If you follow me on Instagram you know that I love adding color and farmhouse style decor into my home.  My love of color probably comes from being an elementary art teacher for almost ten years.  I’ve always appreciated color.  As I became a home owner my brother in law owned an antique business and I loved finding treasures in his store.  Anything that was old and “cool”, chipping paint, industrial or looked like it told a story, I wanted it!   The last couple of years the farmhouse style has become more well known due to the uber talented Chip and Joanne Gaines and their HGTV show Fixer Upper.   Typically farmhouse style is infused with more of a neutral pallet, gray, brown, tan, black and white.  While I’m usually drawn to color, I’m also drawn to the textures of farmhouse like rusty, metal, wood, chippy, chalky.  If you are hoping to achieve mixing color and farmhouse style I’m going to share some tips that have helped me create a living room that makes me both happy and relaxed.

My living room design began with these vibrant curtains I found online from Target a few years back..  FYI  Target has a great selection of curtains especially online (I don’t believe these are still available.)   I fell in love with the pattern and used the colors as a jumping off point for choosing my wall color.  I went with Sea Brook from Benjamin Moore.

I found that the color and curtains were so vibrant and bright that neutrals, like browns, whites, grays, blacks, tans, calm down and balance the blue.  The faux wood wall clock from Pier One, the grain sack chair from Home Goods are all rustic/farmhouse elements but paired with the colorful walls/curtains adds a youthful vibe to the room.

Same goes for the mantel below; the burlap wreath, brown bottles and whites all act as anchors and make the room feel cozy.   My eyes, of course gravitate towards the textures… the grainy burlap, the shiny glass, the chippy old shutters, and variety of faux pumpkins.

 Our coffee table, also from Target was a “what will the kids not cut their heads open on?” purchase.  We went with soft, safe, practical on this coffee table.  Sometime soon I’d love to change it up and bring in a different material here like woven, an over sized storage basket perhaps like this from Ikea or something that looks like reclaimed wood.  Again you can see the neutrals in this photo off set the brightness of the walls.

If your hoping to mix color and pattern with rustic and farmhouse it can totally work and be amazing!  The key is BALANCE.  If your walls are neutral, curtains neutral, bring in some color with your furniture, with your pillows, blankets, accessories.  I did the opposite (I’m kind of weird like that)  I chose bold color on the walls, curtains,  however I counter that by bringing in lots of woods, browns, tans, grays, whites and blacks in accessories… its all about balance.

Anyone thinking of trying to add color to their current farmhouse style decor?  Or do you have a colorful room and want to bringing in the textures and warmth of neutral farmhouse style?  Remember to find a nice balance and you’ll end up with a space you love.

 I’ve since changed up my living-room quite a bit! Head over to this post to see how it looks several years later!  How our living-room looks now!

JorDecor