Turn Your Home Into a Modern Farmhouse

Modern farmhouses combine open contemporary spaces, warm accents, and natural textures to make a home feel modern and comfortable. Whether you’re building a new house or wanting to update your current one, here are a few tips on how you can transform your home with a modern farmhouse design.

Color Schemes

One of the largest defining factors of a modern farmhouse design is the color pallet used. The color scheme typically consists of neutral colors such as light creams, grays and beiges. The lighter colors are then accented by deep hues like dark blues, greys or greens. The look almost always consists of clean lines and an open feel. Glidden® Total makes painting easy by combining primer and paint in one can, providing excellent coverage with fewer steps.

Shiplap and Other Natural Elements

Another key component of a Modern Farmhouse is shiplap, raw or reclaimed wood, and wide-plank wood floors. These organic materials are what tie the crisp, modern look with a more natural farmhouse feel. A few ways to incorporate wood into your home is by using exposed wood beams on your ceiling, having natural-looking wood flooring, or using shiplap as an accent wall or as a focal point on fireplaces and kitchen bars. While this is an important part of the design, you want to make sure that you don’t overdo it. You can tone down the shiplap by painting or whitewashing it (adding water to white paint to make the paint more translucent). If you have an exposed brick wall in your home, you can use paint or whitewash to pull it in with a modern approach.

It can be hard to find reclaimed wood to use, but don’t fret! It’s easy to achieve that same look with affordable pine boards, stain, and a little elbow grease. You can create a distressed look by sanding the boards irregularly and creating nicks and dings with chains, hammers, and other hard tools you may have laying around the house.

Sliding Barn Doors

A great way to maximize space and get a modern farmhouse look is by using sliding barn doors in your home. These doors are a classic when it comes to getting a farmhouse look. They can be painted white, stained, distressed, or made to look rustic. They are easy to install, and the finishes come in a variety of colors like satin nickel, black, and oil-rubbed bronze. If the barn door look isn’t your style, you can get the same space-saving, classic look with accent pocket doors that slide into the wall through the door jam, rather than on one side of the doorway.

Modern Farmhouse Kitchen

Deep sinks, white backsplash, painted cabinets – what’s not to love about a modern farmhouse kitchen? The kitchen is one of the places that sets the tone for the rest of the house. Fortunately, some of the projects to make it have a modern farmhouse style can be fairly easy. One of the quickest ways to update your kitchen is to paint the cabinets a solid color. Some people prefer to use a warm, earthy color while others go for a bold, modern look. It’s even easy to mix the two designs by painting your kitchen island a bolder accent color while the rest of your cabinets are a light gray or cream. For a finishing touch, add sleek cabinet pulls.

Another great way to update your kitchen is by replacing dated light fixtures with modern ones. You’ll want to look for fixtures that have an industrial look to them. You can play around with colors – some come in gold, black, and even copper. A few styles you can choose from are simple pendants with Edison lightbulbs or funky, angular chandeliers. Adding lights under your cabinet can help brighten up the space in a non-intrusive way.

A few other ways to get a modern farmhouse kitchen is by changing out your faucet or sink or sink, adding a simple backsplash, or installing floating shelves or upper cabinets with glass doors.

Modern Farmhouse Bathroom

Like the kitchen, you can easily update your bathroom. You’ll want to start by painting the cabinets, adding cabinet pulls, and swapping out the faucets. This is also a great place to add shiplap. Painting your bathroom a light color, like white or cream, can open it up and make it look bigger. The farmhouse look will come through with your decorations. You can use old glass milk jugs to hold flowers or a dark colored shelving system to hold towels and other necessities.  A key feature of a modern farmhouse is a minimalistic, clean feel, so be sure not to overdo it with the décor.