10 Tips for adding Woven Wicker & Rattan to Your Home Decor
& still look Chic
Why Not Wicker?
Wicker isn't what it used to be
A Top Designer Go To
Add Texture, Tropical Flair and even Color with Wicker Here and There, why not?
Wicker, rattan and natural woven goods are all great pieces to add to any room.
And lets face it, we all probably have some old wicker or rattan piece that's been around forever that never quite made it to the donation or Facebook Market Place just yet.
Well I"m here to tell you why you should maybe just hang onto those vintage goodies.
Wicker is all about Texture! And Texture my friends is the key to adding interest and variety to any home design.
Rattan and woven furniture isn't what it used to be. It's come along way from the bygone days of Boho hippie style.
You can still easily capture that feeling if that's what you're after, but today's wicker and rattan are stylish and easy to mix into just about any decor.
Here are my Top Ten Tips for Adding Wicker and Rattan to your home Decor While still looking Chic!
Pamona Wicker Side Chair in Natural design by Selamat
Antibes Flush Mount design by Currey & Company
Cocktail 2-Tier Pendant design by Selamat
Desmona Sofa in Natural design by Selamat
1. Lift it Up
Super cool and trendy to day are swings, specifically hanging rattan swings. They are all over the internet for casual chic, California cozy, coastal modern interiors. Kids love them as well as adults. Come on who doesn't love to swing? Not so surprising this is a style borrowed from the BoHo hippie days of the past.
Serena & Lily has done quite a bit to help ramp up the woven furniture look with their current catalog of great furniture. I mean how cozy and cute is this hanging chair? This is a rattan classic stepped up a notch.
This circle chair is super fun for a game room or outdoor patio. Lifted up and the perfect fit for two.
2. Make a Big Statement
Why not make the texture piece or home decor item be THE STATEMENT in the room? The key to using texture in natural products is to use it sparingly. Don't go whole hog with a full on matching set of all things wicker and rattan. That is the absolute worst thing to do. Less is More when it comes to using texture with wicker and rattan. If the statement piece like a bed is textural, the rest is not.
William Sanoma Home has (IMO) great furniture and is one of my favorite internet shopping sites.
A go to for just about anything I'm ever looking for AND some of the best woven beds around. IF you dare to go big and get a wicker or woven texture bed, stop there and add in other pieces that are simple and compliment the statement piece.
If you are looking for another style bed, check out my shopping page BEDS HERE
and for tips on Internet Online Furniture Shopping Here
3. Bold & Bright
In this breakfast room I created a coastal - casual - modern space useing rattan. It just happens to be painted, but the chairs are rattan. Colorful, bright, happy just a cozy spot to eat or entertain.
Below you can find a link to these same chairs as well as others from the same line. Selamet Deisgns have some great modern takes on classic wicker and rattan furniture.
In the bedroom below, I used all sorts of texture but bold and standing out is the woven light fixture in the center of the room.
4. Light it Up
Texture in lighting! Yes, there are Tons of great light fixtures in all sorts of natural materials that can be the statement in the room. Add one to any room of the house.
5. Go Funky
There is no way you could use six of these Anthropologie Plumage Chairs, in room in your home.
But one statement piece like this current version of the vintage peacock chair will definitely be a statement or focal point of fun and interest in any room. Great in a guest bedroom, fun as host chair(s) in the dining room.
For sure you will run into something like this in any vintage store, possibly Goodwill and sometimes at a local garage sale.
6. Vintage is Cool
You may be thinking that I am repeating myself here. But Vintage doesn't have to be kooky and kitch. Let's not forget that everything old is new again at some point in time. The go to natural woven wicker and rattan looks of today are nothing more than new versions of what was hip long ago.
The difference with wicker and rattan is the image that comes to mind when you think of it is old Florida condos furnished Top to Bottom in matching bad rattan and wicker sets. You know Miami retirement.
The kick to that baaaad image is for years, vintage collectors have been picking up those exact pieces for years and now they are collectors items.
I personally have a love of all things old, some of my former designer co-workers dubbed me the youngest old lady designer they know. (Ha Ha who's laughing now?!)
Some of my favorite shopping spots in Palm Beach are filled to the brim with vintage wicker and rattan. If you get a chance check them out.
Palm Beach Regency / Circa Who / Bamboo & Rattan
Here's an interesting article from the WSJ about Bamboo & Rattan in WPB
Here's a link to a Pintrest Search for Vintage Wicker some pretty cool pieces!
Personal Disclaimer...I am currently using a natural woven coffee table that was in my house as a kid! It lived in storage for a L-O-N-G time and recently made a reappearance in my Living Room. Honestly, I'm not sure if I love it for the sentiment or the look but either way, it's staying!
7. Works Outdoors or Indoors
100% True! Most rattan can withstand living covered outdoors. It makes sense then if you are looking to capture the outdoors in our create one Great Room that includes your outdoor areas wicker and rattan are for you!
Almost every outdoor furniture line carries wicker or a synthetic wicker that can live 100% outdoors. Casual and comfortable outdoor living at it's best.
8. Easy Care
Hose it off, literally you can hose it off to clean it. Does't get easier than that! I vacuum mine regularly and about once a year drag it outside and hose it off.
9. Durable
If it's been around for a long time, it must be sturdy. Wicker and rattan are both, been around and sturdy.
10. Flexible
Paint it, wrap it, reupholster it so many ways to change up both wicker and rattan. Plain brown rattan painted becomes an entirely new look and perhaps another decade of life out of a simple piece of furniture. No to mention you can get any look you desire from wicker and rattan, coastal modern, casual farmhouse, cottage quaint, tropical paradise. You name it, wicker and rattan work.
There you go. My Top Ten Tips for Using Wicker and Rattan in your Home Decor.
I hope you found a good reason to keep, reuse or find something wicker or rattan to add to your home.
Till Next time.....
