Southwestern-Style Indoor Decoration

Furniture

• Wood furniture is popular in Southwestern decorating. The wood furniture tends to be very solid and sturdy without any ornate carvings. Wood furniture may be natural or painted. Painted furniture is often distressed, where the paint is sanded to give it a used look. Tables with colorful tile tabletops add a splash of color to the room. Leather is common for sofas and chairs. Wrought iron is often used as hardware on wood furniture.

Art and Fabrics

• Paintings are often inspired by the desert landscape. Common images include horses, desert sunsets, coyotes, cactus and geckos. Southwestern style fabrics often use geometric patterns and bright colors such as orange and blue or red and purple. Bedroom comforters may be designed using geometric patterns or other southwestern images such as geckos and cactus.

Kokopelli

• Kokopelli figures are often used with Southwestern style decorating. Kokopelli is a fertility deity for some Native American cultures in the Southwest, including the Hopi. Kokopelli is often depicted as a hunched-over flute player. This image is often used in wrought iron metal art and other textiles. Everything from iron wall hangings, coat racks and bookends to freestanding figurines and table lamps are created with the kokopelli image.

Accessories

• Other accessories used as indoor decorations include Native American rugs, woven baskets and pottery. Rug patterns are often geometric shapes created by Navajo Indians and may be placed on the floor or used as wall hangings. Hand-painted or terracotta pottery is a common accessory in Southwestern style homes. Add a cactus in a terracotta pot to bring the natural landscape indoors.