Vintage Farmhouse: What It Is and How to Pull It Off

You have been looking to buy a home in the DeRidder area. The whole time you’ve been scheduling viewings with your real estate agent, your friends have been talking about vintage farmhouses. You have no clue what they are referring to. Well, we have you covered. We are going to explain what a vintage farmhouse is and how you can pull it off.

In short, a vintage farmhouse is a decoration style. It is based on the classic American farmhouse dating from before the start of the 20th century. Believe it or not, the look is extremely popular these days among younger homeowners. The fact that it is so forgiving makes it an ideal decorating style when you still have young kids at home.

It Can Work with Any House

Whether you are still looking to buy a home, or you have already made an offer, the first thing to know is that vintage farmhouse can work with any home. That said, it is easier to maintain cohesiveness with older homes built prior to the 1950s. The older, the better.

With an older home, you can apply the vintage farmhouse look both inside and out. Decorating the exterior of a newer home in vintage farmhouse may be more challenging. But inside, you can do just about anything you want regardless of the age of the house.

Lots of White

One of the first things you notice about the vintage farmhouse style is that it involves lots of white. Walls are painted white and then accented with colors from draperies and artwork. Furniture, particularly tables and chairs, tends to be white as well. Why so much white?

The classic American farmhouse was born in the 1600s and existed all the way through the late 1800s and into the 1900s. American farmhouses were by no means fancy. They were functional. And more often than not, farmers would choose less expensive whitewash rather than paint. They used that whitewash liberally.

A heavy dose of white paint in a vintage farmhouse home pays homage to those whitewash days. Of course, modern paint tends to hold up a lot better. In cases where a new coat of white paint looks too modern, a good chalk paint makes for an older finished look.

Accent with Vintage Furniture

The vintage farmhouse style calls for as much vintage furniture as you like. An older dining room table with wood benches or chairs is preferable to a modern table with a glass top. An older, Victorian-style sofa is better in the living room than a modern sofa. You get the idea.

If you are into crafts and DIY, a whole industry has grown up around the idea of taking newer furniture pieces and refinishing them to make them look old. You can find cheap pieces at the thrift store and turn them into vintage farmhouse treasures.

Accents and Decorations

Finally, the icing on the vintage farmhouse cake is found in all those accents and decorations. This is where decorating in a vintage farmhouse gets fun. You get to visit garage sales, estate sales, thrift stores, and antique shops looking for anything that says old farmhouses from 100 years ago.

Old wooden crates become vintage farmhouse shelves. An old wagon wheel becomes a piece of artwork on the wall. A vintage butter churn becomes a planter while an old barn door is sized down and used to replace modern closet doors.

Vintage farmhouses are all the rage these days. Whether you’re looking to buy a home, or you already own one, you can pull it off both inside and out.

Are you interested in buying a vintage farmhouse for the first time? Contact us, we will show you the one that best suits your needs.