Everything to Know About Different Country Decor Styles
When asking someone what style of decorating is their favorite, many will say I love to decorate with Country Decor. Of course my next question is of course, what kind of country decor. You may not know but there are many different variations of country decorating and I am here to tell you what they are.
Decorating your home is about more than just picking the colors that you like. It's about becoming acquainted with other cultures, traditions, and lifestyles. Some of the most popular forms of country decor in our home today is country contemporary, country farmhouse decor, country chic, French country decor and country primitive. I will give you the information you need to know about all four styles and their differences.
A General Overview of Country Decor Style
In spite of the fact that the country style is a broad one, it is characterized by traditional style featuring old furniture, vintage fabrics, natural elements and homey decorations. If you're talking about an ancient Italian villa, a French farmhouse in the south of France, or a Texas ranch, the best way to define this decorating style is casual and warm with a neutral color palette.
You don't have to buy a new house to make it feel like a country retreat, regardless of how old it is. Regardless of the country style you choose, keeping things simple is essential.
Country Contemporary Decor
Foremost we will begin with one of the newest styles to hit the home decorating world and that is Country Contemporary Decor. Just like contemporary decorating, this style uses clean lines and modern design but it is not a straight contemporary style as it adds a hint of country.
When people think of country style, they frequently conjure up images of lace curtains, oak furniture, blue and white gingham, and an overabundance of apples and geese. Those mental pictures are banished with clean, sleek lines and a neutral color palette in contemporary country. Bring in elements of the present while while paying homage to the past by combining worn woods, painted walls, and metal furniture.
This contemporary design style has been made popular by many celebs in Hollywood and their homes all over the world. This new, modern take on country is a great way to enhance the look of your home while still keeping that country feel you are looking for.
Country Contemporary Decorating Tips
Some ideas for a Country Contemporary look includes Shaker-style furniture and basic upholstered items lend a contemporary look while maintaining the country atmosphere of the space. You should minimize your use of accessories in your design to keep the minimalist interiors looking clean. White ironstone pieces, as well as earthenware creamware, work well with contemporary dinnerware. Storage baskets and an area rug in the color of natural sisal are all that is needed to finish the design.
Country Farmhouse Decor Style
Country Farmhouse Decor styles is an oldie but goodie when it comes to home decorating. This is a simple way to keep it looking country while also using that special touch of old look with some new. With a more rustic feel and an antique look, this style is perfect for those wanting to keep it country but also add a little pop of color.
With additions such as antique mirrors and wooden horse picture frames with floral arrangements, or hanging pottery barn barnyard decorations just adds some unique country charm you won't get from plain white furniture. Rustic or aged furniture can be used to add the easy country feel you are after.
Country Farmhouse Decor Style can be seen in many homes all over the world, some of which include the home of America's First Lady, Laura Bush in Texas. This style is a great addition to any home when properly executed since it looks like it belongs in an old country house.
Country Farmhouse Decorating Ideas
Beadboard paneling, clapboard siding, wrap-around porches, and white picket fences are some of the elements that we think of when picturing the origins of country farmhouse decor and where a lot of inspiration is pulled from. Original farmhouses had social spaces in the front, with kitchens and bedrooms located in the back or on top of them, as well as bathrooms.
To recreate the feeling of a farmhouse is to embrace the farmhouse aesthetic in all its forms. For it is simple and self-reliant that it thrives. Upcycling and remodeling are a big part of this approach, which is why flea markets, tag sales, and thrift store finds are ideal.
Adding items that are typically found in a farmhouse into your everyday decor is a great way to give that rustic feeling. Rugs and pillows cover the floors, and chandeliers hang from the ceiling. Wood can be used in showers and kitchens, tables and chairs are built with planks of wood, and porches are made out of cedar panels. Add rustic kitchen signs to the kitchen to accent and pull out colors.
A farmhouse table might be placed inside a rustic dining room, in your living room or even used to make the perfect farmhouse garden decor ideas. And, in some cases, the living room might be used as a dining room. Rustic furniture or antique furniture are better suited for farmhouse decor.
Early American Country
The roots of early American country style can be traced all the way back to colonial America. It's influenced by the time period's rural lifestyle, natural resources, and handcrafted furnishings and fabrics. Furniture brought to the New World by early colonists from England inspired the early American country style.
As the country grew, tastes in home decor changed, but early American country style remained. Early American furnishings are easy to spot because they are simple and generally made up of pieces made from natural materials like wood.
Early American decorating is an easy look to achieve with items like pine furniture, beaded lamp shades, and quilted counterpanes. It's all about natural fabrics like linen for bedding and waxed canvas for window coverings.
Early American Country Decorating Ideas
A colonial-style color scheme with bold hues like barn red, deep green and Wedgwood blue, gray and rust against neutral walls can brighten any space. A painted canvas floorcloth or a braided cloth rug can be used to anchor a seating area or dining room.
Decorate with Queen Anne, Chippendale, Windsor, or Hepplewhite style furniture. Even if money is an issue, there are plenty of low-cost replicas to choose from. Cross-stitch and crewelwork designs of the period can be used to decorate soft items. For a truly realistic country look, use wall hangings in vibrant colors made from vintage colonial quilts.
