Farm-Cottage Charm Style Bathroom

When we started re-building the farmhouse a few years back, I would have simply described my style as “farmhouse”. And while I am still very drawn to the farmhouse style, I’ve realized that term doesn’t fully represent or describe the look that I’m going for in our home… So today I’m excited to share the evolution of it all and how I’m re-defining my style as farm-cottage charm! I honestly believe defining your style, and really honing in on what you like and where you draw inspiration from is pretty crucial to nailing the look in your space! That term defines your vision and lays out the roadmap to achieving the look want. So it’s my hope that sharing the process of re-defining my own style helps you to think about defining your style to achieve the look you love in your home!!

Farmhouse Style

I think I’ll always refer to our home as the farmhouse. I mean, for starters, we live on what used to be a working farm. My grandparents always gardened. They grew enough to feed an army and froze and canned their yields. Corn, tomatoes, potatoes, butter beans, green beans, ocra, cucumbers, field peas, watermelon, collards, squash, zucchini… you name it, they grew it. They also raised pigs and had horses at different points in the past as well. Many generations ago in our family, the 12 acres we own actually amounted to a couple hundred acres. And I imagine farming back then was just the lifestyle, and how they supported themselves. So referring to our home as “the farmhouse” just fits the property and the house, and also honors the generations that came before us.

Interior Design Styles That Inspire Me

I will always love the farmhouse style! Huge thanks to Joanna Gaines for making this design style blow up everywhere!! The classic feel, the rustic wood elements, the shiplap… I mean that one design element alone has been extremely popular thanks to HGTV’s Fixer Upper. But I’m also really drawn to cottage style and the light and airy, collected, lived in cozy vibes of this design style. My number one source of cottage style inspiration is Liz Marie Galvan, otherwise known as the Queen of Cozy. Cottage and Farmhouse are the two interior design styles I’m most drawn to these days. But I also love the romantic vibes and old world vibes of french country style, and the chippy paint and feminine fabrics of the shabby chic look. I love combining various elements from these styles and more in our home for a look that is uniquely me!!

Design Elements I Love

While the major construction on the farmhouse is done, there are still so many projects and ideas swirling around in my mind! So while “construction” is done, when I look around our home, I don’t see a room that is fully done yet. And will it ever be done? I guess that’s a question for another day… Some of the design elements below are things we’ve already incorporated into the farmhouse, and others are elements I love and hope to add in the future.

• Color Palette: Lots of neutrals and varying shades of white, cream, tan, and grey. I like to mix in a little woodgrain to warm it all up. I also like mixing wood tones, so you’ll see varying shades of wood throughout our home as well.
• Custom Woodwork: It’s all about the details here. I love an extra tall baseboard, farmhouse trim around windows and doors, board and batten paneling, shiplap, beadboard. These details add so much texture and character.
• Textiles & Patterns: stripes, especially grain sack and ticking stripes (see this post I wrote all about my love of stripes), florals, toile, buffalo plaid, checks, drop cloth / linen, comfy quilts, chunky knits, and lots of little feminine details like ruffles, ties, lace, doilies, and florals. (I dedicated this post to some of my favorite floral finds.)
• Furnishings: I’m a sucker for antiques & vintage finds. I also love chippy painted furniture, pretty upholstery and slipcovered pieces, metal beds, and the romantic details and curved lines in french provincial pieces. I love the look of gathered and collected items that coordinate over all new and perfectly matching.

How I Define My Style

So how do I define my style? Well… that feels like such a loaded question! I love so many different design aesthetics. And I find inspiration from what feels like such a broad array of styles. So summing it up into two or three words has been a challenge for me!! (As you can see by the length of this post, haha!) But after much reflection on the evolution of my taste, I would now define my style as farm-cottage charm. It’s a term I came across on Instagram actually, and I feel like it really captures the look I’m going for here in the farmhouse! The farm-cottage part really sums up the two major interior design styles I’m most drawn too. And the charm part to me is a nod to the french country inspiration, the romantic and shabby chic elements, and all the vintage and antique pieces I love to incorporate into our home’s decor!

It was a challenge for me to re-define my style! I had become so used to oversimplifying it and always referring to my style as “farmhouse”. But honestly, it’s a term that encompasses so many different styles in and of itself. There’s modern farmhouse, scandinavian farmhouse, industrial farmhouse… etc. etc. Over time the term “farmhouse” just wasn’t enough to truly describe my style. But farm-cottage charm really does fit my style and the look I’m going for here in our home! I love this new term, and I look forward to sharing more posts that fit with my farm-cottage charm style here on the blog… Like this post I wrote about our white cottage farmhouse color palette or this post I shared about a farm-cottage charm tablescape I designed. If you hung in this long, thank you dear friend! It means the world to have you here, and I hope this post inspired you in some way! As always, thanks for following along…

Love, Brittany