If you want to have a home that captures the eye with its natural beauty, then a rustic style is perfect for your California home. Rustic style seeks to create an organic warmth by focusing on using materials, colors, and textures that mimic structures found in nature. If that is something you want in your home, then here are 8 tips to creating a more rustic feel.
Wood Furniture
Wood furniture should be at the top of your interior design list. The wood should be unpainted so that its natural color and grain can be seen. If you want to incorporate some local history, try using mission-style furniture. Mission-style furniture comes from the late 1800s San Francisco and
refers to Spanish missions in California. Avoid using pieces that are too shiny and perfectly formed. This will give a more machined look and ruin the natural feel that you are trying to generate. Instead, look for furniture that was shaped a little more roughly and appears as if it was worn smooth through use. To help guide your choices, imagine that you’re trying to make your home look like an old-style log cabin.
Use Stone
Nothing gives a more
natural feel than stone. Fortunately, you don’t have to build your house from stone. Rather you can use it as a decorative feature. Stone can be used in many different ways. Slate stone floors are very beautiful and rustic. If you wish to make stone steps, it is better that this be done for a small set of steps. It’s preferred to have a softer material on stairways in between levels in case of a fall. Stone can also be used to decorate feature walls or cover fireplaces. Stone countertops in the kitchen and bathrooms will produce a very natural sound and feel when the water is running.
Stone is also a great material for use outside of the home. You can use stone pavers to create a patio, as well as walkways around the home. You can use cobblestone instead of concrete to pave your driveway. For the sides of your home, ledgestone is quite beautiful.
Think Earthy Colors
Use earthy colors in your home to
bring out the rustic look. Try to take inspiration from the colors around you. In California, this will vary depending on where you live. If you live near the ocean, you can incorporate blues and greens to represent the ocean sky and water. Use white trims to represent clouds. If you’re in a dryer region of California like San Diego, use light browns and greys to mimic the terrain. In more lush landscapes, incorporate colors that match your local vegetation.
Reuse and Repurpose
Reusing old items for a new purpose is a great way to give a rustic feel. An old-fashioned suitcase could be repurposed as a dog bed or filled with cushions and used as a chair. You can lean old ladders against the wall and use them to hang coats and umbrellas. Old rope can be used to hang curtains.
If you want to hang pictures, you can have a very cute rustic design with some old twine and clothespins. Take some old-fashioned nails and pound them into the wall. Then string the twine in between. Then use the clothespins to clip pictures to the twine. To be clear, the pictures should not be framed.
Wide Plank Floors
The look and feel of wood flooring is perfect for a rustic environment. If you want to go hard-core rustic, then use old wide planks for your floor. For an even better rustic look, you
can get planks cut with traditional sawing techniques. Of course, you’ll want the floor to be smooth to avoid tripping hazards. However, it doesn’t need to be perfectly planar. A small amount of smooth unevenness will make it seem as if the planks were shaped with hand tools. If you’re looking for a floor with a prominent grain, then use a hardwood like oak, maple, walnut, hickory, or alder. If you’re wanting to have something with wood knots, then choose the alder.
Fireplace
Nothing speaks rustic like a
wood fireplace. However, a wood fireplace can also be messy and a pain to maintain. If you’re not opposed to a little technology, use a gas fireplace that is designed to look like a wood fireplace. For design purposes there are two great options. The first is a wood stove. This will make you feel like you’re inside a wood cabin. The second is a stone fireplace with a wooden mantle.
Animal Hide
The rustic style is a return to how homes used to be when settlers lived off the land. Nothing speaks more to this than animal hide.
Animal hides can be very versatile. They can be used as rugs, blankets, pillow covers, window covers, wall decorations and more. What you should use a hide for will depend on the hide that you have. Beaver hides are very soft and waterproof. They are excellent for pillows. Rabbit hide is also very soft and can be great for covering arm rests. Deer hair is not very soft and is best used for rugs or wall hangings. If you want a warm blanket, try a buffalo hide. Even if you are opposed to the killing of animals, you can still achieve this look by using artificial animal skins.
Tools
Old fashioned tools are a great way to decorate a home for a rustic feel. You can use old farm tools like, axes, saws, hammers, and wooden wheels. These are great items to hang up high on walls or above the fireplace. Just make sure that they are out of a child’s reach. You can also use domestic tools like old fashioned irons, sewing machines, and stone spice grinders. These can be placed on mantles and counters. You can even use some of them if you wish.
Rustic homes with their natural tones and textures have a calming effect on the mind. It gives a person the sense of being connected to the world around them. Rustic styles tend to avoid the incorporation of modern technology. That isn’t to say you can’t have your modern comforts, but the emphasis on a natural look can help you disconnect from computer, tv, and smartphone screens.
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