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You feel a strong connection with the farmhouse style of interior design, maybe you have shaker-style kitchen units, a butler sink, some open pantry shelving, and a rough stone tiled floor… but there seems to be a little something missing?
It’s time to look at rustic home accessories and characterful décor to finish off the farmhouse styling.
A farmhouse theme-kitchen is all about feeling connected and socialising; having the family and kids around a big wooden dining table to enjoy eating, laughing, and telling stories about their day. Get your friends over for a freshly brewed coffee, sharing some homemade cookies, fresh-baked bread, and olives. It’s about bringing the countryside inside and feeling at one with nature. It’s about celebrating artisan craftspeople, natural materials, and traditional skilled methods of production.
So, we’ve come up with a list of 7 things you can consider to bring your rustic farmhouse-style kitchen to life.
1. Handmade wooden serving boards
3. Pantry jars and food containers
4. Vases, flowers and greenery
6. Decorative cake stands
7. Tidy sink area
1. Handmade wooden serving boards
There’s something special about travelling the world, and picking up handmade bits and pieces from Mediterranean and British craft markets. When you touch and hold a handmade breadboard, you can just feel the love that went into creating it.
You will appreciate the varying wood grains from different trees, while the rich colours add a tonal depth to an often stark, or more neutral farmhouse palette.
Some wooden boards are more designed for cutting bread, so they have little grooves and channels to catch the crumbs. No need to mess up your beautiful table spread when you offer your guests a deliciously crumbly olive sourdough to dip into some olive oil, fragrant rosemary focaccia to pull apart with their fingers or a crusty rustic loaf to be cut into thick wedges at the table.
Farmhouse-style chopping and serving boards come in a range of woods and styles. Our favourites are acacia and mango wood, with their rich colours and grains. Some have a string through the handle so they can be displayed on hooks on the wall.
Try displaying your boards on open kitchen shelving while not in use – place them in groups of three, with graduating sizes, or simply stacked next to other contrasting items such as glass jars or pure white serving dishes.
2. Rustic storage baskets
Having your storage baskets on display is a very classic element of a true farmhouse-style kitchen. You can achieve contrast by using different natural materials, from seagrass to wicker, black and white distressed metals, through to fabrics such as thick felt and cotton rope.
Open-weave black metal wire baskets are often used for displaying eggs, potatoes, fruits, and vegetables – think quaint little grocery shops in France where the produce is on display for you to peruse and enjoy. Metal baskets can range from finely detailed wire designs to incredibly strong cast iron and consequently, these are all washable. We have some nice collapsible baskets too, so you can feel free to change things around and put them away when not in use.
Seagrass, jute, sisal, and wicker baskets add rustic texture to any farmhouse kitchen. These are more suited to storing dry packaged foods, table linens or items you don’t access as often. You can create a lovely design by alternating two or more contrasting baskets in an open storage unit.
3. Pantry jars and food containers
Farmhouse kitchens, whether contemporary or traditional, usually have some kind of shelving where all the baking ingredients, pasta, pulses, and everyday foodstuffs are on display. You may have integrated kitchen units with glass-fronted windows or rustic wooden shelving with iron brackets.
Arrange a row of glass storage containers in height order, or in groups of similar items for a more contemporary country aesthetic, or group them in a messy ‘just used’ arrangement if you want it to look more natural and less perfect.
Mix and match containers with different metals, or lids – we have rustic storage pots with bamboo, aluminium, and black iron lids in our shop and these all look great with a handwritten label, or just simply displaying the contents.
4. Vases, flowers, and greenery
Most modern farmhouse-style kitchens employ a range of neutral tones, monochromes, black, white, cream, grey plus accents of wood. So, the best way to add a bit of colour is by the use of flowers or greenery. If you can’t keep a plant alive to save your life, you’re in luck as there are so many options in quality artificial plants nowadays.
Good choices for farmhouse kitchen flowers are those which typically grow in an English country garden, such as roses, tulips, daffodils, and foxgloves. Think quaint cottages, winding country lanes, meadowy fields, and carpets of delicate wildflowers.
