for-you, plug-and-play decor shopping list template.
It makes it so you can keep track of photos and links to items you're thinking about buying (so you don't lose track of anything!) while also keeping you visually inspired as you shop.
It's like your own little personal shopping assistant!
Here's how I would use my Living Pretty Organizer if I were shopping for myself.
Let’s say I'm gonna create a dark decor living room. So I'll be filling in this living room column with various pieces of decor as if I were creating a brand new dark boho living room for myself. So let me show you how this works!
This way, if I were really shopping for my living room, I'd have everything saved in the Living Pretty Organizer - photos, links, notes, everything is right here. All nice and organized in a pretty little package. I don't know about you, but my little type-A heart loves this.
So if this looks helpful to you and seems like it'd be a good fit for how your brain operates, you can grab the Living Pretty Organizer right here. I really think it'll help you out in your shopping process!
Making a dark boho decor moodboard
After using my Living Pretty Organizer as basically my shopping assistant to help me track everything that I'm finding while I'm shopping, then I would make a mood board!
I like to think of this process as using the Living Pretty Organizer to use while you're shopping, to keep track of everything and stay organized.
And then once you've really narrowed down the things that you really think you might wanna get, then you'll move those over to a moodboard so that you can really start envisioning how things will look together in your space!
I've mentioned this in a video in the past, but it bears repeating here because it just shows the power of mood boards:
My Small Apartment Styling School student, Ella - after she took the lesson in the course that is all about creating mood boards - made this mood board to help her envision how the things she wanted to buy would look in her space.
And then she actually created the moodboard look in her apartment!
Creating a mood board first, and then translating it into the space, allowed Ella to not only envision how things might look together, but it made it so that she wouldn't waste money on things that ended up not really fitting together.
How many times have we done that? We buy something and we think it's gonna look amazing in our space, but we see it in person and it's just kind of a disappointment. That really sucks.
So if I were shopping for dark boho decor right now, here's what it would look like if I were to create a mood board for that:
So those were my tips and thoughts on dark boho decor; what it is, how to find inspiration for it, and how to make it happen in your space!
Let me know in the comments below, do you think you would ever wanna try dark boho decor? Are you already rocking it in your space? Let me know your thoughts!
And if you’re still not sure how to create your dream apartment and you're wondering things like:
“How do I discover my personal style so that I can make these good choices for my decorating?”
“How do I become more confident in my interior styling choices?”
“How do I mix styles?”
“How do I actually arrange things in my apartment?”
Then I got you covered…
If you're wanting to dive deeper into learning about how to style your apartment step by step, that's where my online course Small Apartment Styling School comes in!
Small Apartment Styling School basically holds your hand through your styling process and tells you exactly what to do step-by-step, so by the end of the course you feel like you know your style, you know what to buy, and you know how to place it in your apartment with confidence.
Imagine living in an apartment that actually boosts your mood everyday and makes you feel welcome, and makes you feel a sense of belonging and being at home.
Just because you rent your space doesn't mean you can't own your style, and Small Apartment Styling School helps you do that!
My current students have been a raving about how helpful the course was for decorating their apartments and I am so proud of what they've achieved after enrolling in the course!
Small Apartment Styling School will help you decorate your apartment step by step, including:
Figuring out your personal style
Choosing a color palette
Mixing different interior styles
Learning about the different interior styles that are out there and which ones might be a good fit for you
Arranging and accessorizing your apartment room by room - living room, bedroom, kitchen, bathroom.
All of this and more is in Small Apartment Styling School, so if you want to learn more and join the waitlist for the next time it opens for enrollment, click here!
For daily glimpses into my studio apartment life, you can follow me on Instagram @moda.misfit.
And for regular doses of apartment styling tips and small space decor inspiration, subscribe to my YouTube channel and hit the bell to be notified when a new video goes up every week.