Refresher on Farmhouse Design

Your family room or living room (both if you’re lucky!) are two central gathering places of your home. It’s important for these kinds of rooms to look and feel the part. You want the family room to have an impact on someone before they even walk in.

Before we begin, check out our article on ‘What is farmhouse design?’ for a quick refresher.

We will tell you about it briefly now, but if you want the meat and potatoes, Midwestern-style, head on over! Or, if you’d like some design inspiration, check out our Pinterest board for family room ideas!

The best design for rooms evoke a certain feeling (excited, somber, calm, etc.) just by looking at or being in them. Farmhouse design relies heavily on color scheme and textures, which are abundant in family rooms. Adding to what you already have could be an easy solution!

Simple additions of wood furniture or wood decor can bring new meaning to a family room. But there is one simple rule to remember here – don’t go for the matchy-matchy look.

What we mean here is, don’t buy all of your furniture from the same store. Mix colors and styles together to create a look that appears like it was built over a few years instead of a few months.

However, if your chairs have frames, those can absolutely match the color of your sofa. The same rule applies to picture frames, mirror frames, and more! Check out this creative design:

Now that you’ve brushed up on farmhouse design, let’s get into some specifics!

Types of Furniture

So many pieces of furniture go into a family room, from couches to tables and baskets, tables and side tables and more! All of these pieces will help to make your room beautiful and each can contribute their own charm if you let them!

Each piece should be able to stand on its own and not look out of place, whether the piece is combined with other furniture or not.

Couches, Sofas, Loveseats, Recliners…Does it End?

There are so many options here and not all of them will work for you….or fit in your space. Think about the size of your room and your budget for remodeling, and then consider material and color.

Most people redesigning for a farmhouse look use light colored couches, either cloth or leather. Most will be white, tan, creme; whatever the dominant color of the room is.

Leather can be added in darker colors, such as forest brown, but black may be too bold of a color for a large couch. Here’s some options below showing both styles.

For recliners or single-person chairs, black may work well. Put some throw pillows or blankets on the chair to diminish the black a bit more; this will keep the room feeling light and airy. Pillows and blankets also add texture to a room, helping it feel more like home.

If You Can Read This, I Need Coffee (Farmhouse Coffee Tables)

I’ll do a medium black coffee with one sugar and a coaster, please!

Coffee tables are essential in family rooms for multiple reasons! If it’s a big unit, it can store games, blankets and more! They’re also ideal for spreading food or drinks out when entertaining. Finally, everyone loves a good footrest!

However, they don’t need to have storage space! Some coffee tables might have a little space for storage underneath the principle table for books or other small pieces. Check out the photo below. Here’s an example of a coffee table with a shelf underneath the top. Practically, books might be the best option here. The top can be used for decorative spreads and pieces on top, and whatever fits your household best is what you should decorate it with.

Now, the look and feel of your coffee table can be a unique piece in your room that’s different than other furniture in your family room.

You can go with a retro wooden look as is typical in farmhouse design, but modern takes can be beautiful, too. Glass-top tables with metal frames can accent your room very nicely. Throw a couple books and some coasters on it, and you can sit down and enjoy your drink.

Oh, and I’m still waiting on that coffee….

Can We Play a Game, Please?

Game tables are good additions to a family room, especially for larger families. They can be accent pieces like the coffee table, but work best if they complement each other. If you have a glass-top coffee table, consider a similar style for your game table. If one is wooden, make the other one wooden. 

A great example of this is in the photo shown below. The coffee table is mostly wood but has two small sections of glass on top. The game table off to the side is completely glass, which works well to complement the table – and in this case, the windows too.

Who Ya Got, Chiefs or 49ers!?

The Super Bowl is approaching – where will you be watching?? We imagine if you’re having guests over, your family room will be your gathering room for this kind of an event.

But what about when the dust has settled, the trophy has been given out, and the evening is over? You might want to cover your television with a cabinet!

TV’s weren’t around during the country westward movement, but they certainly are now! Some people choose to mount them on a wall, which can work very well, but farmhouse design would cover the TV behind doors. The good news: this can be an extremely beautiful option!

A large TV cabinet will make a statement in any room and offer cover for your TV when you don’t want it out and on. It can provide a pretty place for all your media players too, and get rid of those ugly wires hanging out all over the place! Check out some looks below incorporating farmhouse design into a TV cabinet

However, this look isn’t for everyone, and some designs can incorporate large TV stands with storage. Part of the look here is to have some open storage shelves with a few closed sections, either in the form of drawers or doors. “X” designs on the cabinet can be subtle features that will bring out some farmhouse charm.

Farmhouse Decor For Family Rooms and Living Spaces

Farmhouse decor is more or less a mix and match of random items, which makes it particularly easy to decorate! However, that being said, it’s definitely best to make sure the items look older or worn. New or modern items will look odd and out of place with this type of design.

