If you’re undecided between a modern and a rustic style for your home, the modern farmhouse theme offers the best of both worlds. With both contemporary and traditional elements, it can give any room, particularly the kitchen and dining room, a cozy yet functional aesthetic.
Want to know how to incorporate this charming decor style into your house or apartment? It’s easy if you follow our 5 tips to create a modern farmhouse interior for your home.
Invest In Multipurpose Wood Furniture
Any decor style, including a modern farmhouse one, can be adapted to smaller houses or apartments. The trick is to invest in multipurpose furniture that can fit into your tighter spaces but accommodate your lifestyle needs, too. But that doesn’t mean that you have to sacrifice style.
Indeed, the farmhouse look is never complete without some solid wooden furniture, especially a sturdy dining table. But the modern farmhouse look is all about introducing a contemporary twist to a traditional theme. Fortunately, you can have both, with multipurpose solid wood Extendable Dining Table sets.
These innovative dining tables can be adjusted in seconds from a console table to a banquet table, or anything in between. This versatility is the hallmark of contemporary furniture, but the solid wood construction makes it ideal for a farmhouse style, too.
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Get the Balance Right
When implementing a decor theme that’s a blend of rustic farmhouse elements with a modern feel, you need to get the balance right. This will prevent your interiors from looking disjointed.
So to achieve a cohesive look, consider the ratio of farmhouse furniture and collectibles to modern ones. An attempt at a strictly 50/50 balance of modern and farmhouse styles often doesn’t work. The two themes inevitably compete with each other, looking forced and unnatural.
Rather, combine the two subtly, but with intention. Keep the color palette soft and inviting, or warm and earthy but inject a modern feel through uncluttered, clean lines.
Channel the farmhouse look through sustainable choices like reclaimed wood, vintage furniture, and bare plank floors. Keep decor accessories to a minimum, focusing instead on a few well-placed modern materials and textures.
Keep the Color Palette Soft and Simple
When dealing with an amalgamation of two styles — in this case, contemporary and farmhouse — you need to be careful with your color choices. While the two decor styles at first appear to lean in different color directions, it’s possible to pair them successfully.
Neutrals are the safest choice for your base colors, used on the largest expanses like walls and floors. However, all white or gray can be too stark and clinical for the modern farmhouse look, unless accented by bursts of cheery hues.
Stick to soft neutrals off-white, ivory, beige, greige, or taupe. Introduce shades of blue and green, or even yellow as accents. Cheery yellow is a notable interior design color trend at the moment.
Keep the accent colors for area rugs, soft furnishings, or art. Or add a terracotta planter or two filled with lush, green houseplants.
Mixing the Old With the New
One of the simplest ways to mix the old with the new for a modern farmhouse interior is by revamping vintage items. There are many ways to breathe new life into old furnishings. The key is to retain their old-world appeal while giving them a makeover. And the easiest way to do this is through color.
Do you have a vintage heirloom armchair? Reupholster it with a modern fabric in a soft, classic print or solid pastel. Perhaps a beautiful old farmhouse-style cabinet caught your eye at the local thrift store? Restore the wood surfaces and paint the backdrop and shelves in one of your accent colors.
All it takes is a little ingenuity and creativity, and you’ll find all sorts of ways to repurpose or upcycle vintage furniture for your modern farmhouse look. But it goes the other way, too. A modern steel chair will fit right in when you add a seat cushion in a gingham check or country floral.
Have Fun with It
One of the hardest things to remember when creating any interior decor is to have fun with it. When you stress too much about the details and try too hard, it shows. Don’t feel the need to adapt every single nook and cranny of your home to this new theme, immediately.
It takes time to find the right items and settle into a new style. Go through antique stores and thrift stores in your area and find wood furniture you can repair and restore. Browse the quirky and unusual at local garage sales. Draw inspiration from online photos of the modern farmhouse decor style.
If you truly love the modern farmhouse look, trust your own artistic flair to recreate it in your own home. Give yourself time to find the investment pieces that will pull your look together. You’ll have to live with them day after day, so spend your money wisely. And never forget to enjoy the process.