Goblincore Aesthetic Decor Ideas: Hot Goblin Summer Is Here, Let's Get Weird & Whimsical With It
This post contains affiliate links. If you click and purchase, I may receive a small commission at no extra cost to you. Thank you for your support!
A couple years ago, it was hot girl summer. And this year - at least for me - it's hot goblin summer.
I'm lurking in a dark cave. I'm collecting little trinkets. I'm confusing men with riddles. I'm feral.
…At least as feral as a tired girl who doesn't leave her studio apartment to face the blazing sun can be. 🙃
I'm a feral goblin in spirit. Which is probably why I'm so drawn to goblincore decor. I need to channel all this feral anger I have around the current state of society into something weird and whimsical. Very goblin coded of me.
We don't need to be obedient. We don't need to smile more. And we definitely don't even need to be hot.
In fact, we can just chill in the shade of a bridge with the snails and the frogs, opt out of the rigid expectations of modern society, and just be feral and fabulous. ✨
So, let's just embrace our goblin tendencies and have ourselves a hot goblin summer with all the goblincore decor ideas I'm about to share with you!
Would you rather watch than read? Here’s the video! ↓
Hot Goblin Summer
So, if you watched the Goblincore video I made last year, you already know that this style is all about embracing the things in nature that aren't exactly conventionally beautiful.
Goblincore is all about the gorgeous and the gross. It's dirty boots, damp moss, mushrooms and mud, critters like snails and frogs. It's the scent of summer rain and ozone after a storm. The feeling of soil under your fingernails. The warmth and wildness of being outside when daylight lasts till 9.
A hot goblin summer means enjoying all these things on your own terms, however gross and gorgeous you want to be on a given day.
And decor pieces like these would be a good start if you want to incorporate some goblin core energy into your space this summer!
Throw Pillows
When it comes to these throw pillows I found, I was really loving the goblincore-meets-Art-Nouveau look. I'm really just such a believer in decor that has multiple personalities to it.
And as I'm thinking about it, goblincore and Art Nouveau kind of are made for each other. They're both heavily influenced by nature and rely on organic shapes and subject matter. Swirls and symmetry, plants and flowers.
I like the idea of taking Art Nouveau and kind of dragging it through the mud a little bit, making it extra earthy and mossy and, you know… gobliny.
And that's what these pillows do. You have two that are more pattern driven and truly Art Nouveau, but their colors and vibe would fit well among other goblincore things. Then the other two are more obviously goblincore with their use of moths and frogs.
Little critters play a huge role in goblin core. Moths, frogs, snails, turtles, all the gross little guys, you know? Remember, it's all about celebrating the unconventionally beautiful aspects of nature here.
Critters
The unconventional beauty of nature can come through in little decorative accents like these. Just some little touches of creaturedom that would bring your apartment styling down to earth. Like, way down to the earth where the critters dwell.
This little turtle guy, which looks as though a Tiffany lamp was cursed to spend the rest of its days as a turtle, would be a cute little addition. And it would also provide a nice glow to a room.
Goblin core must glow, by the way. No overhead lights - only moody, glowy lamps. The entire mystique of this style would be destroyed by the aggressive glare of the big light. A true goblin would hiss and hide from such a thing.
So, something like this turtle piece would just be one of many little lamps throughout a goblincore room. And he's just cute.
Speaking of cute, these little brass snails kissing each other would be another subtle little goblincore detail. Who wouldn't want some hot snail-on-snail action on their coffee table or bookshelf?
Or if you're not really on the market for serious romance, you could go for something a little more fun and casual with snail decor like this. It’s all rainbow and iridescent and even a little kitschy. It makes me think of 1997.
Kitsch is tricky territory. You know, there's a fine line between playful charm and tacky cheesiness, and these ride that line. But a style like goblincore shouldn't take itself too seriously. Goblins are mischievous, silly little guys. And I think kitsch in such an itty bitty dose like this (literally snail-sized) isn't enough to suddenly make a room tacky.
Now, one thing that shouldn't be in small doses when it comes to goblincore is plants. If you're up for the responsibility of caring for living things (unlike me, other than a cat, of course) this style is perfect for layers and layers of plants. And if you're not up for it, they can be faux.