Country Chic Decor
It doesn't matter if you still refer to it as "shabby chic" or have adopted the term "country chic," a laid-back design aesthetic is hugely popular right now. It's easy to create a relaxed, comfortable, and fashionable house by combining conventional pieces with those that have a vintage look—whether they're actually used or merely copies.
Country chic decor is a style that appears to be a jumble of haphazardly placed furniture and decorations at first glance. It is, in reality, a well-thought-out area with a hint of the passing of time. Shabby chic has a lot to do with retro and vintage aesthetics, but it's lighter and more opulent than those styles. If you have a lot of room to play around with, shabby chic is the perfect style for you. The shabby chic look is a great choice for a living area.
Those who have never heard of shabby chic may find the style difficult to comprehend. On the one hand, it exudes refinement and a sense of sophistication. The passage of time can be seen as carelessness, though, as several elements demonstrate. It is, in reality, a deliberate effort to create a soulful interior.
Country Chic Decorating Ideas
When decorating your living room in the shabby chic style, you should exercise caution when making your selections. As a result, one can end up with a kitschy-looking interior rather than one that is elegant. It's the greatest danger for individuals who want to decorate their home or flat with shabby chic style.
Pastel and vibrant colors are prevalent in shabby chic decor. Most of the room is muted colors such as a pale shade of beige with splashes of pink and blue. Yellow and green are also common accent colors in patterns. This applies to the colors of the walls and the furniture.
Also, shabby chic is a fan of brilliant and slightly gray tones of natural wood. Typical interiors constructed in this style will have these kinds of elements in them.
A country-chic kitchen is defined by light and airy areas with abundance of wood, a nod to farmhouse design, and a sprinkling of shabby chic flair. If you're looking for a cozy, homey feel in your kitchen, this is the style for you.
Country Primitive Home Decor
Folk art objects that emphasize a raw and simple aesthetic, darker earth tones, and raw materials such as natural textiles are used in primitive country decor. It employs artifacts that appear to have been passed down from generation to generation in order to create a vintage aesthetic.
The popularity of primitive home decor in interior design is unabated and shows no signs of waning. People are only now, after a long rise in modern decor, returning to more simple, rustic designs in their homes.
Country Primitive Decorating Ideas
The primitive decorating style uses primitive folk art components with subdued hues and a rough and plain design that is representative of a historic or early Americana historical period.
Below is a great video detailing some Simple Primitive Decorating Ideas
Rustic Home Decor
Natural, raw, weathered, and casual are some of the characteristics of rustic interior design. A wide range of variations on the style are included in the category, such as coastal and modern rustic.... Rustic interior design frequently incorporates weathered, raw wood.
Many peple often confuse Rustic interior design with Primitive Interior design. Despite being made in a factory, a piece of rustic furniture may look like it was made decades ago. Primitive and rustic are two distinct concepts, and this explains why a primitive object is always rustic, but a rustic object is not always primitive. Refined and well-loved are the hallmarks of rustic style, which has nothing to do with primitive.
Rustic Decorating Ideas
Natural, raw, weathered, and casual are some of the characteristics of rustic interior design. Tuscan, seaside, cottage, and modern rustic are just a few examples of the many styles included in this large category. Rustic design can take many forms, but it always emphasizes the raw, unadulterated beauty of the outdoors.
Country Specific Design Inspirations
Some of my favorite designs has always been ones that recreate and pay homage to the culture and lifestyles of a particular region of the world. I've featured some examples below and will provide more design inspiration in the future.
English Country Decor
Imagine yourself in an English country-style thatched home. The combination of British antique furniture, hand-picked accessories, and botanical colors creates a unique look and feel. This is not the time or place for current fashions. This particular country design is based on faded florals, patina, and aged Persian rugs.
Paint the walls a creamy magnolia white to set the tone. With the addition of wainscoting, the English rural illusion is further bolstered. Instead of a plain white wall, consider a wallpaper pattern in shades of deep mauve, green, yellow, and periwinkle blue that evokes an English rural garden.
Upholstered furniture that has been overstuffed looks beautiful in chintz or casual linen coverings. Tweed, cashmere, chenille, and cotton are other suitable materials. Make use of paisleys, damask, and gingham patterns. Decorative lace or lined curtain panels are typically used as window treatments to keep the room cool.
With family treasures, you can't go wrong with vintage estate sale purchases. Organize your most prized possessions into themed groupings and display them on trays, tables, hutches, and bookcases. Oil paintings depicting English countryside settings and still life are the logical choice for the walls.
French Country Decor Style
The French rural style relies heavily on romance as a design element. A rough pine floor contrasts beautifully with soft unbleached muslin curtain panels and folded soft gray velvet upholstery against bright white or color-washed walls in light hues like swiss cream, baby blue, or buttery yellow. Whitewashed or natural pine armoires with carved details and curvaceous bergère chairs complete the French country theme.
Using festive Provençal linens is another way to bring a touch of French country style into your home. Table linens embroidered with olive trees, sunflowers, and lemons, known as "les indiennes," originated in India, but have become synonymous with southern France's countryside.
