Here’s Our Favorite Mushroom Decor — and How to Use It in Your Home

Mushroom motifs are sprouting up all over the design landscape, and we’ve foraged finds to suit every style. Traditional illustrations, psychedelic prints, playful new takes — we’ve picked ‘em all and gathered some next-level ‘shrooms to serve up aesthetic umami.

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May 18, 2023

By: Lauren Oster

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Fungi Are Fashionable, and the Trend Is Growing

Mushrooms and the visual arts have a very, very long history: A cave in Algeria features a 9,000-year-old painting of a shaman with a fistful of fungi. The design world's most recent love affair with the motif began around 2020 and shows no signs of growing stale; in fact, mushrooms are expanding their territory in interiors of all kinds.

Case in point? This chic living room in Hudson, New York, which features a pair of ‘shroomlike, cherry-red Verner Panton Flowerpot lamps and a graphic contemporary painting of a lion’s head mushroom. What fungal finery could pop up at your place? Check out our mood-board slash shopping-list and see.

Old-School Embroidery

With intricate stitching and gleaming metallic thread, this Yves Delorme mushroom pillow is a suitable starter piece for someone looking to dip their toe in the Victorian end of the trend, without tipping all the way over into Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland.

SEE MORE: 8 Different Ways to Dress Your Bed

Stylized Shrooms Cozy Up a Contemporary Bed

The playful print on this cotton-percale duvet and shams pairs well with other patterns — go ahead, mix it with pastel stripes or plaids! — and offers a more modern and graphic take on woodland chic.

BUY IT: Garnet Hill, $44-$199

Vintage Mushrooms Flavor a Gallery Wall

More is unquestionably more in this luxe and eclectic butler’s pantry, where a massive grid of standard frames presents colorful specimens of all kinds. (They just happen to complement the jewel-toned midcentury glassware perched on the marble countertop.) A little bit culinary and a little bit woodsy, fungi illustrations like these are a savory and unexpected alternative to flowers or foods in a similar display.

SEE MORE: 21 Gallery Wall Ideas to Transform Your Space

From: Emma Jane Pilkington

Collect Your Specimens in One Epic Image

If you’re looking for a single, standalone piece that plays the hits, consider Smallable’s contemporary reproduction from a 1907 edition of Larousse Pour Tous, an illustrated French encyclopedia. The more muted tones on this larger canvas suit neutral, minimalistic spaces like this one, and they’d mix in beautifully with other art in a maximalist context, too.

BUY IT: Smallable, $67

Or, Invest in a Whimsical Fairy Ring

European encyclopedias are gorgeous, but too often they lack anthropomorphic dancing. Enter Boston artist Amy Ross’s fanciful field guide-inspired collage that finally answers the question, “Would an oyster mushroom wear capris or more of a relaxed chino?” Framed in crisp black metal, this fella’s ready for a funky kid’s room or pride of place above the sofa.

BUY IT: Schoolhouse, $159

A Natural Silhouette Relaxes Right Angles

When you’re a celebrated Savannah garden designer like Holley Jaakkola, punctuating your foyer with an oversized, sculptural ‘shroom is a must. Framed at the end of the hallway like an especially organic house guest, this piece pairs with the urchin-like pendant in the foreground to layer a bit of wildness over the space’s formal architecture.

SEE MORE: Tour a Dreamy Coastal Savannah Mansion Filled With Design Inspiration

Try Taking the Garden Party Inside

These elegant teak beauties would look marvelous in an outdoor space, but why should patios have all the fun? Lean into indoor-outdoor living by borrowing a page from Holley Jaakkola’s book and plant a few mushrooms in your entryway.

BUY IT: Terrain, $148-$298

Flourishing Pantry Bar

Wooden mushrooms on a smaller scale are also strong candidates for shelfscaping. In this Colorado kitchen’s pantry bar area, a stylized trio echoes the warm serving tray on the lower shelf — and evokes oversized pepper mills.

SEE MORE: Kitchen + Dining Area From HGTV Dream Home 2023

Bright Caps Glow in Vivid Wallpaper

Much like cocktail-party guests, mushrooms thrive in low light. Remember how well the framed mushroom prints in that butler’s pantry doubled down on the tones in vivid countertop glassware? That reflection is even more effective in this treasure trove of a home bar.