We’ll take a look at some of the staples of farmhouse design, which includes weathered or old wood, stained pieces, metal light fixtures, and glass vases. Keep in mind that with these items, often less is more. You don’t necessarily need to go all-out in this department buying things willy-nilly!

Pictures Galore!

Pictures are a sure-fire solution to decor in farmhouse design. Adding family pictures or landscape photos are a great addition to any home, especially in the family room! I mean, it’s got family in the name for a reason!

Try to find frames (or even collage frames) that have worn and weathered looks. These will make them appear homemade, as if you’re on a farm. Remember to find accent colors but also to match the frame color to the photograph. If you’re hanging a sunset photo but want a wooden look, consider trying dark brown or brown wooden textured frames instead of white or tan wood frames!

In the photo above the frames are fairly new, but notice they aren’t family pictures. Miscellaneous photos will look good in nearly any frame, but again, the type of photo needs to match the type of frame!

Also shown above are the differences in style, color, and type of frame. Farmhouse design thrives on differences, so don’t have all your frames look exactly the same! Mix and match colors, textures, orientation and more!

Finally, remember to hang frames in odd numbers. This look works wonders for hanging objects too or accent pieces on the tops of furniture

Plants in the Air, On the Land….Everywhere!

Adding plants to your home improves air quality and the feel of the rooms become enhanced. Plants provide greenery in a space where it’s often overlooked. They bring the outdoors indoors without all of the annoying biting insects. Why not add a few to your family room?

These additions don’t need to be big, but there are many different types of plants you can use! The two most common are larger or medium-size potted plants and hanging plants. Potted plants provide beauty for an otherwise dull looking room, and don’t have to be large at all!

As shown in the photo below, a large potted plant is seen in the background while a round piece of a tree trunk holds pine cones and sand and a very small plant in a glass jar. The small plants and pine cones supplement the large plant in the background, accenting the room nicely!

Furthermore, whoever designed this decided to include a box framed picture of a palm tree, which is a fun finishing touch.

Choosing pots to put plants in may seem like a challenge, but the color and texture are completely up to you! We recommend using different colors that complement each other and different textures to give your room more variety in how they feel. Using all smooth pots of a similar color is definitely an option, but choosing different textures will enlighten your room and give it some personality!

Reading Is Good For the Soul

Bookcases and bookshelves are pretty essential, right? Not necessarily! But they will make your family room look better (and your family smarter!). They aren’t necessary additions, though. Some families may use side tables with under-shelf storage for books while others use woven baskets to store children’s books.

Any or all of these options are available to you depending on how much space you have in your family room. It also depends on the overall look you’re going for in your space, too.

Bookcases can feel clunky and make a room smaller, so if you have a smaller family room, invest in some shelves or storage baskets to free up the space in your room. But don’t skimp on the books!

The bookcase in the background doesn’t appear out of place. The unfinished, unstained wood blends in perfectly with this farmhouse look, too! Put some books on the lower shelf of the coffee table too, like in the photo below.

An alternative is to add side tables that have built-in storage. The picture below shows a side table next to the couch; books can be stored in the lower levels, and a lamp could be added to the top if they didn’t have the standing light right next to it!

Farmhouse design is about your creativity – use it to match your own preferences.

Chalk It Up! Miscellaneous Items and Fun Additions

There are many additions you can add to your family room to make it feel like a farm home! Farmers markets, flea markets, and other antique stores are great places to find old items that will spice up your family room.

Focus on wooden and metal objects to continue the feel of true farmhouse design! This includes old clocks, picture frames, small pieces of memorabilia, and more.

A favorite choice of ours is adding ladder storage to hold blankets! It’s an effective and decorative way to add some flair to your family room. They are a simple addition to your family room and don’t take up much space!

When blankets aren’t draped on ladders, they can be strewn on couches or loveseats or other chairs to create a relaxed feel!

If you’re going for a large addition to your family room and you have vaulted ceilings, cross-beams can be a wonderful addition. They look stunning and will really nail the look down. 

However, if you do add something large like this, the rest of your family room must be committed to farmhouse design!

Here’s some ideas to get you started.

Final Thoughts

There you have it! Farmhouse for your family room or living area! One point to remember with building a larger room in the farmhouse style is to really commit to the look. If big additions like furniture and wooden beams are something you want in your room, make sure the smaller pieces complement the larger pieces!

If you’re feeling inspired and want to continue with farmhouse design for your home, head on over to our farmhouse pinterest board! We also have a section dedicated to family rooms and living areas, so be sure to check that out as well.

We have other farmhouse style blogs dedicated to other areas of the home, too! Check out some of our favorites and start building your farmhouse home today.

Learn all about farmhouse design and decor!

Create your dream farmhouse bedroom today!

Start with a small room and decorate your bathroom farmhouse style!

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