A wall vase like this would be a very goblincore friendly way to display a sprig or two. And I mean, if you don't possess a piece of decor with eyes that stare deep into your soul, are you really even decorating?
Mushroom Decor
Moving along from little critters and soul-piercing eyeballs, we must get into some obligatory mushroom imagery. There's no way I could skip this, even if I wanted to. When it comes to styles like goblincore or cottagecore or many of the other cores, mushrooms are basically a requirement as a symbol. They just communicate these types of styles so well.
And there are so many cute ways to display our favorite fashionable fungi. Just search “mushroom decor” on Etsy and you'll have pages and pages of cute things to choose from. But these are some little accents that I was personally drawn to.
We have mushroom wall hangers where you can hang your keys when you step into your apartment, little mushroom candles that could help turn your coffee table into an enchanted forest floor, a toadstool spine hugger to make your book collection look a little more magical and… poisonous.
I also found a couple examples of beautiful mushroom wall art. I like this one because the carved wood look is cool and, of course, very appropriate for such a woodsy style. And I like this one because I just love the colors and the vintage botanical vibe. I'm always a sucker for that.
All of these mushroom decor pieces simply look like something a goblin would have in their little goblin swamp cottage. At the end of the day, that's all that really matters.
Cloches
Cloches are another type of decor that a goblin would definitely have. …According to me. But I'm right, aren't I? Put yourself in the shoes of a goblin. They like their trinkets. They gather little odds and ends. They forage for interesting things in the forest. And I would imagine they would want to display them in an interesting way.
Enter cloches. Little domed vignettes of nature - or the imitation of nature - that of course any goblin would love. And they're not only nature focused, there's also something magical about them. They're like little orbed fairy tales. Self-contained worlds that look like tiny fairies could be living in them.
I'm pretty sure I've said that more than once about cloches, but I've just always gotten the immediate impression that they're fairy homes. I can't help it. And I could picture a goblin collecting fairies and just keeping them in there.
Fairy homes, fairy prisons… 🤷🏻♀️ Either way, cloches are very whimsical and gobliny and therefore perfect for this style.
Moss Decor
Moss is another core visual motif in goblincore. I think moss is one of the prettiest things on earth. It's like nature's blanket cloaking the ground with the loveliest shade of green and a kind of fuzzy texture that just looks so cozy.
And like much of the goblincore imagery, it's often overlooked. Flowers and trees and mountains and rainbows get all the applause, while moss is creeps at the backstage door, perfectly content with keeping a low profile.
And mossy decor is a no-brainer way to convey goblincore in a room. Mossy wall art like this is a great way to bring a pop of color and texture into a space, just like what moss does naturally outside.
Little tealight candle holders like these would bring a subtle touch of moss, along with some whimsy and that goblin glow we're going for. A
And this moss-covered skull is just plainstriking. Not for the faint of heart, but what a statement piece. Once again, we have something that looks like you could find it in a goblin's cottage, probably to scare off unwanted visitors. Beautiful and useful.
Dark Humor
Then there's the goblin attitude that you could tap into. A little dark humor. Now, I'm not typically into text as decor unless it's song lyrics because, you know, anything that comes even vaguely close to a “live, laugh, love” sign is an immediate no for me.
But these are like anti-“live, laugh, love” signs. They're like the antidote to that kind of cheesy toxic positivity. What we have here is some dairy-free healthy negativity. 🙃
“Absolutely no soliciting. We're too broke, too tired, and too introverted.” That's just relatable. I feel seen.
“The horrors persist, but so do I.” Inspiring. Motivating. Menacing. Exactly how I want to feel every day.
As someone who appreciates a dry, sardonic sense of humor, I'm into this, and I think a goblin would be too.
One of the things that makes me yearn for goblincore is its honesty, its refusal to ignore the dark corners of things. And in a world that's been feeling extremely dark, especially for the last year and a half or so, I find solace in styles that don't try to “live, laugh, love” me into obedience.
I'm a goblin of a girl and I won't obey.