SEE MORE: 40 Stylish Home Bars Squeezed Into Small Spaces

From: Sarah Wittenbraker

Lion’s Mane, Chanterelles, Enoki, Oh My

If turning your whole bar over to the forest feels like overcommitment, start with a hand-drawn, hand-printed mushroom tea towel. This lovely, monochromatic pattern suits styles of all sorts (and would make a lovely host gift for the next mycophile you visit). The wallpaper will be ready when you are.

BUY IT: Naturewalkstudio, $16

Fungi-Print Accent Pillows Nail Scandinavian Chic

Speaking of chanterelles, the ones on this bed’s sunny yellow cushions bring the Catskills indoors at Eastwind Hotel & Bar in upstate New York. Designer Julija Stoliarova put a quirky, hyperlocal spin on midcentury and Nordic decor by using botanical prints, like these, to accent public and private spaces.

SEE MORE: How to Make Vintage Decor Look Fresh and Modern

Prints, Schmints — How About 3D Mushrooms?

For a truly one-of-a-kind take on plush fungi, look no further than Helsinki artist Suvi-Tuuli Junttila’s handmade cushions. With details like corduroy ribbing, textural caps and unique styling, these babies are true characters. (They’re also more practical than they look; you can unscrew the ‘shrooms from the body of each pillow to rearrange and wash them).

BUY IT: Fungimaa, $125

Mushroom Accents Add Layers to Rustic Design

Julija Stoliarova also used mushrooms at Eastwind Hotel’s bar and lounge area, where vintage framed prints share space with carved wooden birds, and Nathalie Lete’s vivid green Mushroom Forest Wallpaper draws attention to the room’s arched architecture. There’s a theme running through this area, but it’s a far more subtle iteration of the cabin in the woods decor you might find in an older vacation home.

SEE MORE: Rustic Redefined: The Best of Modern Cabin Style

Fungi Darken the Mood in a Terrarium

Living mushrooms would struggle in an arrangement like this one, but dried or wooden ones pair with ferns and moss to cultivate a durable, autumnal vibe quite nicely. Reaching for fungi as a dark-academic flourish says, “While I don’t cast spells, I can recite a few.”

SEE MORE: Decorate With Dark Academia in Your Home

Go a Bit Goblincore

Wouldn’t a feature wall sprouting a troop of mushroom shelves and hooks be marvelous? Hand-molded, fired and glazed in Poland, these ceramic creations are fitted with secure, hidden metal brackets and available in an array of sizes and species.

BUY IT: LeilyCloud, $36-$84

Planting a Mushroom in the Kitchen

This bright, industrial Pittsburgh loft’s wooden shelves are the perfect perch for a ‘70s-era mushroom table lamp with a bold green base. The saturated color complements the space’s brilliant blue rebar and the white shade, in turn, echoes the architectural-salvage iron sink. Is there anything mushrooms can’t do?

Top a Nightstand With a Primary-Hued Shroom

Inspired by Mongolian tents’ domed shape, this portable, rechargeable lamp is the contemporary descendant of all those groovy ‘70s light fixtures. Its rough-and-tumble polycarbonate body and diffuser are sturdy enough for the backyard and kids’ rooms, and its sleek lines feel sophisticated in spaces of all kinds.

BUY IT: HAY, $195

Or, Light Up Fairy-Tale Fungi

This plug-in ceramic lamp, in turn, feels like the centerpiece of an epic stuffed-animal tea party. Its gentle glow is perfect for a child’s room or cozy reading corner.

BUY IT: West Elm Kids, $159

Curl Up in a Recycled-Cotton Throw

Fair warning: Clicking for more information on this cheerfully checkered knit Myco Throw will send you tumbling down a fabulous rabbit hole of Valley Cruise Press’ snuggly, mushroom-bedecked blankets.

BUY IT: Valley Cruise Press, $95

Make Your Next Tuffet a Toadstool

Stylized enough to fit in with more straitlaced decor and funky enough to go toe-to-toe with boho, this mushroom footrest is your living room’s new best friend. It’s also under nine pounds, so you can whisk it from place to place as a spare seat, too.

BUY IT: Target, $100

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