Best Rustic Design

If you’re even a little familiar with interior design trends, you’ve probably noticed that rustic design is more popular than ever. From social media feeds to our favorite retailers, rustic design interiors and pieces are popping up everywhere. There’s a certain appeal to rustic design that makes a house feel a little more like a home.

Maybe you’re building a new house or completely remodeling your living space. and you’re wanting to bring the warm feel of rustic style into your new home. Or maybe you’re wanting to tweak a few things here and there in your current home to add just a little more rustic charm to your life.

You’re in the right place! We’re here to help. We’ll give you a quick guide through different types of rustic style, color palettes, materials, and other essential rustic style design elements.

Above all, rustic design feels authentic and places an emphasis on preserving unique artifacts instead of replacing them with something new.

Types of Rustic Design

“Rustic Design” is a term that can apply to a lot of different interiors. It’s important that your design intentions align with the nature of your space. This will help your space feel authentically rustic.

Take a look at the list below to get an even better idea of your rustic style direction.

Cottage design
Coastal design
Farmhouse design

Cottage Rustic

If you’re looking after a smaller space, a cottage rustic aesthetic might be the direction you’re looking for. First, let’s take a look at what you might already have in your cottage-sized space. You might have just the right building blocks for building your cozy, rustic home.

Does your cottage-sized home have a fireplace? Some designers might suggest that you take it out or replace it. Consider keeping it instead, and updating it with a coat of paint or giving it a good clean. And most importantly, nothing is better than lighting a fire in your fireplace. That’s the ultimate cozy element of your rustic space.

Additionally, think about preserving unique features in your home. Taking care of worn-down items instead of replacing them is essential to a warm, rustic feel. Exposed beams, wooden floors, and antique window and door frames are all pieces worth preserving instead of replacing.

When it comes to your cottage color scheme, stick with neutral colors. Keeping a color palette neutral with accents of existing, repurposed textures will keep your rustic interior feeling warm and authentic.

Cottage Rustic Design Recap

Great for small spaces
Keep antique features in the home (fireplace, exposed beams, wooden floors, etc.)
Preserve and repurpose unique features instead of replacing.
Neutral color palette with an emphasis on natural textures.

Coastal Rustic

There’s hardly anything more swoon-worthy than a cozy, coastal beach house. You don’t need to own a luxury beach home to incorporate coastal elements to your home decor. However, it definitely helps if you live near a type of water. This will make your design choices feel especially authentic.

If you’re lucky enough to live near water, you can take advantage of so many authentic coastal artifacts. Gather some local foliage and place them in containers found around your home. They’ll make your space even more comfortable.

There’s a unique light near the water; open window treatments are a must. Natural light always makes any space feel a little more peaceful. You want your rustic, coastal home to feel authentic, and light plays a huge part in how any space feels. When the sun goes down, turn on lamps around your home instead of any overhead lighting fixtures. Ambient light is an instant, low-cost way of making any space more intimate.

Coastal Rustic Design Recap

Works best with a home near a body of water
Gather local foliage
Embrace natural and ambient light
Neutral color palette with pops of color

Farmhouse Rustic

Farmhouse interiors are probably the most popular rustic design trend of all. We’re drawn to the appeal of mason jars, tiles, wooden floors, and the sound of a screen door. Maybe the reason farmhouse design has had such a surge in popularity is because it gives us a feeling of simplicity.

Whether or not you’re lucky enough to look out your kitchen window and see chickens roaming freely across the yard, you can still apply the most charming farmhouse details to your living space. Just remember - simplicity is key. Avoid clutter and embrace the space that farmhouse design encourages.

Most farmhouse color schemes embrace white as the focal point. White is simple, and we’re aiming for simplicity in our farmhouse design. White tiles, countertops, sinks, and other fixtures remind us of a time when people were more practical with their design tastes. You can easily build a neutral color palette made of tans, greys, and even blues, too.

Embracing natural materials and textures works for any type of rustic aesthetic. For your farmhouse-inspired home, keep an emphasis on natural wood. Wood instantly makes a home more cozy and comfortable.

Farmhouse Rustic Design Recap

Simplicity is key
Build a color scheme around white
Embrace natural materials, especially wood

Rustic Design Tips

When redesigning or building a home, knowing your vision is the first step. If you’re looking to adopt the simplicity and comfort of rustic design, you’re already on the right track by making yourself familiar with popular rustic design themes and elements. Let’s recap the most important qualities of a rustic home.

Authenticity (design with your space in mind)
Preservation (repurpose and preserve existing elements in your home instead of replacing them)
Neutral color palette (but don’t be afraid to play with textures and pops of color)
Natural textures (wood, local plants, and other wild features add to the authenticity of your home).

You're on the right track to designing your dream, rustic home. Just remember; authenticity is key.

Rustic Design FAQs

What does “Rustic” mean?

The term “rustic” when referring to design points to the appearance of being rural, country-style, simple or an unfinished rough design. An example is something made from rough limbs of trees without much done in the way of finish or polishing.

What is rustic?

Rustic is the term used to define a style of design. It refers to something that is simple, unfinished and rural/country in appearance.

How to make wood look rustic

Making wood look rustic is a relatively easy process though it does require a bit of work.

Step 1:

Take a chisel or v-groove chisel and dig out or carve the sapwood by following the grooves in the wood.

Step 2:

Once the grooves are created in the face of the wood, leaving only the raised hardwood section, use your chisel to gouge or chip a few portions of the edges of the wood. You can also use the tip of your chisel to gouge the face of the wood.

Step 3:

Using a hammer and bolt or piece of metal wire, pound the threads of the bolt and wire into the face of the wood, leaving the appearance that the wood has been beat up a little bit.

Step 4:

Take a wire brush and sandpaper and run them across the face of the wood, giving it a worn, distrssed look.

Step 5:

Take a bit of dark water-based, acrylic paint and mix it with equal parts water.

Step 6:

Take the diluted dark wash and a paint brush and run it over the face of the wood. This will soak in and darken the grooves in the wood.

Step 7:

If you have a propane torch handy, you can use it to dry the dark wash and, if you’d like, you can use it to leave a bit of a burnt look on the face of the wood.

Step 8:

Run over the face of the wood one more time with your sandpaper. Remember not to sand it too heavily to avoid removing the rustic look you’ve just created.