As with any design or art purchase, we always advocate choosing pieces that really speak to you if you are trying to create a unique and personal interior. Their mixing of style, period, and provenance applies to art and decor as much as it does to furniture, lighting, and textiles.
New York interior designer James Honeyford — whose weekend home is a carefully restored farmhouse in The Hamptons — agrees. “It is important that my home be comfortable for me, my family and my friends…but it is also a laboratory, a place to experience the way fabrics and artisanal things feel along with the more refined ones. It is about taking items from different periods and not letting their history influence how they are used. , but rather, finding common harmony.
But if you’re specifically looking for something that harmoniously fits into an existing scheme, a little guidance can help. The modern farmhouse style is usually achieved through the restrained juxtaposition of old and new. So where do you start when choosing wall decor?
Perhaps the most direct way is to add landscape art or photography, which provides a direct link to the great outdoors. Another option is to go for contemporary art with colors drawn from nature’s color palette. Or, follow in James Honeyford’s footsteps and embrace all manner of vintage pieces, including agricultural and industrial pieces, to give your walls extra interest – from antique maps to paddles and old wood grain sieves.
8 modern decor ideas for home décor
1. Make the feature wall of agricultural relics
(Image credit: Robin Lea)
When designing a guest bedroom in this airy Hamptons home, James Honeyford hung an assortment of 19th-century wood grain on the wall, creating a stunning feature from these humble, locally sourced finds. This approach also works well, of course, for modern farmhouse living rooms, kitchens, and bathrooms…any space you’re interested in addressing.
I love this simple installation, which uses the stuff as art. Because the house is located near a large farm, I wanted to bring in some farming items, James says. Complementing the arrangement of the sieves is an Early American foliage table and more industrial pieces, including a metal grain scoop and gear chain.
2. Get creative with photo placement
(Photo credit: Marta Perez)
When interior designer Glenn Bane redesigned this cozy porch space in his Hamptons cottage, he chose a simple seascape as a nod to the home’s coastal location. A short walk from the wall space, he hangs the picture through two windows, above a Donald Judd-inspired daybed that fills one side of the whitewashed porch.
“The room has windows on three walls, allowing in a nice ocean breeze,” says Glenn. “The art above the daybed looks beautiful, and it also reminds me that all spaces can feel layered, even if they are perfectly useful for their purpose.”
3. Channel swivel style with paint in pastel shades
(Photo credit: Turner Pocock)
If you’re short on space and keen on color, a cocoon paint scheme might be an ideal way to add interest to your walls, rather than risk cluttering a room with a lot of decor.
This Berkshire cottage was renovated by London-based interior design firm Turner Pocock, who painted the walls and ceiling of one of the modern bedrooms a soft, soothing pink.
“We wanted everything in this cottage to be comfortable and easy,” say designers Bunny and Emma. “The pink paint we used in the bedroom is an archive color Farrow & Ball called Potted Shrimp. We especially love how the chalk adds to the sense of calm.
4. Create – or commission – a modern farmhouse wall
(Photo credit: Stephen Kent Johnson)
“We wanted the interior to be unique and crafted but not in any way pretentious or tacky…. “Location,’ says Stephen Johanknecht of Commune Design Studio in Los Angeles, who renovated this 100-year-old California cabin in the Santa Anita Hills. The two landscapes are the star here.
The designers considered a variety of different influences for the remodeling, including historic American cabins, European chalets, and Shaker-style interiors. “The bedroom walls feature a hand-painted motif by decorative artist Nick Valley, which is inspired by a Navajo rug pattern, Stephen says of the mural, which complements the olive-green painted wood bed frame.
5. Add character with architectural salvage
(Photo credit: Tessa Neustadt)
“This cabin looks older now than it did when I got my hands on it,” says interior designer Leanne Ford of her restored 20th-century timber house in Los Angeles. “The area where this bedroom was was outside, but we’ve expanded these small rooms to make them part of the interior,” adds the designer, who retained the indoor and outdoor feel with stone floors and a rustic aesthetic.
“I found these cool old glass doors and hung them on the barn slide behind the bed, then painted them to help them blend in,” she continues. “I love white paint in all its shades, but crisp white would have been too modern here, so I used a warm, antique shade of white to match the cabin.”
6. Try spotted wallpaper for a heritage aesthetic
(Photo credit: Colossus Mfg.)
Christina Valencia and Kele Dobrinski of Colossus Mfg say. studio, who renovated the Lake Tahoe home said, “When we first set our eyes on this tiny guest bedroom, the existing bed truly exceeded the space.”
We knew we wanted to add something during the redesign that could draw your attention upwards and fill the space with visual interest. This heritage patterned backdrop had the balance between camping and modernity that we were striving for.
The designer duo loved the color palette so much that they also layered bedding in blue. To provide a subtle contrast, we added two candy-colored reading lights above the bed.
7. Build a wall of beautifully organized storage
(Photo credit: Beatrice Pedicone)
In her backyard office, located on the site of an old horse barn, Annie Mennes, a Hudson Valley architect, designed a wall of streamlined storage that is as elegant as it is functional.
Annie, the founder of Garrison Foundry Architecture, referenced East Coast farmhouses and Scandinavian interiors with the design. “The office is simple and utilitarian, with a modern, rustic vibe,” says the architect, who bought custom floating shelves from a mail-order company and painted them in Benjamin Moore’s Cloud White.
“The idea was to hide everything in a white storage wall,” explains Annie. Color-coordinated box coils and a painted control panel complete the project.
8. Nature reference with abstract landscape
(Image credit: deVOL Kitchens)
Owners of these reused cattle in Wheaton, Norfolk, turned to British custom-made kitchen company deVol to help remodel their dilapidated barn. “Anyone who has visited North Norfolk will know what a special place it is: wild and beautiful, with great beaches,” says Helen Parker, creative director of deVOL.
She adds, “Our Shaker kitchen is extensive here, yet still feels cozy and homely”—the perfect ambiance for a modern farmhouse kitchen. ‘And we absolutely love the original artwork propped up throughout the room; These huge landscapes really add to the feeling of being in the wilds near the sea.