Are you thinking about how to get the farmhouse look in your home? If so, you’re not alone!
Farmhouse style, whether it’s a classic interpretation, more of a modern take on the vibe, or a blend of farmhouse with another decorating style, is hugely popular and continues to be. This approachable, friendly, warm, inviting look is at home in a wide variety of home interiors.
And no, you don’t have to live in a literal farmhouse, living the farmhouse life, with roosters crowing outside in order to enjoy this style in your own home. But you already knew that. 🐓
So, what do you do to get started with a refresh in your home’s interior and add farmhouse style into the mix? How do you go about accomplishing that without a) starting over again from scratch b) spending a boatload of money and 3) ending up with a home that looks like a flea market?
Stay with me, my friend, and I’ll show you how to make a small, step-by-step transition and introduce some farmhouse style into your home!
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Prepare Your Home for a Style Update
First, we need to have a little chat about being realistic. Introducing a new style of decor into your home the right way requires planning, organizing, and yes, decluttering. So that’s where we’re going to start.
First, make a plan. Decide which room or area of your home you’ll start with. It could be the entry and living area, the great room, the kitchen, bathroom, master suite, etc. There is no right or wrong choice, but it is much more manageable to take one smaller area of your home than try to tackle the entire interior at once. So, pick the area.
Realistically, you’ll have read through the rest of this post and be aware of the types of simple updates, changes, swap outs, and refreshes that are recommended. Keep those in mind (with an eye on the budget if necessary) while you plan more specifically what you want to do in the space.
Then, take some time to clean, organize, and take out the stuff that you no longer use or are sure you don’t want to keep in there any longer. That way you’ll have a fresher palette to start with.
If you decide to make some more substantial changes and updates such as some new furniture, flooring, etc., this is the time to coordinate all of those bigger ticket items into your plan.
This is also the perfect time to consider furniture rearrangement. You’re making other changes to the space, so don’t get caught in the rut of putting everything back where it was, just because. Think about the function of the space and each piece that is in it.
How to Get the Farmhouse Look: 5 Tips
You’ve done your preliminary planning, selected the area of your home to start with, and now it’s time to actually set the farmhouse style wheels in motion. How exciting!
Here are five tips for you to help you get the farmhouse vibe in your home. You can certainly work with each one individually, but ultimately you’ll want to incorporate at least three of these updates in order to see a real change in the vibe of the space.
1 | Paint
Farmhouse style, whether it’s a classic look, modern farmhouse style, a coastal flair, country emphasis, or any other combination of style preferences, will always begin with neutral paint colors. Why is this?
Those neutral wall finishes set the tone for a warm, relaxing, cozy home interior. With this style you’re not about wowing with color on the walls, or on the furnishings, either. You’re creating the backdrop for the rest of the space and we want it to be soothing and natural.
These neutral backgrounds are the perfect compliment to distressed wood finishes, iron, and other natural elements that are part of farmhouse style decorating.
All that said, you also don’t have to paint the space white. Neutral colors, yes. All white, no.
The other option you have, which can be very beautiful, is to use several shades of a neutral color so there is some variation but still a sense of unity throughout your home.
Here’s an example:
These three neutrals are part of the same color family, so can be used to create an interesting yet cohesive look in a home’s interior. There are many fine paint brands to choose from, and one of my favorite is Sherwin Williams, the source for these examples.
For example, if your Great Room includes the entry, living, dining, and kitchen areas, you could paint the entry and living area in one color, the dining in another, and utilize the third color in the kitchen. Or, paint everything with the same color. There are no rules here, my friend.
If your room or space has a focal point wall, you might choose to paint that wall one of the colors, and the rest of the space will be painted with another.
Overall, though, the goal is a subdued, neutral look for the walls. You wouldn’t typically see dark or bright colors in a farmhouse style home.
There are other elements of a farmhouse look that can be applied to the walls, such as rustic shiplap, but for now, we’re going to look at painting. It’s an affordable way to create a dramatic change in the look of your home’s interior!
2 | Lighting
Lighting is a powerful thing when it comes to decorating and creating a look, or a style. If you’ve ever purchased a new home with builder grade lighting, you know that it is not only inexpensive, it has very little personality or definitive style.
And that is usually done with purpose, particularly with spec homes (they build / you buy) so there is a mass appeal for the overall home.
However, when you are going after a particular style, such as farmhouse, your lighting choices can completely alter the look of a space. A light fixture that creates a farmhouse aesthetic can make all the difference, my friend.
