Tribal Bedding & Wallpaper - How to Mix Ethnic Patterns

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Please Note: The items’ actual colors may not be the same as how they’re depicted in the images in this blog, due to differences in computer monitors.

We’re seeing more and more of the Tribal Style nowadays. And we can understand why.

It’s colorful, eye-catching, and personality-filled.

But it isn’t for everyone. The same characteristics mentioned make this style appeal more to the bold and the adventurous.

That’s why we often see intense styles like this in the bedroom, where one can enjoy it without hearing complaints from their housemates.

If you have your eyes on the Tribal Style, this post is about using Tribal bedding and wallpapers in your bedroom, the modern version.

And if you like what you’ll see, we’ve made them available to you, so you can make your personal Tribal space come to life. More on that later.

We’ve chosen these three patterns for our bedroom, all with tribal elements.

· Arrows in small print,

· Stylized arrowheads in geometric pattern,

· Feathers, and

· Dreamcatchers.

They’re in black, white, and gray, just because anything in that scheme seems to never go out of style.

But first, if you haven’t noticed yet from the above samples, the ingredients to our foolproof guide for mixing patterns are:

· Small prints, geometric or novel – in this case novel (1),

· Geometric patterns (2),

· Organic patterns (3),

· Solids or items with subtle, barely there patterns (not shown).

And yes, solids aren’t technically patterns, but just let’s just forget about it for a while.

Tip: When mixing patterns, vary the scales for additional contrast.

With that out of the way, here’s our…

Table of Contents hide

Tribal pattern mix #1

Tribal pattern mix #2

Tribal pattern mix #3

Tribal pattern mix #4

Tribal pattern mix #5

Shop the Tribal look for your bedroom

Tribal pattern mix #1

· Small print wallpaper for the walls and bed sheets,

· Geometric pattern for the curtain,

· Organic pattern on the duvet

Tribal pattern mix #2

· Solid black painted wall,

· Organic pattern on the curtain,

· Geometric on the duvet.

Tribal pattern mix #3

· Organic pattern on an accent wall

· Solids on curtain and duvet

· Small print and geometric on sheets

Tribal pattern mix #4

· Geometrics on the walls and sheet

· Organic pattern on the fitted sheet

· Small print on curtain and duvet

Tribal pattern mix #5

· Solid gray paint on the walls

· Solid black on the curtain

· Geometric print in the sheets

· Small print on the duvet

Notice that all five mixes have all the three patterns and solids in the pillow covers.

Aside from the bedding and the wallpapers, what else makes this bedroom tribal?

Handcrafted wooden décor is one key element of the style. Ethnic people use whatever they have in their environment, using techniques passed on from generation to generation.

And since we’re doing this Tribal bedroom in a modern light, the wooden masks and night tables are on-point. They look polished, but can very well be handcrafted.

The zebra print on the lampshade is another tribal / ethnic element, referring to the wildlife of Africa.

One last thing on the designs, we repeated tribal elements and patterns, and also the blacks, whites, and grays. Notice too how we also repeated the wood material on the table, masks, and in a not so obvious place, the curtain rod.

So the takeaway from that last bit—repetition helps in making a space look cohesive.

There you go, five different ways to go Tribal. Whatever your commitment to the style is, bedding and curtains are the easiest routes to getting any styles’ vibe in the bedroom. Not ready to go full on? Ditch the wallpaper.

Also, if you find that our takes on the Tribal bedroom to be a little too much for your taste, you can always tone it down.

Shop the Tribal look for your bedroom

Before we end this, we mentioned that we’ve made the Tribal bedding and wallpapers we used here available to you… in case we got you inspired to create a Tribal bedroom of your own.