Create an african inspired dining room

African Inspired Dining Room

Creating and African inspired dining room is an excellent way to celebrate your roots, or to display your love for African Culture. Here are some ideas you can use that will help:

Wall colors:

• Faux finish the walls with a sponge or rag rolling technique using natural earth tone colors like green, rush, beige, brown and other colors that you will find in nature.

Wall hangings:

• Display a *dashiki or ceremonial wedding dress by putting a bamboo pole through the sleeves, and hanging it on the wall.

• Put African artifacts in shadow boxes.

• Hang quilts made from *Kente cloth on the wall.

• A Kenyan *bush camp chair would also make a wonderful wall hanging with the two pieces separated and hung on the wall.

Floor:

• Cover the floor with area rugs made from natural substances like hemp, and grass cloth. These floor covering can be bound in an animal print around the edges, or an Egyptian border can be stenciled on them.

Window treatments:

• Use authentic *Kente, *Adinkra, or other African fabric as the covering for your cornice board, or line the back to protect it from the damaging effects of the sun and use it as curtain panels.

• Animal print fabrics will also great window treatments and are a wonderful complement to African decor.

Table:

• African inspired tables are usually glass topped with a great variety of bases. There are clay and stone bases made in the shape of elephants, monkeys and other animals, and well as metal bases, with an elegant curves and leaf motifs. They are available all over the world

• You can choose a heavily and intricately carved table made of Mukwa wood. You can have this table imported from Africa.

• A simple but elegant dark wood table would blend in well among a room with African decor.

Chairs:

• Purchase imported Mukwa chairs. You may choose an entire set, or a couple of accent chairs.

• Simple Parsons Chairs can be covered in an earth tone fabric or animal print to match your area rug trim.

China cabinets and side tables:

• Add a piece of glass to two tall African drums and use as a side table.

• Use clay or stone animal shaped bases on which to make a side table.

• If you need a full china cabinet for your African inspired dining room, choose a very simple cabinet of dark wood with a glass doors so you can display your African treasures and dishes.

Accessories:

• Decorate the table and a corner of the room with bright colored clay pots

• Display African Rain sticks on the wall using hooks so you can take them down and enjoy the soothing sound they make.

• Fill a wide bowl or glass vase with *monkey apples.

• You can use fancy trivets woven from natural materials either to protect your table finish or to hand on the wall as art. They are available in many different designs.

• There are a great many African drums you can purchase to accessorize your room such as the Djembe drum from West Africa, the Doumbek from Turkey and Egypt and the Goumbe Drum from Ghana.

• Hang animal or ceremonial masks on the wall mounted on a painted stretched canvass background. You can add a coordinating frame as well.

Now that you know the elements to use in an African inspired dining room, you can completely transform the room into an authentic African setting. On the other hand, you can choose to give the room just a hint of African flavor by using a just few of the elements in your room.

*Definitions of terms used in this article:

• Adinkra: a type of cloth made by the Ashanti people of Ghana made with commercial cloth and a thick black homemade dye, using stamps to fill the grid squares with patterns. A different stamp is used for each square.

• Bush camp chair: chair traditionally used by African men around campfires. They are typically hand carved from solid Mahogany wood and consist of a main back a second piece that looks like a paddle. The paddle shaped piece is inserted through the frame to form the seat and supporting leg.

• Dashiki: loose brightly colored shirt worn by Africans.

• Monkey Apples: dried fruits for Swaziland that are used as decorative balls. You can find them natural, painted, or scored with a design.

• Kente Cloth: Originates from Ghana and is a woven fabric made from threads of different colors.

• Mukwa: one of Africa's most durable woods known for its hardness and copper/honey color.