country homes

7 Tips to Design a Country Home Bathroom

7 Tips to Design a Country Home Bathroom 1 Image by Save 365

Nothing spells comfort better than a country home. With every corner emitting the warmest and most welcoming feeling, the bathroom should not be an exception.

So how exactly do you give your bathroom a touch of that old country feel? Well, here are 7 of the best (and affordable) tips you can apply now.

1. Go for wallpapers or wooden panels.

7 Tips to Design a Country Home Bathroom 2

When it comes to designing your wall, you can reintroduce mute or floral wallpaper patterns – or even wooden panels.

This makes the bathroom a lot cozier rather than having just whitewashed walls.

Right: Floral bathroom wallpaper – Photo Courtesy: Matt Lemmon

2. Set the mood with vintage lighting.

Next stop are your light fixtures. Forget about fluorescent lights and plain yellow bulbs. Country styles are all about the vintage look and what better way to set the mood than adding a chic chandelier?

7 Tips to Design a Country Home Bathroom 3

Tiffany style lamp and knic knacs – Photo Courtesy: Valerie Everett

Now you don’t have to buy a new one. There are tons of classic, shabby chandeliers in flea markets and second hand shops. You can get one that looks just as beautiful for half the price.

Oh, and another trick would be a tiffany-style lamp and place it on one of the shelves or on a small table to act as dim light.

3. Opt for a clawfoot tub or its modern reproductions.

7 Tips to Design a Country Home Bathroom 4 Colorful bathroom with awesome clawfoot tub – Photo Courtesy: Tim Crowe

If there’s one thing that truly exudes a country style bathroom, it’s the clawfoot tub. Some of these may be expensive and hard to find but there are a lot of its modern reproductions you can get at a better price.

It doesn’t matter if you got a white, painted or even iron one. All it takes is for you to complement it with the other furniture and fixtures.

Don’t forget to finish it off with a towel resting on one of the tub’s corners.

4. Put in more wooden and woven touches.

Replace your plastic trash bins with woven baskets. You can even add a big wooden basket of flowers if you have a spacious bathroom to accentuate it.

7 Tips to Design a Country Home Bathroom 5

Vintage Wire Basket with Wicker Rim – Image Courtesy: Wicker Paradise

Also, consider replacing your shelves with those unused cupboards stuck in the kitchen. Instead of just letting it go to waste, make use of these wooden wonders and incorporate them to your bathroom.

5. Consider your colors carefully.

Warm colors never fail to give off a country feel. So opt for the warm reds, yellows and blues and blend them for design.

Whether it’s through the towels, walls, tiles or other fixtures you’ll put in, consider the colors carefully.

6. It’s all about the extras!

7 Tips to Design a Country Home Bathroom 6

Porcelain Faucets – Imperial Blue™ design on Vas® (left) and Cerana™ design on Vas® (right) available at KOHLER

Now that you’ve got the foundation of a country style bathroom, it’s time for the extras, which I consider the best part! Small things like a porcelain hot-and-cold faucet, glass doorknobs, floral curtains and throw rugs make a big difference.

7. Roughen it up.

7 Tips to Design a Country Home Bathroom 7

Vintage cabinet top detail with flowers – Photo by Stuart Webster

In this case, the sandpaper is your best friend. Rub a 150-girt against the edges of your drawers and cabinets. You can even go as far as rubbing your cabinet’s surface until it shows its raw appearance.

Remember not to over think. The beauty of country style homes is its rustic and organic look, which should extend to every room in the house. So have a go at these easy but clever ways to beautify your country style bathroom.

Kole Tesamon loves coming home to a cozy space after a long day of work. Apart from sharing tips for better living, she works as a freelance writer for a post tensioning system company that helps build great structures at maximum strength and with minimum construction materials.

Filed Under: Country Kitchens Tagged With: bathroom decor, country homes

6 Simple Ways to Give Your Home A Country Feel

by Kole Tesamon · Leave a Comment

Rustic, quaint, cozy and warm. It’s what we sensationalize when we dream of living in a country home. Whether it’s in Normandy, Barrington or Provence, country homes exude such inviting beauty that we all want to feel in our very own home.

Thanks to DIY ideas, having a home with a country feel is no longer just a dream. Below are some very simple ways to give your house the old countryside touch it longs to have.

1. Use Mute Colors

What’s very charming about country homes is the perfect balance of mute colors. You can start off with brick red, buttermilk, beige or off-white and pine green. Have at the very least three color-combination to play out on your furniture, wall paint and other fixtures inside your home.

2. Play with Patterns

Stripes, checkered and Victorian patterns works flawlessly to give your home an instant country feel. So forget about plain-printed pillows and replace it with checkered-covered ones. Do away with a single-colored tablecloth and replace it with a multi-colored one.

These small accents make a big difference so don’t be shy on your patterns.

