Farmhouse rugs can be used in many kinds of home designs. These rugs offer a warm, lived-in style that helps make your home seem cozy and inviting, whether you’re in the big city or truly down on the farm. Traditional, eclectic, and bohemian are a few of the styles that can adopt versatile farmhouse rugs into their family and match them to the rest of the room. Natural fibers and neutral tones, the calling card of farmhouse rugs, can make friends with many other forms of decor. This antique and thrifted look can make you feel as if you live out in the countryside away from the hustle and bustle of the city.
Whether you’re a country mouse or a city mouse, the faded vintage looks found in farmhouse rugs can dress up a living room or a dining room designed to be eclectic or bohemian. If your traditional sitting room looks too formal for guests and visitors to touch, roll out a homey, yet classic, faded rug with a Moroccan style and tassels by the couch to let all know that it’s safe to sit on. Farmhouse rugs are a subtle way to remove the proverbial plastic wrap from a traditional design to make it comfortable for the rest of your family and friends.
What Is Farmhouse Style?
The farmhouse style didn’t start as a style. Farmers needed every part of their home, from the barn to the kitchen, to be practical and functional first before anything else. Bedrooms and living rooms needed to be warm in the winter and cool in the summer, while the kitchen needed to store the jarred and fresh food grown on the land. This down-home style often comes with many spaces to store food and necessities, like pantries, bookshelves, and closets.
In early America, Scandinavian and German farmers who had immigrated to start a new life played an important role in defining the classic American farmhouse. Over time, antique furniture that had been inherited from past generations began to fill up these spaces. Sometimes these pieces had been handcrafted from artisans, while other times it was a luxurious couch that had been treasured and cared for to create a room to entertain guests. Since these houses had to work for both the farm and the family, they often had informal and formal spaces in separate parts of the house. These houses only grew bigger as more generations lived in them and added onto them.
Wood, since it was easy to use and easy to find, tended to be the main element used to build these homes and the main pieces of furniture. Rugs could either be classic pieces of art, handwoven and handed down from parents to children, or they could be handwoven by the family from easily found materials, like cotton or other natural fibers. The rugs had to withstand the wear and tear of animals and humans alike throughout the years and established a reputation for durability.
In the modern era, farmhouse style has morphed to mean an atmosphere of cozy, DIY pieces and what would be considered “shabby” yet fashionable patterns, colors, and looks. Handcrafted wreathes, woven rugs, hand-knitted afghans, and hand-carved pieces of furniture can all be a part of the modern farmhouse style. The purpose of a farmhouse style offers a practical, easy-to-clean and simple-to-maintain look, while also keeping a room at a stable temperature (warm or cool, depending on where you live).
What is a Farmhouse Rug?
Farmhouse rugs in modern times have come to mean homestyle, hand-crafted rugs like jutes, sisals, and seagrass, along with faded traditional styles like vintage Persian rugs and Scandinavian styles. Braided cotton rugs also play a role in farmhouse decor, with their simple knots and functional style. The purpose of these rugs is to keep your floor looking stylish while still allowing you and your family to live your everyday lives without tiptoeing or avoiding crashes or spills.
With the rise of washable farmhouse rugs, like this Emmy Washable Geometric Area Rug, it’s become easier than ever to integrate farmhouse rugs into a family home. These rugs can take a beating from pets and kids and then get rolled up and put in the wash when its all over.
Match Made in Heaven: Traditional Style Meets Farmhouse Rugs
Traditional design stems from the 18th and 19th centuries as well, but pulls its roots from the structure and decor used by English and French nobility in Europe. Luxurious textiles and arched curves in furniture create the traditional atmosphere in a room, whether it’s a bedroom or a parlor to serve tea.
Fortunately, it can be easy to marry a farmhouse rug with a traditional style. Vintage-styled rugs like this Rust Tasseled Medallion Area Rug bring the neutral colors and the faded look of a farmhouse rug, but can also mesh well with classic design. The more laid-back attitude of farmhouse rugs helps make the traditional design easier to live in, despite its elegant flair. You can drink a cup of tea still, but it can be poured into a tin mug or an office mug instead of your finest china.
Using Farmhouse Rugs in Eclectic Homes
Eclectic styles strongly rely on global appearances. They pair many different pieces from cultural backgrounds into one room, to unite them all in a rich stew of colors, patterns, and history. These designs rely on strong neutral patterns to showcase one or two vibrant colors from a specific piece. The goal of an eclectic style is to avoid looking busy and overstuffed with different messages but instead narrow the focus of the room into one clear, strong note using multiple designs and pieces.
Farmhouse rugs tend to already rely on neutral colors and unique cultural patterns, thanks to their roots in farmhouses designed by many different cultures who came over to establish themselves in America. Simple, unique rugs like this Natural Greek Flokati Area Rug can form a key puzzle piece to bring the entire eclectic picture together.
Bohemian Influences and Farmhouse Rugs Unite
Bohemian styles are laid-back designs without simply being a lazy hodgepodge with no theme. They compile relaxed colors and shapes into usable spaces. Unlike traditional and eclectic, the main goal of these designs is to make a house into a home.
Since farmhouse designs were meant to make a home comfortable as well, they fit right into these designs. A Beige Felted Wool Tasseled Area Rug makes for a soft landing for anyone in any kind of room while understanding the assignment to achieve style and functionality in the same breath.
Find Your Perfect Fit at Rugs USA
Rugs USA has a wide variety of farmhouse rugs to match any particular style, whether its traditional, eclectic, bohemian, mid-century modern, or any other kind of design theme. Farmhouse rugs have a classic, broad-spectrum appeal that make them perfect for any decor or environment. Find your farmhouse rug today!
