Cuban Home Style Guide

Cuban Inspired Interior Design Tips

This little country packs quite an impressive style punch when it comes to all things fashion, design, and decor. The Cuban style is an amalgamation of nostalgia and influences coming from Colonial furniture, African arts, and bright colors of Latin culture. It can also be summarized by combining these elements:

• 1950s furnishings
• Chandeliers
• Colonial furniture
• Contemporary art
• Colorful tile floors
• Stained glass
• Statues of saints
• Wicker chairs
• Wood shutters

HISTORY

Exotic Havana, the island’s capital, was once known as the “Paris of the Caribbean'' because of its international following and passionate culture in the arts. This elegant atmosphere stood out because of its unique fusion of medieval luxury, Caribbean elements, and tropical overtures. The home plays an important cultural role as a way to express personality. The Cuban aesthetic is a display of a bohemian, easygoing look that is about presenting a welcoming vibe mixed with the influential background of religion and country pride.

To create your own little Havana, an interior design style that definitely has a charm and personality all its own, attracting people with its colorful and interesting decoration, read on for a step-by-step guide. This romantic and playful style has been developed by joining 1950s retro furniture with Caribbean details and Afro-Latin influences. Enjoy this fun, whimsical look of Cuban culture stateside by bringing a bit of the Old Havana flavor home.

The Cuban Decor Style Feeling: A Carefree & Joyful Life

Absolutely holding a unique place on the world map, the Cuban culture shares their open-mindedness, welcoming travelers with warmth. The atmosphere is full of sunshine, vibrant colors, and a carefree life. Multicolored buildings, vintage automobiles, modern art, mixed with spicy food, and passionate music. This travel destination is becoming more and more popular and so is the interior design style.

Culture of Cuba & Havana: Music, Cigars, & Rum Influencing Interior Decor

Cubans love dancing, music, good food, and drink. So you can see how the culture is associated with rhythms and unique scents that titillate the senses. Decorating your home with accents of musical instruments is part of the Cuban-style look.

• Use Latin instruments, such as maraca, bongo drums, guitars, or ukuleles.
• Any items that mimic the look and feel of salsa dancing.
• Include accents that will address your sense of smell as well.
• Rum, tobacco, musk, or jasmine scented candles fit the bill.
• Create a Cuban-style look to feel the rhythm of salsa and the joy of life every day by combining these elements with fantastic colors and retro furnishings.

Vivid Color

The Cuban decor motto might be “the brighter the better” with color acting as a basis of the Cuban style in the interior. Rich colors are seen in all aspects of Cuban life, from their autos to their fashion, architecture, and street art. Nothing says Cuba more than bold, saturated colors. Unlike the primary and pastel shades of the rest of the Caribbean, Cuban color showcases deeper pigments. Cuban style in the home sees little in the way of neutrals. It’s more about applying these saturated hues liberally to large spaces.

• Bright yellow
• Emerald green
• Fiery red
• Fuchsia
• Orange
• Turquoise

Paint walls in any of these shades. If you want to tone it down a little, you can choose a pastel in one of those same colors. Or opt for some neutral shades in cream or beige and then go bold and wild with colorful accent furniture and accessories. The multitude of colors will begin to impart the energy of Havana.

Bright Colored Trim

Another alternative to going full bold color on all your walls is to instead brighten up your trim. White walls with doors and trim painted in vivid shades will give you the same electric feeling that a room fully painted gives off.

Pink

Hot pink is one of the quite popular colors you’ll find in Cuban-inspired décor.

• Bold pink accents in fabric-covered pieces or in works of art can be the icing on your Cuban-inspired room.
• Or if you’re feeling particularly adventurous, adorn the entire room with a coat of hot pink paint.
• Another way to incorporate this flattering color is with accent lighting and tinted light bulbs.

Fabrics & Natural Materials

Natural materials bring warmth into a room. The Cuban style includes furniture pieces made from many types of natural woods as well as rattan and bamboo accessories.

Cuba style also embraces natural materials and fabrics where you’ll see the use of many of the following materials:

• Bamboo
• Cotton
• Silk
• Sisal
• Wicker
• Wood

Colonial Style Furniture

As part of the Cuban design style, furniture from the Colonial period has been incorporated. This type of colonial-style furniture is mostly made of exotic wood.

