Modern Rustic decorating ideas & interiors

Modern Rustic decorating ideas and interiors – simple, modern country interiors

Modern rustic style blends relaxed, contemporary design with natural, time-worn materials. To get the look in your own home, keep your palette restrained and stick to calm, natural colours such as whites, soft greys and natural wood.It’s all about keeping the look pared-back and uncluttered, whilst remaining cosy.

Source accessories, furniture and linens from 100s of hand-picked makers in our directory to help you create the look.

Quick Checklist for the Modern Rustic Look:

• Neutral & Moody Paint Palettes: Layering whites, soft greys, or dramatic dark backdrops (like charcoal, deep blue-black, and bare plaster)
• Raw & Distressed Textures: Mixing stripped floorboards, vintage elm, characterful old doors, and highly distressed furniture finishes
• Cosy & Layered Textiles: Softening spaces with pure linen fabrics, textural knits, and soft pure wool throws
• Organic & Vintage Accents: Decorating with seasonal garden foliage, rustic pottery, old copper, brass hardware, and floor-displayed artwork

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Modern Rustic decorating ideas – how to get the look

1 Paint living room walls soft greys and whites

Layering soft greys and grey whites creates a beautiful modern rustic backdrop. Paint colours to create the look:

Ammonite by Farrow & Ball

School House White by Farrow & Ball (below)

2 Paint woodwork in a soft grey

Resisting the urge to paint all woodwork white can give a much softer, more rustic feel. Purbeck Stone by Farrow & Ball would be perfect. Drop Cloth and Cornforth White would also both work really well.

3 Paint brick or bare plaster

This can bring a contemporary rustic look to your interior. Love this bedroom by The White Company. It’s the contrast of soft, faux fur with rough walls and simple linen curtains that makes it for me. That, and the calm, neutral colour scheme. Find similar bedding and accessories at The White Company

4 Add natural texture to hallways

Combining soft pure linen with rustic and whitewashed wood works well. As does stone, burnished metal, plain rustic tiles and knitted fabrics. Bring more texture with animal skins, leather and vintage furniture.

This vintage elm bench makes a wonderful hallway statement piece and adds a modern rustic touch. I found a larger version and used it in my own bathroom to hold our two white washbowls. I absolutely love it. Find similar accessories at The White Company.

For elm benches, Etsy is a good place to look. Ineko Home sells a varying range of rustic and vintage furniture and accessories – and usually have some vintage elm benches or stools on sale. Adding heavy linen curtains to a front door not only ups your insulation game but also adds modern rustic softness to dark and moody front door.  Love the lime washed old floorboards and the natural texture added with a woven coir matt.

5 Paint bathroom walls and woodwork dark grey

If you feel like being brave, try going further than soft grey on your woodwork and go for something more dramatic. Dark grey makes a wonderful backdrop and contrast for colour and natural texure. Farrow & Ball Down Pipe would be perfect and try pairing with soft grey white Ammonite on the walls.

Painting walls and ceilings in dark colours (called colour washing) brings a dramatic – and surprisingly cosy – feel to your interiors. I like this Farrow & Ball Railings dark blue black colour in a bathroom. It will really allow for simple rustic textures such as wood to stand out. Pairing dark walls with a crisp, patterned linen cushion—like this one by Madder Cutch & Co—creates a striking, sophisticated contrast against a white rolltop bath.

6 Paint reclaimed furniture

Try upcycling vintage furniture finds with Annie Sloan paints in pale colours.

I love the chalky finish and that the paint will literally go on top of anything. A simple and cost-effective way to gain new pieces of furniture. Try painting up simple solid wooden chests of drawers, traditional kitchen chairs and side tables. Great way to breathe new life into tired wooden pieces of furniture and good fun too! Also keep an eye out for rustic pieces of wooden furniture.

7 Mix soft furnishings that aren’t too matchy

I love how Vanessa Arbuthnott fabrics and wall papers work from a colour palette that encourages you to mix patterns so the finished look isn’t too matchy.

8 Bring softness with wool throws or blankets

It’s as much about the cosy feel and warmth as the look, so I’d always pay a bit more for soft, pure wool. Try Melin Tregwynt or Trefriw. The throws pictured above and cushion below are both by Vanessa Arbuthnott

9 Bring character to walls and furniture with distressed finishes

Love how this smartly upholstered chair looks contrasted with highly distressed chest and very rustic floor boards.

