A farmhouse is one of the most traditional home styles out there. And, while that cozy, rustic vibe is one that you love, you might also feel like it needs a breath of fresh air from time to time.
Fortunately, there are countless ways for you to spruce up your farmhouse without losing that authentic feel that makes your home so special. Here are five ways to do it:
1. Expose More Materials
The rustic look of your farmhouse wouldn’t be possible without natural or otherwise exposed building materials. Think about it: you probably already have rustic hardwood floors, or perhaps you have a natural stone fireplace.
However, there’s so much more you can do with your farmhouse’s bones to make the building materials a part of its design. For example, exposing brick will transform the look and feel of your fireplace or living room. This is often a design element in more modern, industrial-inspired spaces, so it’ll freshen up your farmhouse without being too contemporary for the space.
Other materials to consider include wood, shiplap and the hardwood flooring. And, if your home didn’t have these elements originally, don’t be afraid to add them in for a bit of character that, of course, fits with your cozy style.
2. Open Your Storage
Another farmhouse-ready trend is open storage, which fits just as easily into your bathroom as it does your kitchen. Rather than stuffing everything you own into cabinets and closing the door, open shelving allows you to display everything from plates to linens to books to picture frames.
These shelves work for several reasons: they’re functional and simple, plus they incorporate a natural material that suits a rustic style. You can even make your shelves out of reclaimed wood for added character.
3. Repaint Your Furniture
It might not be the home itself that needs new life — it could be the furniture you’ve used to decorate. In that case, you might want to grab a brush and crack open a new shade of paint.
You’ll have to take several steps to ensure you’re properly refinishing your wooden furniture, whether it’s relatively new or a family heirloom. You should look at its current finish to figure out if you need to remove it, how you’ll do it, and what you’ll use to re-stain or re-paint your piece. As a bonus, you can really examine the furniture in its sanded and stripped-down state to see if it needs additional glue or support to keep it functional for years to come.
4. Bring Home the Greens
Whether it’s mid-summer or the dead of winter, there’s one thing that will instantly brighten up your home: a bouquet of flowers. Grab a vase, pop your chosen florals into it and voila — you’ve added color and a light scent to any room of your home.
You can make this freshness more permanent, though, by cultivating a few green houseplants that stay leafy all year long. They’ll breathe new life into your home — literally. Not only do they look good and bring us happiness in doing so, but houseplants also purify the air within your home.
5. Let the Light In
Finally, never underestimate the power of good lighting. Perhaps your old farmhouse only has a single overhead light per room, or updates over the years have seen fluorescent bulbs added to your home’s skeleton. These are certainly functional sources of light, but they’re not necessarily pretty.
You can have much better control over the look of the light cast in your home by adding floor and table lamps with light bulbs you like. Turn them all on when you’re working, and light only a few when you’re ready to relax.
Don’t forget about natural light, either. Throwing back your curtains and opening the blinds in your home will drench the whole place in sunlight, and you’ll quickly see how much warmth the natural rays can bring.
Fall in Love with Your Farmhouse — Again
No matter which of the above steps you decide to take, one thing is for sure: you’re going to love the new look and feel of your farmhouse. All there’s left to do is freshen the place up and see how much newness your traditional home has to offer you.
Kacey Bradley is the lifestyle and travel blogger for The Drifter Collective, an eclectic lifestyle blog that expresses various forms of style through the influence of culture and the world around us. Kacey graduated with a degree in Communications while working for a lifestyle magazine. She has been able to fully embrace herself with the knowledge of nature, the power of exploring other locations and cultures, all while portraying her love for the world around her through her visually pleasing, culturally embracing and inspiring posts. Along with writing for her blog, she has written for sites like U.S. News, SUCCESS, Tripping.com and more!
Follow Kacey on Twitter and subscribe to her blog to keep up with her travels and inspiring posts!
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Love these ideas… always love to hear about ideas to keep a farmhouse look up-to-date and fresh… Thanks, Andrea!