Home Decor: A Guide to Rustic Style

Rustic style harks back to times when technology hadn’t invaded our lives. Channelling the great outdoors, embracing rustic home decor means having a love for organic textures, as well as rugged, lived-in furniture and accessories. If you’d like your home to be inviting, unpretentious and to incorporate warm touches of nature, then this style is for you.

If you live in the middle of the city but long for a calm and cozy natural landscape, then consider turning your home into that woodland haven you’ve always dreamed of. If you want to adopt rustic style into your home but aren’t sure where to start, we’ve created some guidelines to connect you to the earth's roots and to celebrate the simplicity and ease of rustic home decor.

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Follow these steps and embrace the rustic mindset in your home!

Begin with Accents

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When we think rustic home decor, we imagine elements from nature brought indoors. Accents around the home are the place to start when trying to incorporate the rustic style into your abode. Painting is often discouraged when it comes to the rustic look, so keep all room accents rough and rugged rather than neat and polished. Braided rugs on the living room floor or throw pillows with bold patterns are excellent additions to bedrooms or living rooms.

For curtains and sheets, think organic materials like cotton and linen, as faux fabrics do not fit in with this look. Further, if there are other elements in your home that don’t suit the rustic look but can’t be removed, consider dressing them up with rustic accents. For example, place foraged bark, stones, pinecones or twigs on a non-rustic bookcase or cover a modern couch with a sheepskin throw blanket.

Also, consider changing out your cabinet hardware for something with a nature-inspired design or going as far as creating a few arrangements with found dried leaves and sticks, and displacing these pieces in various places or vintage vases to make things feel undeniably rustic.

Keep Rustic Decor Functional

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Just because rustic home decor suggests times before technology, doesn’t mean our home must stop functioning as if it’s not a part of the modern world. There are little ways that can offer farmhouse appeal while still staying practical. Consider open wood shelving for your kitchen or pantry, with a soapstone countertop.

Wood countertops are another excellent rustic option for the pantry or on an already existing kitchen island, just as long as they’re not adjacent to a sink. Wood countertops add a warmth and charm that other materials won’t provide. Also, think about installing a farmhouse sink or repurposed metal bucket which will suggest rustic while still allowing you to wash dishes in a modern way.

Exposure!

Look around your home: do you have any existing elements that fit right in with rustic form and function? Create a more pastoral look by tearing up any carpet or tile and exposing natural wood or stone floors that lie beneath. Maybe your home is lucky to have an exposed brick wall or rough-hewn beams that have not yet been covered?

These can become key elements in fostering a simple and pure rustic finish. Fire is another important factor in rustic home decor, so think about placing a confined fire pit on your patio or several candelabras during warmer months. Show off natural glow and glory of your home elements by bringing as many raw elements as possible out into the open!

Reclaim and Repurpose Materials

Rustic design doesn't have to be costly, as wood pieces are key to the overall rustic design, and reclaimed or bare wood items placed around the home are an attractive way to maintain the rustic aesthetic. Furthermore, when you incorporate wood items into your rustic decor, these things should show off the natural wood grain as well as knots. For furniture, stick with rich colours and tones. Bear this in mind: furniture should appear as though it might belong in a log cabin or cottage or even outside!

Rustic pieces aren’t dainty but are instead large in scale with plenty of visual weight. Elements should look old or worn. If you’re buying new pieces for your rustic home, create artificial wear to give an overall feel of the item being repurposed. Also, consider creating items for your home from actual foraged materials. Use hollowed-out half logs for a take on pastoral seating or use a reclaimed tree stump and build a coffee table.

Maybe even go a step further and create a backsplash from found stones. These projects might be time-consuming, but get your hands dirty with one of these DIY creations and really give into the true nature of living a rustic living! 

Renovation projects to create a rustic decor in your home

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Farmhouse decor styles have dominated trends in the past few years. Open Pinterest and you will see hundreds of examples of wooden beams on ceilings, barn doors, shutters and other essentials for rustic style. 

Even if we are nearing saturation with rustic decors in specialized publications, it is still possible to create an environment with a timeless decor while including traditional elements. Here are a few types of renovation projects that will allow you to introduce the rustic style in your home:

Installing a barn door

The barn door is a very interesting practical and decorative element. First, it adds a visual focal point to the room. Also, it can be installed on rails to create a modular opening that takes up little space. The only disadvantage is that the barn doors on rails offer little privacy.

Here are our articles about barn doors:

• The different types of barn doors

• How to install a barn door + cost guide

Installing a pellet stove

In the past, most homes were equipped with a fireplace or a wood stove. They had a lot of practical functions, mainly being used to heat the home and prepare the food. Nowadays, these devices no longer play these roles and moreover, they are not as popular as we know their environmental impact is negative. This being said, the concept of a stove is interesting and can add a lot of rustic charm to a room. This is why we want to look at alternatives, namely pellet stoves. 

Check out our article for more info: 

• Environmentally-friendly heating systems

Building a wooden headboard

One of the main characteristics of the rustic style is the artisan aspect of elements and materials. Think handmade articles, or objects that seem handcrafted. For your decor project, why not get your hands dirty or hire experts like carpenters? 

Here is an example of a project for a rustic bedroom:

• 7 wall designs for bedrooms

Working with an interior designer to adopt a rustic home decor

Are you looking to adopt a rustic style in your home but puzzled about where to start? Do not hesitate to call upon the services of an interior designer to transform your rooms and adapt them according to your taste and needs!