How We Decorated Our Cozy Rustic Home
/No claims here to be an interior design expert and definitely not an interiors photographer – but I wanted to share the decor progress in our home since we moved in this past May! Decorating and curating things for our home really is something that brings me joy, and over the past few years I’ve really honed in on my style. I don’t branch out a whole lot from my go-to neutrals and 99% of the items in our current house are things we’ve already had for a while. The only things we had to buy when we moved into this house were a new master bedroom set and a loveseat to match our existing couch. That was truthfully a big part of the appeal when we first looked at this house – I knew all of our pieces would ‘go’ and feel right in these spaces.
We did have to complete a few minor projects before we moved in. All cosmetic, but they made a huge difference! We painted the entire house, walls and doors, from a dark yellowy tan color to a much lighter grayish beige. We redid the upstairs bathroom cabinets and also painted the stair risers the same color as our walls – such an improvement from the dark brown they used to be! Our stairwell no longer feels like a black hole.
The biggest area we changed was the kitchen: we painted the cabinets a few shades darker than our new walls (they were originally two-toned with the natural pine wood and a dark blue) and changed the backsplash to a lighter stone tile (originally a square pattern with dark browns and blues). We like a rustic style, but the old kitchen was RUSTIC – just too much. Changing the counters wasn’t in the budget, but really, I don’t hate them; I just wanted to lighten up the rest of the space since our floors are so dark. Because the trim throughout the house is an orangey pine, I wanted a paint color for the walls that would bring in some cooler tones but still work with the warm elements of the house. After testing a bunch of samples and a few more trips to the paint store than we anticipated, we settled on Spun Wool for the walls + doors and Smokestack for the cabinets (both are by Behr but we had them matched by Sherwin Williams since that’s who our contractor preferred to use).
I’ll share sources where I can in case anyone is curious. I’m a bargain hunter for the most part! We love that this house really feels like home now, and mostly that it feels like US. It’s a cozy layout – 3 bedrooms and 2.5 baths with hardly any wasted space, but it works for us in this phase and we plan on being here a good while!
LIVING ROOM
Couch + loveseat: Ashley
Blanket ladder (6 feet tall! most are 5’): Amazon
Coffee table: Amazon
Jute rug: Amazon
Lamp: Lamps Plus
County maps: Historic Map Works (they have awesome old historic maps for pretty much any city/county/state in the USA)
KITCHEN + DINING
On the to-do list: adding a piece of trim above the fridge to match the cabinets so there’s not a gap. We actually got a different fridge when we moved in (the kind with the freezer drawer on bottom + french doors on top) but ended up not liking that design. It had some other issues, too, so Home Depot let us exchange it.
A small half bath off the kitchen - we left the original grayish blue walls in here and embraced the Texas star theme - I have a big 3D metal one hanging on the opposite wall.
This piece is from a rustic furniture store in Dallas that was going out of business. It used to be our TV cabinet in the old house but now it holds extra dishes and board games. Eventually I want to hang the window and ram painting higher on the wall instead of just leaning them against it.
MASTER BEDROOM + BATH
I’m on the hunt for a really cool, big piece of art or some sort of wall hanging to go above the tub. The former owners had a patterned paint stencil on that wall that I didn’t love. Haven’t found a winner yet but I don’t want to settle! We left the cabinets in here the original army green/two-tone with the wood.
Bedroom furniture set: Home Zone
Duvet cover + shams: Amazon
Bolster pillow: The Citizenry
Lamps: Walmart
Skull sketches: Live Boho
Bath towels: Pendleton
That’s our humble abode! And yes, there is one more room I didn’t share. I’ll do a blog post on our nursery once it’s complete! Thanks for reading!