Other local textiles are fashioned into bed linens, decorative cushions, and throws, as is typical in French country. Rooster toss pillows in rich colors, floral toile de jouy quilted coverlets, buffalo check bed skirts, and toile de jouy bed shams all add to the French pastoral atmosphere. It doesn't matter whether you go for a more subdued version of French country or a brighter version inspired by the Mediterranean.
Tuscan Country Decorating Style
The impassioned combination of texture and color that defines Tuscan country style. Rustic and full of natural features, Etruscan design embodies the essence of the region. The warm and sunny Mediterranean atmosphere inspires rough plastered walls and robust flooring made of stone, terracotta, or wood planks.
In order to achieve the worn walls of a rustic villa in your home, you'll find a wide variety of paint colors and procedures. Keep the number of items in your home to a minimal. The decor of Tuscan country estates is very austere. Rooms are sparse and limited to only the most essential pieces of furniture.
An old Tuscan trestle table, rush chairs, and a weathered storage cabinet are all you need to create a rustic Tuscan dining room. Italian ceramics, olive baskets, and candles are just a few examples of Tuscan rural home decorations that offer a sense of authenticity.
Scandinavian Country Style
There are many similarities between Scandinavian style design and traditional country design style. With its modest use of color and painted decorative details, the Scandinavian design style has earned a reputation for understated style that pays homage to the country of its origins' natural hospitality.
Scandinavian countries have long and chilly winters, which is why light colors and finishes are prominent in Scandinavian country design. In reality, the majority of the wood furniture is left unfinished or painted white to match the room's other white accents as opposed to using dark wood. It's all about pastels, white and cream, painted furniture, clean design, and simple lighting in Scandinavian interiors and country style.
According to other country styles, the design is relatively austere. Slender, leggy furniture and huge mirrors are used to reflect light around the room in a minimalist design. There is a lot of usage of bleached floorboards, wall stencils, and hand-painted décor. Gingham is the most common pattern seen in textiles and upholstery, except the odd delicate floral design. It is common for upholstery to be made of natural fibers like linen, cotton, and silk.
Since every country decor idea has a different influence, a different environment, and a different style of design, it is impossible to give one set of instructions that will pertain to all countries. By using the pictures and descriptions in the article as inspiration, you can create your own country style decor by blending what you like from each one. Who knows? You might just find a style that suits your taste perfectly.
Thank you for reading!
FAQ
What is the difference between farmhouse and country chic?
The main difference between a country farmhouse and a country chic is that country farmhouses tend to be smaller. Porches and verandas extend around many country farmhouses. Colors like yellow, green, blue, brown, and even black were employed to decorate the country chic style.
What is primitive country decor?
Folk art objects that emphasize a raw and simple aesthetic, darker earth tones, and natural textiles are used in primitive country décor. As if they've been passed down through the generations, these things are used in the creation of the piece of art.
What is the difference between primitive and farmhouse style?
In many ways, primitive design resembles farmhouse décor, but it uses earthier tones and a more somber color palette. In comparison to rustic décor, farmhouse style tends to offer a cleaner look that is more family-friendly.
What's the Difference Between Primitive, Rustic, and Country Style?
Although the terms are often used interchangeably, here are the specifics of each decorating style.
Primitive:
In the area of interior design, the concept is a little more nuanced, but it still keeps the formal definition's character. Primitive furniture and décor are, first and foremost, handcrafted. Second, it was created by someone with no professional training or skill in the field. There are several ways to define a primitive item: it can be useful; it can be decorative; or it can be both. Finally, a primitive item is ancient enough to be considered an antique. Primitive items have a worn, plain appearance because of their age, lack of pretense, and practicality, not because they were designed to seem that way. Primitive is more of a descriptor of age and production process than it is a design element.
Rustic:
The decorative industry once again adds a final flourish to the phrase. Rustic design is characterized by a connection to nature and the use of natural materials that are still pretty raw or unprocessed in their current state. A faded or aged finish, a natural tint, a laid-back vibe, and an old-fashioned warmth or comfort are all characteristics of rustic furniture and décor. Handmade and ancient are not included in the definition of rustic. Despite the fact that a rustic item could be both, it is not necessary. Even though a piece of rustic furniture may have been manufactured in a factory lately, it may have been made to appear aged and worn. Primitive and rustic are two distinct concepts, and this explains why a primitive object is always rustic, but a rustic thing is not. Refined and well-loved are the hallmarks of rustic style, which has nothing to do with primitive.
Country:
French country, lodge, cottage, American country, and seaside decor are all examples of styles that fall under the umbrella word "country" in the field of interior design. Natural materials, often in an unfinished or aged state, natural colors, and an easy, welcoming aspect are the common threads among all of these styles. Rustic or primitive furniture are sometimes associated with country style, however this isn't necessarily the case. There is, however, a hazy line between what is country and what is rustic. Rustic palettes tend to be limited to earth tones and muted colours, but rural palettes can feature a much broader spectrum of colors and shades. When it comes to rustic and rural furniture, red-toned woods are the norm. When it comes to rustic style, the term "country" is more loosely defined than "rustic."