3. Welcome Wood

Whether you intend to replace your flooring or add new furniture, it’s best to have them made of wood. This material instantly exudes the cabin-warm feel of a home.

Get rid of that metal shelf inside the bathroom and replace it with a wooden cabinet. You can even place a wooden rocking chair by the patio, just to give your guests an even more inviting vibe.

4. Elevate Your Kitchenware

What I like most about country homes is the ease in storage, especially in the kitchen. Instead of keeping your pans, casseroles and other kitchenware inside a shelf, why not install one on the ceiling and hang everything there? Not only does it make it easier for you to use them, it adds a more rustic, careless charm to it.

5. Hang Plates Instead of Paintings

This is where the French made its mark in elegant, authentic country living. Instead of them hanging big paintings of century soldiers or family portraits, they opted for ceramics.

Hang ceramic plates or trays all over the walls but don’t overdo it. Just accentuate different parts of your house with it so it still has a sense of unity in design. Add a small pot of tea and fresh cookies in one corner while you’re at it.

6. Head to the Flea Market— or Ask Grandma!

Remember the time when you laughed at your grandma’s furniture because it looked too old? Well, now’s the perfect time to take it back and make a bargain for it. There’s nothing that says country living more than old furniture. Find a big patterned couch with curvy armchair or old wooden tables that cost half of what you currently have at home. Flea markets are the best place to find these beaten vintage furniture and fixtures— and don’t go easy on the haggling!

Apart from guest blogging in various websites, Kole Tesamon is a Content Specialist for VLM Group that specializes in Post Tensioning System. For more information, visit VLM Group’s website at http://www.vlm-group.com.

Filed Under: Country Home Interior Tagged With: country homes, diy, home decor, interior design ideas

Getting the Country Kitchen Look

by Nathan Stevens · Leave a Comment

A beautiful Country Kitchen – Photo Courtesy: Susan Serra

Interior Design has seen a move away from the stark, harsh schemes of a decade ago, which were all about white, stainless steel and lack of clutter. In recent years, we have started to rediscover traditional style, with the country kitchen look making a comeback in a big way. Although it’s not practical to completely revamp your kitchen every time trends change, there are a lot of ways of injecting some country flair into your home, even if you are on a restricted budget.

Units

Photo Courtesy: Susan Serra

A traditional country kitchen has wooden units, generally made from solid wood. If changing your entire kitchen is not an option, think about changing the doors only. Unit doors can be bought cheaply online and it is worth keeping an eye open for local DIY stores having a sale as end of range items can generally be snapped up at bargain basement prices. Keep the old unit doors just in case you tire of the country kitchen look.

Other Furniture

Getting the Country Kitchen Look 3 - salisbury-rustic-oak-hutch

Salisbury Rustic Oak Hutch by National Furniture, UK

A country kitchen wouldn’t be the same without a large unit to display crockery, and oak dressers are firmly back in fashion. Try to source a second hand dresser where possible, but oak dressers are also sold through many high street stores and internet retailers. Don’t go for a matching look with your crockery; it is far better to mix and match pieces with different designs and colors. A dresser is also the ideal way to display family photographs and other items which have special sentimental value. Swap formal, modern dining chairs for a wooden chair with comfortable cushions and hang pots and pans on display rather than hiding everything away in cupboards or drawers.

Accessories

French Country Kitchen by Susan Serra

The cheapest way to get a country feel into your kitchen is to invest in some new accessories such as tea cosies, tea towels or small appliances such as kettles or toasters. Choose bright colors such as red or green, and patterns such as gingham or spots. Changing the blind or curtain at the window for a more traditional design will also help complete the look. Opt for a tablecloth in durable oilcloth, which looks good and is very easy to care for too. Less is often more when it comes to the country kitchen look though, and one of the pitfalls is going too far and the kitchen ending up looking overly cluttered and fussy.

Walls

Warm Yellow color wall by Celine Nadeau

There are no hard and fast rules when it comes to the color of a country style kitchen, but warm shades of cream, yellow or green work well. Wallpaper is often not a practical choice for a kitchen as it is less easy to clean. Decorate the walls with chalkboards to write shopping lists on, pin boards to hold all of the children’s latest artwork and party invitations, and get some traditional style prints or pictures to brighten up any empty spaces. Add to the look little by little so you can get the ideal look without going too far and regretting the switch away from ultra-modern.

For a stunning range of Oak Dressers, perfect for your country kitchen, head to the National Furniture UK online store.

Filed Under: Country Kitchens Tagged With: country homes, country life, countryside, decorating, interior decorating, interior design, kitchen, kitchen design

Country Home Designs

by Jennifer Carter · Leave a Comment

A cute English Country Cottage straight out of a fairy tale – Photo Courtesy: Gareth Williams

Designing your dream home is going to be a process of self discovery, and a great way to let your creative energy flow.

Make sure you really research the different types of layout, build and architecture your house could have, and be open to new ideas and designs.

