Trending: Modern Farmhouse Design!

People new to interior design are often surprised at how many sub-genres evolve from popular decorative styles. The Baer’s Furniture design team keeps abreast of all emerging furniture and design trends, so when a customer comes to one of our Florida showrooms and tells us that they want to find furniture for farmhouse design, we can narrow down their search. One of the hot new 2023 trends we’ve spotted is modern farmhouse. But what does modern farmhouse mean, and how do you incorporate this popular decorating theme into your space? This article will answer these questions and more.

Similarly to all farmhouse décor themes, modern farmhouse has a warm, welcoming feel. It makes liberal use of natural materials like wood, metal, and soft leather, with wool and cotton accessories. It is more minimalistic than the farmhouse style, and there is a little more room for breaks from traditional touches — hence the word “modern” in the name. The color palette is light and cool. For inspiration, envision a white-washed farmhouse in the French countryside retro-fitted with some modern themes and touches.

You don’t necessarily have to follow these guidelines, but if you want to remain true to form, these are the factors you should consider:

Don’t confuse this with an extreme form of minimalism. You can have accessories and wall art, but modern farmhouse has a notable absence of bric-a-brac.

If you are a fan of curves, you may want to veer toward colonial farmhouse. For modern farmhouse, you’ll want clean, straight lines, as you see in this Universal Modern Farmhouse Bed.

Modern farmhouse has a lighter, airier feel, so you will want to stick to whites, creams, and light blues. In this respect, it’s not far from the coastal décor color palette. Because wood is such an important component of modern farmhouses, exposed light wood and white-washed wood are welcome additions.

The Sonoma Farmhouse Dining Table with Table Leaf checks all of the boxes with its straight lines, iron features, and lack of pretension. It also offers ample hidden storage, which is an absolute necessity for achieving the minimalist bent of modern farmhouse.

Exterior hinges, drawer hardware, table lamps, and door knobs are wrought iron, copper, bronze, etc. These are common metals, so matching the pieces with similar counterparts should be easy.

Whether you’re starting from scratch or are trying to convert from a closely-related theme, these tips will help you focus your efforts.

If you have high-quality furniture pieces that you had previously bought for another design theme, you may be able to incorporate them into a modern farmhouse space. A light-colored sofa with straight lines, like this one from the Stone & Leigh Upholstered Collection,  will be as welcome in your modern farmhouse living room as it was in your modern, Art Deco, or other minimalist-themed space.

Because there are so many gorgeous tones for this theme, finding a color palette for modern farmhouse is probably going to be a lot easier than choosing the colors. We advocate choosing three complementary colors for your room and then designating a primary color for 60% of the space, a secondary color for 30% of the space, and a tertiary color for 10% of the space. 

If you are keeping existing furniture, it will probably need to comprise most of your primary color or a large part of your secondary color. If you’re starting from scratch, you’ll have a little more freedom.

Modern farmhouse is a minimal-ish theme, so you have to make the most of your accessories. Use the colors and textures of your accessories to tie the room together.

If you’re drawn to farmhouse because you love the simplicity of minimalism but you also like the coziness of the farmhouse feel, make sure you keep your space warm. Choose warm neutrals for your colors and add the cozy elements that make a space feel welcoming: a rectangular area rug, a knitted throw, and a simple candle on the cocktail table can work wonders on a cold space.

One of the many advantages of shopping at Baer’s Furniture is that our sales staff is routinely updated on all of the latest design trends. We hire representatives who are passionate about décor, and they are happy to provide advice and direction for your design vision. Shop Baer’s Furniture today!