Farmhouse décor was the height of home design trends — five years ago. Interior decorators have moved onto a variety of other design styles since farmhouse hit its peak, with the result that an overabundance of farmhouse décor tends to look a little outdated at the moment.
Fortunately, if you still adore your farmhouse home, you don’t have to radically remodel to stay in style. Here are a couple of key ways to update your farmhouse décor without shifting into a new style:
Black Doors and Trim
The fastest, easiest and cheapest way to update the farmhouse style without radically changing your décor is to paint certain parts of your home black. Doors and trim are the easiest to paint, but you can consider painting your lower kitchen cabinets, a board and batten wall, a fireplace, and other design elements. You should be careful to select the right shade of black to complement the other tones in your home.
Light Fixtures
Light fixtures are interesting decorative elements because they are so incredibly important to the feel of a space, but they don’t usually define a room’s aesthetic. Thus, swapping out your rustic light fixtures for something a bit more modern won’t cause a stylistic clash in your home; rather, it can help your space feel fresh and hip.
This is especially true of decorative light fixtures in prominent areas of your home. You might opt to replace the heavy wagon wheel chandelier over your dining room table with something a bit lighter and more streamlined. Likewise, the pendant lights over your kitchen island can be updated with fixtures that are simple and elegant.
You should look for a farmhouse ceiling fan that has clean lines and minimal lights. This will blend the styles in your home, giving you the color palette of your farmhouse décor and the simple beauty of the more modern design. However, before you do any electrical work yourself, you should check with your homeowners’ insurance to understand how you are covered.
New Barn Door
A barn door is a great way to separate spaces without making rooms feel completely closed off. However, even the name “barn door” recalls an intensely traditional farmhouse. If you have barn doors that look as though they came straight from a real barn, you can refresh your décor by replacing them with more modern barn door styles. For example, you might purchase a French-style barn door filled with panes of glass, or you could create a barn door with an interesting pattern or texture.
Accent Wall
White dominates the farmhouse style, though your home might also include grays and dark blues. While this can make it easier to incorporate the ordered clutter of the aesthetic, it can also start to feel bland when every wall is the same flat hue. That’s why you might consider giving your home an accent wall.
The easiest way to make an accent wall is to paint one wall in a color that complements the tone of the rest of the space while breaking up the monotony of the current design. However, you aren’t restricted to painting. Wallpaper has become trendy, and peel-and-stick options make it easier than ever to apply wallpaper quickly and without damaging your walls. You can also create your own board and batten wall in any pattern, which offers a traditional farmhouse feel.
New Art
Your home will read “farmhouse” even if you don’t have a life-sized picture of a steer on your living room wall. By decorating your home with farm-themed art, you are going a bit above and beyond with the farmhouse style, so to soften the feel of the farm, you can replace some of your larger artworks with more neutrally beautiful art pieces. For example, you can hang colorful and modern prints that add motion and interest to your space. You might even get your household involved in creating art, with methods like acrylic pouring or palette knife painting, for more meaningful décor.
Just because the interior design trendsetters have moved onto different aesthetics doesn’t mean you need to completely abandon the beautiful home you love. However, with a few key changes, you can give your spaces a fresh, new feeling.
Follow Home Inside for more!