Adding Rustic to Cottage Decor

Adding rustic elements to my shabby chic-cottage decor preference wasn’t something I planned on! But when we moved into our new (old) house, it quickly became obvious that the house begged for a little warmth…

You have to live in a house for a little while before you really get to know it and the more I get to know this one, I understand what she needs.

Here’s the den right after we moved in last year. It was evident even then that the 16 foot stone fireplace was the focal point of the living area. A focal point helps to inspire creativity in a space.

I’m not sure you can tell from the photo but when you walk in the front door the fireplace demands attention…

By December of last year I had fallen in love with the rustic feel of the fireplace and began planning how I would bring a bit of that rustic warmth throughout the rest of the living area. Repetition is a fundamental of good design, or so I’m told :).

Mike made some Rustic Side Tables for the den…

He also made a DIY Farm Table (posted HERE) The farm table is visible from the den and is perfect for pulling in that more rustic feel.

The chairs around the table are painted a soft sage and a soft blue which is a contrast to the rustic farm table. But using opposite textures or finishes is another one of my favorite things to do when designing a space. 

(The DIY Wooden Trough adds a little rustic too. The easy tutorial for it is HERE)

When I chose a light for over the farm table I went with a iron chandelier. Looking from the eating area into the den you can see the rooms coordinate without being exactly alike.  And again there’s a little contrast with the light fixture which has delicate almost dainty lines but it’s made of of an iron-look material which isn’t delicate at all. To me, opposites are a good thing when it comes to design.

The chairs needed recovering and I found this stencil-look fabric which is kinda unexpected on these chairs! (Chair recover posted HERE)

I also recovered my once shabby chic bar stools …here they are before the recover…(I loved them)

Here they are after I recovered them, using the same fabric as the chairs, to help bring a little of the rustic feel into the kitchen, but keeping the soft gauze ruffles…opposites 🙂

This little side table sits between eating area and the kitchen. I added some burlap to the drawers – posted HERE

We love the look of rustic shelves to warm up a space, so we added some to the dining room…

When we did a makeover on the powder room we added a few rustic shelves in there too…

And in the laundry room, we added a rustic shelf that opens and doubles in size to make a folding shelf…

Here’s an inspiration board to show you how the process started…

My  plan for adding rustic elements to the kitchen:

A repurposed wood shelf is going up over my kitchen window to hold some of my plants which are planted in aged terra cotta (aged terra cotta diy posted HERE)- and I’m looking for a few just-right baskets…

And I’ve added cheese/bread & cutting boards to Mike’s TO-DO list! I picture having a collection of these in all shapes and sizes!

****UPDATE***Some changes we’ve made in the kitchen…

Rustic Pallet Shelf

We added a DIY Rustic Mirror in the entry…

The house is slowly becoming a cohesive space…

FYI- I did this post because I am always getting emails with questions about my process. It’s not necessarily that you guys love my ‘taste’ in decorating, I think it’s more that some of you find it interesting to hear about how other people put a room together! Anyhoo, that’s what gave me the idea for doing posts like this, I’m absolutely NO expert, this is simply how I think things through. 🙂

Sending you love my sweet sweet friends~

OHHHH! And if you haven’t had time to LIKE my new Facebook page for the blog I’d so appreciate it if you did! (You can find it HERE) Thank you very much! xo