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As I mentioned before, I’m working in Maui right now. Aloha, bitches! So I’m inspired to talk about one of my favorite decorating tools to instantly give your home an instant island feel — bamboo fencing! It’s obviously useful as fencing, but also has many indoor and outdoor uses to make your home feel like a tropical vacation.
When I met that guy I married, he had bamboo fencing put up like wallpaper all along his bedroom walls, with aloha print curtains. I was like, “This dude… is… AWESOME.” When we moved in together, the bamboo fencing got re-purposed in a couple of different ways. I’ve rounded up those reincarnations with a few other ideas for my favorite kind of fencing…
Balconies
We don’t have a yard that needs a fence, but we do have a balcony with ugly metal bars and grating. So I cut down the husband’s old bamboo fencing and made my balcony look a billion times better. My neighbors, taking a cue from our balcony, ended up putting the bamboo fencing on theirs too. They didn’t cut it down to size, which made their space more private.
Kitchens
Wanna see what happened to the rest of our bamboo fencing? Here it is installed on the outside of my friend Robin’s kitchen counter/bar. And yes, that is a birdcage wearing a grass skirt and a coconut bra in the background.
Headboard
I found this easy island-style headboard idea via an Airbnb listing on Maui. Such an easy island-y room upgrade, I can’t believe I didn’t think of this for myself!
Gazebo
You could use it to enclose a gazebo and create a romantic outdoor sleeping space like these Hawaiian residents did.
Above ground pool
My parents used their extra bamboo fencing from their house to de-boring the outside of their above-ground pool. Read up on the details on this post.
So let’s talk bamboo fencing. Have y’all thought of creative ways to use it in your home?
I once had some on the back of an open Ikea bookcase, which I used as a studio apartment room divider.
ERMAHGERD! That’s SUCH a good idea. You could even do that with one that’s up against the wall. Add a bamboo backing to your shelves. Now I’m bummed that I didn’t think of that in my last place where I had back-less shelves. Now i haz a sad.
In my Bali-inspired spa, I have used larger hollowed-out bamboo stalks to cover exposed water pipes adding to the serene ambiance.
Your Bali-inspired SPA?!? Tell us more, New Best Friend!
My mother used fake bamboo, cut in half lengthwise, as a chair rail in one of her themed rooms.
Oh I am so totally picking up some of this for our tiki-style balcony!
I am a preschool teacher and use it like crazy around the school. it looks great outside covering the yucky chain link fence, and as a “roof” over the sandbox. inside I use it to divide some areas (offers a privacy feeling but I can still see through it), as well as draped from the ceiling over the industrial lighting fixtures.
Would be cool for turning a crappy table into an instant “bar” for a party. You could even put the table up on cinder blocks or something to make it taller before surrounding it with bamboo fencing.
Also: I don’t have an attic, but for those who do – maybe you could use it in the rafters to make it look like it was thatch-roofed, much like your husband’s setup. (BTW- so sad there’s no picture of that because it sounds really awesome!)
Hi! I’m using bamboo fencing as a kind of wainscoting on my baby’s vintage-tiki themed nursery, but I can’t figure out how to attach it to the wall. It’s the stick kind, not the reed kind. Help?