Boho works when it looks collected and fails when it looks purchased. That is the whole tension of the style — it is meant to read as a decade of travel, secondhand finds and things kept because they matter, which is difficult to achieve in a single delivery from one shop.
The reliable route is layering over time and restraint in the base. Neutral walls and floors, then texture stacked deliberately: rattan, jute, unbleached cotton, a rug with actual pattern, plants at three different heights. Colour should come from objects rather than paint. And the rule that saves most boho rooms is negative space — one clear wall makes everything on the other three read as intentional rather than as clutter.
A decade of advice said paint small rooms white. It was wrong, and the reason why changes how you should approach every small space in the house.
The single most common mistake in living room layout, why it happens, and the two rules that tell you what size to buy instead.