INTERIOR TRENDS | The modern Balinese style interior design

If you are looking for some new inspiration to decorate your home, this post is for you.

Today in fact I will bring you to know a new inspiring interior style – the modern Balinese style. This style is also one of the most relevant interior style trends now, besides being a decorating style full of ideas to be inspired by.

Let’s see more in detail what this style is about.

|| Stay updated: These are the top 5 Interior style trends to watch out for in 2022

INTERIOR TRENDS

Unvealing The Modern Balinese interior style trend

Since I’m an interior designer besides being a trend researcher, I find very hard to talk about styles which I don’t like and that I didn’t see in person. In this case, I’m referring to a style which both embraces my own aesthetics and which I’ve seen in person, since I’m just back from a wonderful travel in Bali.

Also known as “the island of Gods“, Bali has a particular spiritual dimension ( and 10 thousands temples ) together with amazing green landscapes, which makes this place so unique. The Balinese interior style reflects this special mood into an aesthetics which is all about nature and balance. Natural materials, craftsmanship, green, outdoor-in are balanced together as no other interior decorating styles do and for this reason I think it’s an interesting style to be inspired by, also because it is still not so inflated as others are.

Also, because who wouldn’t like to live in interiors which give you an instant sense of calm, relax, well-being?

INTERIOR TRENDS

How to bring a touch of Balinese style into our Western homes

For sure, the charm of these interiors is also in part given to their location. But I think there are some interesting elements that could be definitely incorporated also inside our homes, to bring a touch of exotic also in Western homes. I am sharing with you a round up of the decorating elements which defines the modern Balinese interior style.

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Materials / Modern Balinese Interior Style

Bali is a place defined of tropical and wild greenery and a rich flora. Yet, in Balinese style interiors the elements who cannot be missed come from nature – especially, besides greenery, woods and bamboos.

Bamboo is really used everywhere in Bali, together with cane. They are both structural and decorative: the first thing I learnt in Bali is how many possibilities of usage bamboo has, it’s even used as framework for concrete constructions. In decorating, bamboo can be easily used as a partition, or as a wall cladding to add some texture, other than of course in furniture elements.

Besides this, of course the main protagonist of this style is wood: solid and raw woods are perfect both for Balinese furniture and decorating elements. From daybeds to tables, to wooden panels, wood is everywhere. There’s no need to perfectly match wood essences as we usually do in our interiors: in fact, dark woods can pair with bleached ones, or with warmer essences.

Together with wood, natural stones are also used a lot, especially in the bathroom design. For a more modern take on the style, concrete is also often paired to raw wood.

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Colors / Modern Balinese Interior Style

Balinese interior style, despite being very decorative, never feels too busy. This is in part due to the use of a neutral color palette – more towards whites for beach houses, more towards browns for countryside houses.

Colour come in only with accessories — cushions, textiles, framed art, — and of course with greeneries, leafy plants and tropical flowers. Of course there are some exceptions ( as you can also see in some of my photos ) but the style is mainly about using different neutral colors in the same space.

Whenever using color, take into consideration the principles of holistic design: in fact, this will help to achieve that balance which is the heart of the Balinese aesthetics.

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Furniture and décor / Modern Balinese Interior Style

As said above, choose wooden furniture, better if with a solid and raw look, or in alternative with some carvings and tone-on-tone decorations. Thanks to the climate, usually similar furniture elements in solid wood are used both indoors and outdoors, and it helps achieving that flow which is typical of this style. Outdoor bathrooms and showers are also very common, or the use of simple natural pebbles instead of a flooring in the bathroom.

In our Western homes we probably not have a similar climate that allows us to treat indoor and outdoor almost the same, but we can for example plan a bit larger windows, and of course decorating with potted tropical plants and mini bonsai gardens indoor. On the other side, the terrace/garden should be accurately designed in order to have focal points that can be seen from the windows, to somehow “flow” within the interior space.

Another element of Balinese style which we can definitely incorporate in our homes is lighting. Lamps are another key element into the Balinese style: often, there are much pendant lamps as there should be, but this never feel too much. Often, they also somehow distract the view from the ceiling fan, which is of course an element always present in Bali interiors. Rattan and wicker are the main material for ceiling lamps, becoming one key element of the whole interior aesthetics.

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Ornaments and artworks / Modern Balinese Interior Trend

Last, what makes Balinese style interiors so magical are ornaments and artworks. Spiritual figures, Buddhas, wooden statues in all sizes, usually are balanced to have a main focal point with a bigger element to create balance. I was amazed to see how many crafters there are in Bali – there are some streets with are literally covered with carpenters shops, but also with macramé, textiles, artworks, recycled glass, local craftsmanships. Is a true heaven for all those who love hand made decor. Art is everywhere in Bali – so it is an essential element of its aesthetic.

Patterns are also quite common in this style. One thing I discovered in Bali is that the use of black and white checkered textile is so common because it has an Hinduist meaning – this pattern, in fact, is the symbol of balance.