You don’t need to live in a log cabin or sleep on a wooden floor to pull off a rustic style in your home. It’s possible to create a natural rustic environment while still enjoying the benefits of civilization.
When buying living room furniture in Sarasota, you can keep the rustic approach in mind to transform your entire home. Let’s look a little closer at what rustic style is all about and how you can start enjoying it today.
What is a Rustic Look?
The term rustic is pretty broad. That’s why many people only have a vague idea of what they really want. The main aspects of a rustic look are:
- Naturalness
- Simplicity
- Roughness
- Age
- Casualness
- Coziness
The key to an authentic rustic style is natural materials. When choosing trimming materials and furniture, you should consider a lot of unfinished stone and wood. For fabrics, canvas and burlap should prevail.
The design of your rustic home should be natural and simple. By using bare organic elements, you can give a house a natural and rustic feel.
Let’s talk discuss the most effective tips for achieving a true rustic style.
1. Take Full Advantage of Natural Hues
Unless you are planning to live in a log cabin, you can hardly hope for all design elements to be 100% natural. So whenever you can’t opt for rough wood or stone, stick to natural hues.
Use colors that you would see in nature. Anything bright red of dark blue may feel “fake” and out of place. Consider these warm colors to create a rich yet cozy look.
- Buttermilk
- Cream
- Wheat
- Chestnut
- Umber
- Sepia
2. Invest in Hefty Furniture
When shopping in a furniture store in Sarasota, search for hefty and massive choices. Rustic furniture should look as if it was made without using the latest technologies.
Imagine creating a table when all you have is a piece of wood, saw, hammer, and nails. You can hardly manufacture something delicate. Look for solid wood tables, leather sofas, and canvas armchairs.
When choosing rustic furniture, pay attention to the texture rather than a pattern. It should have basic details, such as tufts and nail head trim. Barren wood items should show natural grain and knots.
Don’t forget that iron is also a rustic material. If you like its cold, strong, and natural feel, opt for iron beds, chairs, and tables. Backyard iron furniture looks especially appealing.
3. Bring out Natural Fibers
Fabrics may not be an essential part of your interior design, but they give your home a truly rustic look. Anything from bedspreads and sheets to curtains and tablecloths should be made out of natural fibers.
- Cotton
- Linen
- Hemp
- Wool
- Sisal
- Silk
- Jute
- And more
Natural fibers don’t just add to the rustic appearance of your home, they are usually nice to the touch and hypoallergenic.
4. Enhance Your Floors
Ideally, floors in a rustic home should be made of natural materials. In case you have tile or laminate floors, don’t worry. You can enhance them with rustic rugs. These rugs should be made of natural fibers (sisal, jute, animal furs, etc.) and have neutral colors.
Rustic-looking rugs tend to create an organic sense of texture and add coziness to any space. It’s okay to use faux animal fur. Just make sure to keep the hues neutral.
5. Exploit Natural Light
You can add a genuine look to your rustic design by taking full advantage of natural light. You may want to avoid hanging curtains. Keep windows clean, add mirrors, and stick to light wall colors.
Try not to put anything right in front of the window to avoid blocking the natural light’s path. Sunlight coupled with a proper design creates an authentic rustic look.
6. Minimize Perfection
Since nature is rarely straight and symmetrical, your rustic home shouldn’t be either. You need to embrace imperfections and make them part of your design. Natural flaws (such as wood knots) have to be highlighted. Uneven grain, notches, scuff marks, and scratches are important details of any rustic style.
Uneven flooring or curved shelves can give your living room a rough look. If you opt for wooden ceiling beams, it’s great to make them vary in size slightly. Your materials and furniture should have more character and less perfection.
7. Focus on a Purpose
In a rustic environment, everything should have a purpose. Imagine having a limited number of materials and tools. How many accessories or decorative trinkets can you make? Keep each room as practical and functional as possible. Over-accessorizing could take the rustic out of your decor.
Minimalism and rustic go well together. Try to avoid clutter and keep the space as clean as possible.
You can also consider re-purposed objects. Old baskets could turn into lanterns while crates could become tables.
8. Add a Fireplace
When you think about rustic homes, a fireplace is one of the first things that come to mind. Even if you live in an apartment, you can still get one. With a variety of decorative fireplaces available on the market today, there is no reason why you shouldn’t.
Choose a fireplace made of bricks and stone. Otherwise, it might look too modern and fail to fit into your decor.
9. Consider Rustic Modern
A rustic modern style is a mix of two styles that allows you to have some wiggle room when it comes to decorating. If you can’t turn your home or apartment into an overly classic rustic place (or maybe don’t want to), modern rustic can become an excellent compromise.
The modern rustic style combines elements that have a character with modern amenities. Expect to do some serious planning to avoid style clashing.
Enjoying A Rustic Home Today
Whether you’ve always wanted a rustic home or contemplated a change of style, the above tips can help you get on the right track.
If you are looking for high-quality elements, check out our rustic living room furniture in Sarasota, Bonita Springs, Clearwater, Tampa, and Fort Myers. If you need any help choosing top-notch items for your home, please contact us at any convenient time,