Think about:
- entry lighting
- lighting in the dining room
- pendant lighting in the kitchen
- lighting in the nook
- ceiling fan/lighting in the living room or great room
- table/bedside/office lamps
Notice the combination of wood/iron/glass in the farmhouse style chandelier shown above. These elements are often combined in farmhouse decor.
Here are some examples of simple farmhouse style light fixtures for your home:
3 | Rugs
The third simple tip for creating a modern farmhouse feel in your home is with the use of area rugs and accent rugs. I love the neutral patterned farmhouse style rug shown above. It’s a type of tribal pattern with a fringe, and offsets the wood grains of the furniture, the white painted brick, and the flooring really beautifully.
The casual vibe of farmhouse accents and decor are so flexible, too. Once you have the casual, inviting farmhouse look going in your home, it allows you to be quite creative with the use of pattern. Want to see an example?
I love this subtle distressed-patterned area rug. It can add quiet dimension to a number of different styles, including farmhouse Let’s see how it creates an inviting farmhouse look in two different areas of a home:
In these examples, the area rug is placed over planked vinyl and hardwood.
Area rugs don’t have to cost thousands, or even hundreds of dollars, either. If you want to create a welcoming farmhouse style home and the budget is limited, a few select pieces can get you well on your way without spending a lot of money.
4 | Metal and Wood
A combination of metal and wood (usually distressed) is something that most farmhouse style homes contain. Think about the smaller pieces in your home: end tables, bedside tables, coffee tables, sofa tables, etc.
I used this approach in my own home to give the living and dining area a farmhouse vibe:
Notice the distressed wood and iron legs on both the coffee table and the nesting tables. And no…they don’t match. Farmhouse style decorating is not about matching all of the woods and leg styles.
Think first about the function of the piece you’re considering: who will use it, how will they use it, how durable does it need to be, how much use will it get, and so on.
Then, determine the size of the piece you want. After you’ve nailed that down, start searching for the right farmhouse style piece for that spot in your home.
I’ve curated some examples for you from Wayfair. If you shy away from Wayfair because of the fact that most pieces need to be assembled, remember that they offer assembly services for you for an additional fee. Most of the time the pricing is still really affordable.
5 | Accents
The fifth simple tip for creating the farmhouse look in your is one that most of us look forward to: the decorative accents. Yes, it’s can be lots of fun to go shopping and see all of the cool choices in smaller decorative items, wall art, etc.
The danger can be that we go a little overboard and the result is a cluttered, scattered look, which is probably not what we were aiming for.
My advice to you as someone who has done this many, many times for clients, in home stages, and in my own home, is to use a light touch.
When you’re first introducing a new style into your home, bring just a few pieces into the space (remember, you’ve already decluttered and removed all the stuff you’re not going to use in there any more).
Here’s an example:
You’ve decided to start with the Dining Room to bring in the farmhouse look. You purchased a new area rug to place under the dining set, you painted the room a beautiful neutral color, and you installed a really cool farmhouse light fixture.
Now, to complete the look in the dining area, add:
- one piece of wall decor
- two decorative accents
Here are a few examples for you to consider:
Is the Farmhouse Look Going Out?
You might be wondering, is the farmhouse look going out of style? Should I steer clear of this rustic vibe? Well, no one is paying me to make home decorating predictions, but I’ll give you my two-cents anyway:
Decorate your home with the things and in the style that makes you happy. The look inside your home is a personal decision, and if you love farmhouse style and all the emotions it evokes, then that’s what you should do.
Many home decorators use a combination of styles to achieve an overall look that satisfies them the most, and that’s how I see farmhouse style. It may not be everyone’s cup of tea to have a home completely filled with rustic pieces, antiques, farmhouse decor, pine floors, wood beams, shiplap, and beadboard.
But if you truly enjoy this authentic, natural, inviting style, apply it in your home to the level that makes sense and achieves the balance. Then, it will never “go out” for you!
Conclusion: How to Get the Farmhouse Look
Creating any type of style in your home is a process for most of us. We take small steps and make changes as we can afford to do so as well as when it makes sense to change out a piece of furniture, repaint the walls, purchase new flooring, etc.
Farmhouse style is such a relaxed and imperfect style of decorating it is high on the list for many home decorators. If this describes you and your home, I hope you’ll find the inspiration you need right here!
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