There are many exciting ways to build a house, with each country having its own traditional way of building. Stone, brick, wood, steel, glass, there are lots of materials to build a house with.

Once you’ve got some great ideas, go and discuss them with a builder, architect or contractor, who will be able to tell you what’s possible and how easily it can be achieved.

English Country Houses

The beauty of an English country home is in its petite nature; its small cottage rooms, low ceilings and tiny windows. If the small rustic look doesn’t appeal to you, go a little more contemporary with a Georgian home design, with grand rooms, high ceilings and big windows.

No matter which you go for, you’re bound to get a very traditional English house, with tons of character. How about a barn conversion in on the south coast?

Farm Houses

Some of the most beautiful buildings are farm houses or converted barns; they still have a deep sense of purpose rooted in their core which creates a beautiful lived-in atmosphere. They also have a really quirky edge, because they’ve been refashioned into a permanent living space, and so the shape of the rooms and building are unique and unusual.

Blueprints and Floorplans

Getting some proper drawings and designs created by an architect is vital to any building project. It will help you to visualize the space better, and will enable the builders to carry out their work with exact precision. Get a blueprint or floorplan drawn up so that you can choose where to place the windows, kitchen, stairways, beams, etc.

Architecture

Looking at different types of architecture can really help define your sense of style. When you walk down a city street which do you prefer? The modern art museum, the tall glass skyscraper, the petite 18th century mansion, the concrete apartment block or the graceful hotels…take pictures of things that you like, so you can be decisive when it comes to designing the exterior of your own home.

Dream Homes

Every person has a picture in their mind of the type of house they’d like to live in one day. Perhaps this is a small English country house or maybe a city apartment in the best neighborhood, or even a chateau in France.

We may not all be able to achieve our dream home but knowing what you want is always a good thing! Remember that size is something you can pay for, but style is not. Take a really detailed look at your favorite houses, and replicate the details in your own home.

French Country Homes

French Country Homes on a beautiful French Countryside street – Photo by Tony Hisgett

Cute, quaint and very pretty; French country homes are the dreams of many. The delicate stonework, colorful shutters and rustic appearance make them enticing to any viewer.

Have a look through our French country homes pictures to get a feel for French designs and architecture.

Filed Under: Country Home Designs Tagged With: country home designs, country homes, home design

Country Home Blueprints And Floorplans

by Jennifer Carter · Leave a Comment

Image Courtesy: Ethan

There are many different types of country home, which vary in construction methods as well as aesthetic appearance. When an architect works on a project, it’s vital that they have all the information for what type of country home you would prefer.

House Floor Plans

It might be a wise idea to come up with your own layout and floorplan before heading to initial meetings with architects. This will give them a great starting point, as well as giving you the time to think realistically about how the space would work for you.

Start by collecting photographs of homes that you admire, that you feel you could live in, whose space seems to function really well. Write a list of the things you want in your house, an extra large living space incorporating kitchen, dining and sitting areas maybe. Or perhaps you’d like en-suites to most rooms; a sneaky library or movie theatre?

Keep an eye on which rooms you currently use in your existing house. Write a list of the things you do on a day to day basis, and write down the rooms you do these things in, and why. You might have an office, but don’t use it because it’s uninspiring and too small, or you might find you spend too much time moving heavy objects around.

By looking at all these things, you can eliminate unnecessary spaces, and design a space that works for you. So, even if you aren’t willing to actually draw a floorplan, then these lists will be invaluable to any architect working on your home blueprint.

Country Home Blueprints And Floorplans 3 - Victorian Home

A beautiful Victorian Home – Photo by Frank Kovalchek

Classic Country Home Floor Plans

The classic country home requires a degree of research into historical architecture, and perhaps even a look at old blueprints. Most importantly, you ought to go into some old country cottages, luxury new builds and Victorian homes, to get a feel for the type of space you prefer. The size of the windows, height of ceilings and number of separate spaces are all very personal decisions.

Classic house plans might have outdoor balconies, large porches, wood cladding, large wood framed windows, beams, wine cellars, large staircases. All of which will need to be thought about when drawing a house plan.

English Country Home Designs

Brick, stone, thatch, chimneys, columns, white, ivy, royalty, aristocrat, cottage, estate; these are some of the words you might associate with English country homes. But to design an English country home, you really ought to focus on using local materials and taking local buildings as architectural inspiration.

Country Home Blueprints And Floorplans 4 - English Countryside

Traditional English Countryside Homes – Photo Courtesy: sam.romilly

Combine your surroundings with your own personal taste, as well as modern technologies, like solar panels or underfloor heating. The essence of English country home design is its adaptability, it’s willingness to be modernized, whilst retaining its charm and character.

For inspiration, check out films set in England like The Holiday, Pride and Prejudice and Calendar Girls.

Filed Under: Blueprints & Floorplans Tagged With: country homes, home design, interior design