“Farmhouse” is a term that you’ve probably seen coming up more and more often. The idea of farmhouse has come more into modern interior design with the show Fixer Upper and the rustic, country vibe (but not too much!) that the interior designer often has in mind when designing. Going “farmhouse” means bringing in certain rustic elements — but usually not going all out on the country vibe. You don’t have to decorate with chickens — not unless you want to!
Let’s talk about some easy farmhouse upgrades that can give you that farmhouse vibe:
A Farmhouse Sink
The envy of many kitchen dwellers, a farmhouse sink is big, deep, and has a nice oversized apron you can see from any point in the kitchen. No more struggling to fill big pans with water or wash even bigger ones. A farmhouse sink is big enough for all your dishes.
I personally love this copper farmhouse sink. It looks fantastic, but copper needs to constantly be kept clean and has a lot of upkeep on it. Unless you’re committed to never having dishes in your sink, copper may not be for you. Try porcelain or stainless steel instead.
A Farmhouse Kitchen Table
Rustic with beautiful natural wood showing through, farmhouse style kitchen tables are known to be simple in style but beautifully accent your room and your house. Coming in counter high heights or regular height, usually they look a little more worn and battered, giving off a good rustic feel.
When buying a farmhouse table, it’s important to know that not all farmhouse tables are created equal. If you plan to eat at your table, you might want to fill in any holes or pits with wood putty. Remember that the look and feel of your table comes from the leg style, since that’s most of what you’ll see.
Rustic, Distressed Decor
Old roadsigns, wooden signs, old pieces of metal, and more can be used to give that rustic and distressed charm. While you might not have any of these things kicking around in your backyard, most stores have items that showcase that sort of “distressed” and old charm without actually being old.
You can, of course, go antiquing! That’s super fun and you never know what you’re going to find. Instead of getting the same item as a thousand other people from Target or HomeGoods, find a unique antique you’ll want to keep around as a focal point in your home.
Wainscoting
This one’s a bit trickier as it involves drastically changing your walls, but if done correctly, can really pay off. Wainscoting is the panel-looking pieces of wood that you can install onto your walls about waist height. Usually it is painted white, but it can honestly be painted any color you want (we would suggest white as it’s neutral).
Wainscoting with a fun dutch door can really give people at your home something to talk about!
Barn Doors
You won’t have a barn, most likely, but you can still utilize barn door styles. A lot of people have really taken to the barn door style by hanging barn doors as sliding doors and room separators. They look fantastic! You can mix and match colors and styles with barn doors as they’re meant to be accent farmhouse pieces, not the piece that dictates the colors of your room.
Remember, you don’t want to throw everything together. The key to successful design is putting in some elements of the design you’re sourcing (the look and feel of a farmhouse or barn), but use modern elements as well. Less is often more, and having certain accent pieces rather than the whole place looking “farmhouse” is going to be far more appealing and modern.