• Solid and durable, lasting for generations.
• Made of dark woods: mahogany, rosewood.
• Characterized by massiveness and carved ornaments.
• Cuban interiors are full of chests of drawers and shelves.
• Rocking chairs are essential in the Cuban home.

Tropical Beachy Vibe

Cuba is an exotic country, really one of the Caribbean islands, so it’s natural that part of the decor style begins the beach into the home. Interior design includes:

• Banana leaves
• Cacti
• Exotic birds
• Palm trees

Tropical Jungle Plants

Cuban décor calls for a plethora of exotic, tropical jungle-style plants. Plenty of fresh, live, and leafy tropical plants in terracotta pots are the ideal look. The key to making a dramatic Cuban-style effect with houseplants is to buy them in volume. And the placement is for both indoor and outdoor living areas. The most popular and common types include:

• Amazon elephant ear
• Bromeliads
• Cacti
• Croton
• Ferns
• Majesty palm trees
• Orchids
• Philodendron
• Sago

Another option is to use wallpaper with a similar tropical floral motif.

Cement Kaleidoscope Tiles

For a majority of the Cuban population, resources such as expensive marble and ceramic tiles were not available. Taking the place of those materials are the colorful patterned tiles made of cement. Coming in all sorts of charming patterns and various shapes, these interesting tile patterns jazz up any living quarters.

• These tiles also stand in for ornamental rugs, allowing for an easier way to keep the home clean and maintained.
• Environmentally friendly and virtually indestructible, these tiles work on floors, walls, in showers, entryways, and outdoor patios.
• Designs are made by creating a group of four and then rotating one by 90 degrees so it makes one design unit.
• Laid side by side, the tiles create an interlocking pattern covering large areas.

Raw Art

The art seen on the streets of Cuba, depicting the daily life of the country is known as raw art, or “Outsider Art”. Created by self-taught artists using whatever materials they can find, this art adorns the walls of many Cuban buildings inside and out.

• This brightly colored, whimsical street art shares the nature, animals, and culture of the surrounding area.
• It’s about self-expression.
• Raw artists bring new life to the crumbling architecture of the city.
• With no skill or rules to this style of art, it is something you can try your hand at as well.

Cuban Accessories

Interior Cuban design uses patterned fabrics to work with the darker, heavier Colonial-style furniture.

• The overall look is cheerful.
• Retro and vintage accents are another popular characteristic.
• Ethnic paintings in bright colors are perfect in any room.

1950s Nostalgia

Of all the elements of Cuban embellishment, vintage furniture from the 1950s is the easiest to recognize. Trade with Cuba stopped in 1960, which is why the streets of Havana are filled with stunning 1950s cars.

• Incorporate luxury and vintage details from the 1950s.
• Old sofas, chairs, and beds create a retro atmosphere.
• Luxury look and feel are paramount.
• Vintage 1950s advertising posters, car photos, and license plates are bits of this authentic Cuban décor vibe.

Cuban Style Bedroom

The combination of Latin, Mexican and African details is what makes Cuba so unique. Colors, patterns, stained glass, laid-back and lively.

Cuban Style Bathroom

This is an extreme example of a colorful Cuban room.

• The bold use of red creates drama for a bathroom.
• The stained glass window elevates the room.
• The simple clothesline and other human details brings the space back down to a reflection of real Cuban life.

Cuban Style Porch

Outdoor life in Cuban culture is very alive and vibrant. The steamy culture, literally and figuratively, begs for afternoons spent in the open air and nights browsing the neighborhood streets.

• An overabundance of tropical plants in terracotta planters.
• Comfortable rocking or other sitting chairs.
• Walls painted in colorful shades.
• Creative tile patterns on the floors.

SUMMARY

It is easy to fall in love with Cuban style as the bright colors, the abundance of greenery, and capricious art make you feel alive and inspired. Thankfully this style is easy to replicate with the simple elements outlined above. Enjoy sultry Havana style at home by injecting your space with dimensional color and light, and accents full of high-energy details. Each interior is a unique creation all its own. Have fun and let your creativity express itself through this passionate decor style.