This modern rustic dining room table looks fab against a bare plaster wall with uneven section of textural paint applied. Adds interest and texture to simple ceramics and wood.

Also love the distressed texture of this rusty vintage metal chair and the contrast it makes with the pretty linen cushion by Cabbages & Roses. The distressed old armchairs look fab with pretty simple linen cushions too, don’t you think? Not sure I’d get away with this look in my house, but if the rest of the interior is minimal and tidy, I think it works…

Ellie Mae makes cushions in Cabbages & Roses fabrics available to buy on Etsy.

10 Arrange simple seasonal flowers

If you keep your eyes open throughout the seasons, there should be something to pick in the garden or hedgerows all year.

I like to use vintage white creamware jugs as vases (like this one I photographed with simple white hyacinths and old Fortnum & Mason pudding basin I picked up for 20p from a car boot sale). Here’s an image of my own kitchen with inexpensive open shelf from Ikea with old glass mason jars filled with dry foods.

I love how my mum’s old mixing bowl looks planted up with spring daffodils. The tin had figs in syrup inside. Which were disgusting. But love how it looks with herbs from the garden… This is one of my favourite modern rustic decorating ideas.

Group in different sizes. Put stems in some and play until you like the look you’ve achieved. I like to group in threes with greenery in two but not the third. I love the way my vintage white jugs all have different textural designs but share a pure and simple single colour. This pretty idea below is by Sarah Diligent of Floribunda Rose.

11 Mix rustic wood with neutrals and clean white

Love how this combination works : a simple but highly effective modern rustic decorating idea.

12 Accessorise with linen fabrics

You can’t beat linen as a fabric for completing the modern rustic look. Find these beautiful fabrics at Cabbages & Roses

I’ve found ready made cushions in Hatley Linen Black (above) and the French Toile Linen in Black (also above) by Elli Mae Cushions on Etsy

Also love this modern rustic wallpaper by them. It’s floral but given a real contemporary edge by being printed in charcoal grey on a natural background. Love it.

Also love how this linen tablecloth by Aerende looks on a simple, modern rustic dining table.

13 Bring individuality with vintage finds

Love these images styled by Hilary Lowe of Damson & Slate (listed in our directory here)

Chair above is upholstered in fabric by St Jude’s and photographed by Yeshen Venema, styled by Hilary Lowe. Cushions on wooden chair are by Foxy Pheasant, also photographed by Yeshen Venema and styled by Hilary Lowe.

14 Hang old wooden doors and shelves

I love this rustic bathroom and living room from this restoration project and it’s the character-full old door that really sets the stage.

15 White wash wooden walls and ceiling beams

These white washed interiors are perfect examples. Light Locations is a great place to source interesting and beautiful places to shoot. These two modern rustic kitchen/dining rooms are fresh and contemporary with a simple rusticity that I love.

16 Use hooks and pegs to hang accesories

Interest is added to this kitchen corner by hanging rustic board, brush and linen from old pegs and hooks. It’s by The Future Kept (listed in our directory here) which is a wonderful online shop run by Jeska Hearne and her photographer husband Dean. Browse the Future Kept shop for more inspiration here.

The photography is beautifully shot at their Sussex home, so there’s plenty of modern rustic inspiration. Here are a few of my favourites:

17 Arrange rustic pottery & copper on open shelves

18 Make wall panelling from rustic wood planks

Browse the Future Kept shop for more inspiration here.

19 Display vintage artwork on the floor

Another great source of inspiration is Eva Kosmas Flores on her blog Adventures in Cooking.  As well as offering a range of inspirational photography courses and workshops, Eva also shares behind the scenes glimpses into the renovation of her beautiful home as well as wonderfully seasonal recipes.

Here’s a taste of the inspiration you’ll find there: I love how she puts her vintage painting on the floor – artwork doesn’t have to be hung on the wall. This feels less formal.

20 Swap modern chrome taps for brass

I hope you found some modern rustic decorating ideas to inspsire you with your own interiors.

INFORMATION

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Vanessa Arbuthnott is listed in the From Britain with Love directory 

Damson & Slate is listed in the From Britain with Love directory 

Aerende is listed in the From Britain with Love directory 

The Future Kept is listed in the From Britain with Love directory 

Cabbages & Roses  is listed in the From Britain with Love directory 

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