My chic and bohemian living room has a touch of nostalgia.

I'm talking about a time that those over fifty have often forgotten. It was a time of flowers on bell-bottoms, acoustic guitars, patchouli, and a blue house clinging to the hillside. A time I didn't experience firsthand, since I was born much later. A time I can only imagine by leafing through my parents' photo albums. It was a time when they were young and beautiful, like the protagonists of the Netflix series The Serpent. In those days, there was no plastic, only natural materials like rattan, bamboo, and linen.

Interior design isn't just about cold, glossy decorating magazines. Bohemian chic decor, in my opinion, is also about culture and history. Your living room reflects an era. This era isn't necessarily your own. It's a journey through space and time. So, of course, if you open Elle Decoration or go to IKEA, you probably won't be taking the same trip back in time as I am. If you'd rather live in 2020 surrounded by Swedish furniture than in 1968 California, then bohemian chic decor might not be your cup of tea, let alone your three-leaf clover. But if, like me, you sometimes daydream that you were born fifteen years too late and wish you'd grown up before the AIDS epidemic, perhaps a touch of bohemian flair in your living room isn't a bad way to make up for lost time.

This article might seem strange and disjointed. And it is! I intended it to be a kind of digression, a quick way to spark some ideas for decorating your living room in a Bohemian Chic style. Consider this a guide to setting the mood and finding the decorating inspiration you might be lacking. Enjoy the journey!

Turntable and vinyl records: the essential gypset living decor touch in your living room

These days, bohemian decor is synonymous with Instagram. Everything revolves around visuals. Yet, the other senses shouldn't be forgotten. And first and foremost, hearing. For immersion in a boho atmosphere, a turntable and vinyl records are essential. Whether new, found at a flea market, or simply inherited from our parents, a turntable and its accompanying record collection aren't hard to find. Mine is new and not very pretty, but I've set it up in an old suitcase. The vinyl records I own are mostly my parents' records, which they no longer listen to; they date from the 1970s to the 1990s and are, unfortunately, some of them scratched. But I still enjoy listening to them. The turntable and vinyl records aren't just for music lovers. They are, above all, an element of interior design that gives my living room a touch of nostalgia that I cherish more than anything.

Bohemian chic Moldovan or Moroccan rug

If I close my eyes and daydream a little, I imagine a group of long-haired young people staging a sit-in on the large boiled wool Moldovan rug in my living room. While in reality, my ridiculously expensive electric car is safely parked in my garage, secured by an alarm and video surveillance. But I digress; let's get back to my bohemian living room. Close your eyes with me, take off your shoes, and feel the wool tickle your toes. It's the 1970s, and we've just smoked a joint. The music is loud, and we're happy to be alive despite the Vietnam War, the economic crisis, and the energy crisis. We're happy because we're young and beautiful. Yes, life is hard, but we're going to change the world, make love, not war. And to change the world, you have to start somewhere. So we're going to change our living room.

In a boho-chic living room, the coffee table should be very low, almost touching the floor. Forget about those fake pirate chests filled with hard liquor. The table needs space to hold a few essentials.

On this large coffee table, we'll place a few books. "The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test" by Tom Wolfe, for example, or "Naked Lunch" by William S. Burroughs. We'll hide the Figaro Madame magazine and put Télé-rama front and center.

The rug under the table will necessarily be vintage. But clean! Remember, in Bohemian chic, there's chic too!

The scent of patchouli is a must for a boho chic decor. But a little goes a long way!

When I open my eyes, it's 2022, but the scent of patchouli is still there. It's one of the scents that most transports me through time and space. This aromatic fragrance with earthy and woody notes was very popular in the 60s and 70s. It's said to have aphrodisiac properties. It was widely used in cosmetics, but also in incense sticks. These sticks are still sold today in many head shops. I find them too strong, so I prefer to use patchouli essential oil diluted in water. Okay, that's the cliché part. Gotcha? In truth, patchouli is too much for me. Because if you had to place a slider between chic and bohemian, for me it would be two-thirds chic, one-third bohemian... So I prefer scented candles that smell like my Corsican maquis.

Cushions, sofas, chairs or old rugs?

And what about sitting or lounging? What should you choose for a chic and bohemian living room? I'd say it depends. The more chic you're going for, the more you'll be sitting rather than lounging. An old rug on the floor is very bohemian. A few cushions might be enough to accommodate a guitarist cousin. Leather armchairs or teak chairs would be more dignified. Perhaps too much so? And if you start imagining Scandinavian plexiglass benches, then you're definitely straying from the ideal of cozy, ethnic style. But on the other hand, if you use a small lemonwood stool for your friend who's come over to play the djembe, then you might be risking an overdose of bohemian style devoid of chic and glamour.

Coachella, Burning Man, Woodstock and Vieilles Charrues

Music in home decor isn't just about record covers. Vinyl records are nice. A real live concert is better! So slip into your bohemian fringed skirt and clip your turquoise earrings to your earlobes. And if you don't have the cash to fly to California, follow me in your dreams. We'll wander among the cacti of Joshua Tree on the outskirts of Coachella. There, under a starry sky, we'll snuggle under a wool blanket if the night gets a little chilly.

What, you might ask, is the connection between these music festivals and interior design? How did we slip from an ideal of nomadic, unattached, hippie life—right down to the armpit hair our mothers refused to shave—to the chic, bourgeois comfort of our homes, which we desperately want to be rock and gypsy? Let's be realistic, perhaps this is also what life is, real life. We all still carry within us the idealistic, rebellious teenager of our high school years. But we are also often enamored with comfort and financial security. I don't think we should be ashamed of that. There is, of course, a strange contradiction in the expressions "chic" and "bohemian." Bohemian chic would be a sweetened, decorative version of "Champagne Left." But what's wrong with that? In my opinion, nothing.

And if you want even more tips and tricks for bohemian chic decor, then click here: Bohemian Chic Decor Tips and Tricks