Zebra, Leopard and Tiger Ideas for a Living Room

Pattern Prints Accents

• Use zebra, leopard and tiger prints as patterns for accent pieces instead of filling your living room with furnishings all totally upholstered in animal prints. Instead of putting a zebra print couch in your living room, use throw pillows with a zebra pattern against a solid-colored couch. Set a leopard or tiger print ottoman as an accent to a neutral, upholstered chair.

Furniture Pairings

• Animal prints such as zebras or tigers pair well with leather furnishings, according to advice from Sharon Hanby-Robie in "Decorating Without Fear: A Step-by-step Guide to Creating the Home You Love." An example from "Country Living: Living Rooms," by Coleen Cahill, shows an antique chair with a leopard print chair padding in a room next to a white fabric, upholstered sofa. The overall effect is a neutral background of main furnishings against which the zebra, leopard and tiger accents will stand out.

Walls

• Do not neglect the walls when choosing decorations for your living room. Look for small pictures of zebras, leopards or tigers to hang around the room. For a slightly funky look, hang a large mirror on one wall of the living room with a faux leopard print on the frame. Feature a curio cabinet in an empty corner, and fill it with small figurines of zebras, leopards and tigers or pictures leaned against the shelves.

Tame the Wild

• Avoid going overboard with animal-inspired decorating, or fix a decorated living room featuring too heavy a safari influence. Take a look around your living room after adding your zebra, tiger and leopard decorations, and ask what a visitor might say. If your living room screams "safari" too loudly, soften the effect of the animal prints with an idea from Mi-Ling Stone Poole in "Ask Mi-Ling!: When You Want the Truth About Decorating." She suggests replacing some of the animal pieces with flowers, especially in sage green or shades of dark red. For instance, remove zebra pictures from the walls, and replace them with frames of flowers, or replace the existing curtains with a floral print to tame the wilds of a living room that has gone too far into the jungle.