12 Ways to Add Farmhouse Touches to Your Bedroom

There’s something about farmhouse style in the bedroom that’s so inviting. It’s humbly comfortable, and the look has a simple beauty that makes us want to snuggle in and bed down for the winter. Here are 12 ways to get the look, whether you long for a full-on “Good night, John-Boy,” Waltons ambience or you want just an element or two of farmhouse charm to warm up a contemporary room.

1. Gingham. This pattern, particularly in red and white, can invoke an all-American pastoral, an English country or a spare Scandinavian farmhouse feeling.

See the rest of this guesthouse


2. A country quilt. Cozy layering on the bed is one of the easiest ways to give a bedroom a farmhouse vibe, especially if your bedding looks as though it were lovingly crafted out of scraps. Just about any style of quilt, whether Amish or a more modern Gee’s Bend–inspired look, will do.


3. Repurposed flour or grain sacks. Humble, practical and repurposed materials have been common in farmhouses throughout history. Grain and flour sacks have been repurposed into cushion and pillow covers, for instance. The rustic cover here adds a bit of nostalgia and roughness to this soft bedscape.


4. Needlepoint. Speaking of homespun crafts, framed needlepoint samplers are a wonderful country touch.

See the rest of this 1778 Vermont home


5. A braided rug. These simple rugs are another homespun craft. In days past they were often composed of a family’s leftover scraps and rags. (John-Boy had one in his room.) Also in this room, the utilitarian furnishings — like the primitive stool-turned-nightstand — represent making do with what you have. This philosophy is very much in the farmhouse spirit.

Floor paint: Cornforth White; trim paint: Teresa’s Green, both by Farrow & Ball


6. Lace curtains. Think Andrew Wyeth paintings, like “Wind From the Sea” (painted at Olsen House, the farmhouse seen in his iconic painting “Christina’s World”).

Wall paint: Light Blue, Farrow & Ball


7. Wide-plank floors. In earlier times U.S. farmers denuded old-growth forests not only to clear land for farming and to harvest firewood, but also to harvest the wood for building. These giant trees, large in diameter, yielded boards that were much wider than the trees milled today. Ten-inch-wide floorboards were commonplace. The best place to find wide planks is via local reclaimed wood dealers.

Tip: If you live in an older home with missing or damaged boards, forage for replacements in the attic. The unfinished floorboards up there are probably from the same trees as the boards in your living spaces, and you can have them finished in a way that should be a pleasing match.


8. Butt boards. These planks, butted up together, represent the time before tongue and groove and shiplap joints existed in millwork. They lend a simple farmhouse charm.


9. Board and batten siding. This is not exactly a historic farmhouse bedroom move, but more of an interpretation. Board and batten is typically seen on the exteriors of agrarian buildings, but bringing it inside is a popular way to add rural style these days. In a bedroom it adds dimension to the walls and feels more rustic than drywall. Because the lines of board and batten are so simple, they work well in traditional and contemporary homes.


10. Agrarian architectural features. Barn doors would not have been seen in a classic farmhouse either, but again, they are a popular modern way to bring the farm vernacular indoors. Particularly alluring on this door are the X-detail and the clever opening. The door color also blends in with that of the wall, giving it a seamless look.

Learn 5 questions to ask before installing a barn door


11. Farm ephemera or implements. Again, this is an interpretation of the farmhouse look. Would tobacco farmers have hung tobacco baskets over their beds back in the day? Of course not. But today these remnants of the past have unique craftsmanship and patinas we covet, and the nostalgia becomes farmhouse style in our minds.


Similarly, buckets, tools, pails or drums can pop up, whether repurposed as lamps, hung over headboards or used as wastepaper baskets.


12. Shaker style. Primitive furniture, like this no-fuss four-poster bed and unadorned blue blanket chest, have such a pleasing simplicity. A farmhouse-style bedroom is free of ornate distractions.

Tell us: Do you have any farmhouse-inspired elements in your bedroom? Please share them in the Comments section.

More farmhouse touches: For the Kitchen | For the Dining Room

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