When it comes to creating an ethnic backdrop, strip everything back to the basics and opt for richly stained natural wood floors, simple parchment or natural stone coloured walls and simple slatted wooden Venetians at the window. If you feel your room needs an injection of colour, paint one wall in an earthy shade of terracotta or a rich, spicy saffron. Warm up floors with chunky, woven coir or sisal rugs; choose furniture in rattan, wicker or animal hide; and add an authentic ethnic touch in the form of hand-thrown pots, wooden carvings and dried twigs and grasses displayed in imposing earthenware pots.