As far as rustic greenery is concerned, fake plants are so good now they are almost indistinguishable from the real thing. It’s not always practical to rush out and buy a few sprigs of rosemary or a bunch of eucalyptus, but you can have the faux stems in a crackle-glaze pot on the windowsill or display a bunch of ivy in a wooden tray, trailing over a shelf ledge next to your recipe books.
Galvanised metal pots can look really sweet arranged in threes with some artificial plants to add colour. Try placing them on a metal tray for a designer-styled look, or stack them on piles of books laying horizontally to bring in height variations.
5. Rustic minimalist candles
Candles, candles, candles. Who doesn’t love candles?
Can you have candles in the kitchen? Absolutely. With the obvious concerns around safety, you probably won’t want a naked flame near your trailing sleeve as you’re washing up or taking pans from the oven. But with the right choices, you can bring the cosiness of the living room right into the heart of the home without worrying about the kids, cats, or dogs hurting themselves.
Think tealight holders, decorative metal lanterns, and other enclosed styles and you’ll soon see it’s completely possible to get a candlelit ambience in your farmhouse kitchen.
We especially love distressed antiqued metal candle holders, which blend seamlessly into a modern country or traditionally-styled kitchen.
For a more urban or industrial aesthetic, you can use the simplicity of our black metal lanterns with ivory or grey candles.
6. Decorative cake stands
A common sight on a rustic kitchen table or farmhouse countertop, a tiered cake stand or a domed cake platter, will introduce a cosy homely vibe to your rustic décor.
You can get cake stands in pure white ceramic, aged antiqued metal, wood, and glass, depending on your taste and what it will be used for.
Lovers of the more minimalist farmhouse kitchen will appreciate a simple aesthetic and something which is easy to keep clean, so ceramic can be a good choice here. Display your white cake stand next to some lovely storage pots, wooden boards or containers when not in use – they look great on open shelving.
If you’re more into the earthy natural tones, there are cake platters that offer a rustic wooden base plus a glass dome to allow your guests to see the mouth-watering delights underneath.
Bring a selection of muffins or cupcakes out to the garden table on a 3-tiered cake stand, and your guests will be instantly in awe of your hosting skills.
7. Tidy sink area
Do you have a butler sink under the window or a large draining board area in your farmhouse kitchen and you’re forever wondering how to keep it all tidy?
The key is organisation, grouping common items, and decanting products.
Think about the sponges, gloves, and cleaning items you use most, and try putting them into a little wooden tray on the windowsill so they don’t clutter the sides.
Decant your washing-up liquid, hand soap, and antibacterial gel into beautiful matching soap dispensers – we offer ceramic and glass varieties, with either pumps or sprays. We also love to use vintage-style bottles in a variety of sizes and heights for a more eclectic appeal. You could experiment with colour coding, perhaps using black glass for cleaning products and amber glass for cosmetic products you use on your skin?
The aged vintage metal finishes of the dispenser pumps can complement most interiors; a common designer style is to mix and match metals. Try mixing the warmth of brushed brass for your
accessories, with the coolness of sating silvers on your taps, handles, and hardware.
Add a couple of plants, a candle and you’re suddenly as chilled as a Sunday morning.
Buy beautiful rustic farmhouse kitchenware online
At My Rustic Home, we love all things country and rustic – my own kitchen is a mix of modern and farmhouse styling. On the counters, there are a few simplistic canisters for coffee, tea, and dried goods. We really love handmade wooden serving boards for entertaining guests with a little tapas or bread straight from the oven.
Throughout the house, you’ll see touches of cosiness, warmth, and memories. Distressed metal photo frames with pictures of the children, our favourite fragrant handwash in gorgeous glass bottles on the bathroom shelf.
As a family, we love to cuddle up on the sofa with some soft throw blankets and squishy cushions, soft candlelight bringing a lovely ambience to the room.
We believe your home should be your ultimate happy place - we hope our range of beautiful quality, hand-picked rustic home décor brings a little smile into your home, too.