Creating Home Decor that celebrates your culture

March 2024

For a long time, home meant the place you lived with your family. As many Indo-Caribbean kids might know all too well, that could mean a multigenerational mix of aunties, grandparents, and siblings all with their own distinct worldview. After a while, home could transform into a single dorm room or a friend’s apartment. You could even be progressive and “live home” with a partner, though that could incite some unnecessary family gossip.

As living situations change and life breezes by, home can remind you of where you come from and where you want to go. It can become the place where you express your culture and personality through thoughtful decor and intriguing pieces. Decorating a home, whether that be with a roommate, partner, or simply yourself, can be a way to honor your ancestry in all its vibrancy while also sharing why you love it so much.

Despite the country or state you’re in, allowing your environment to reflect your culture can be an immersive way to open conversations around your heritage, ancestors, and the values you care most about in life. Decor can serve as a reminder of your cultural upbringing and the journey you are on as you continue to grow as a person. It’s also a fun way to showcase your individuality and mix a bit of old with the new.

If you’re interested in incorporating your culture into your home decor, here are 5 ways to do it!

1. Books that reflect the literature, history, and even landscape of your country

2. Photographs of family members, both alive and passed, can be a way to allow the history you come from to mingle with the new future you are creating

3. Art can reflect daily life in a specific culture and can add brightness and personality to the space

4. Flowers/plants that are indigenous to your country can add pops of color, fragrance, and freshness to any room

5. Dishes that feature unique patterns or that have been passed down to you can be an interactive way to highlight your country’s food

Home can be the place that grounds us, especially when there are so many elements of life that uproot us from the present moment. Through decor and design, your home can encourage you to slow things down and appreciate how all the pieces of your story have beautifully connected.