First Home

[SouthernBelle]

Hi All, I am soon to start building my first home - and the inside look and feel I'd like to give it is American Rustic/Country.

Can anyone point me toward some sites or ideas? I'd like the house to feel homey and not like a sterile museum!

[Zuzu's Garden]

Welcome SouthernBelle!

There are a couple of websites that came to mind when I read your post. You might enjoy visiting Cabela's (http://www.cabelas.com/cabelas/en/templates/category/category.jsp?id=cat20656&cmCat=MainCatcat20656&navAction=jump&cm_re=LeftNav*HomeCabin*122508) and Lehman's (http://www.lehmans.com/) for ideas.

And, once RoseMary reads your post, I bet she can point you in the right direction!

:)
Zuzu

[Lisa S]

Welcome! Garage and estate sales are a great way to furnish a home for an American Rustic or Country feel.

[SouthernBelle]

Im really torn. People keep telling me to build a big house...but I dont think I'd care if it were small and cosy....think Melanie and Jake house in Sweet Home Alabama

[Lisa S]

Honestly, I can't see an up side to building a big house. It's more to clean and more to furnish. I would much prefer a smaller home with more money spent on quality finish work.

Think about how you will live in your home. What do you want to have? What do you need to have? As a family of six, we really need to have a family room in addition to a living room and lots of cozy corners in which to read or play a game. I'm not a big fan of cooking, so I don't have a very big kitchen. We live in an area that is rainy and chilly in the winter, so a fireplace is very important. Our mud room is important too!

[SouthernBelle]

Well its just me at the moment. No kids. No husband. No prospects!

Having said that, I still want 3 bedrooms (for when my nephews come visit) and a seperate living forma; living room.

[Lisa S]

Is a screened in porch "a nice to have" in your area? If you plan to have guests, you'll want a few bathrooms.

I plan to have a bunk room when we finish our vacation house. Would that be nice for your nephews too? I've run across some great pictures of built in bunks over the years. Talk about inspirational!

[RoseMary]

Those are great sites that Zu recommended. They should give you a lot of ideas.

My main 'sites' are mostly the Goodwill and flea markets, though:D. My house is fairly plain and rustic~but not in a really woodsy sort of way. No bear or moose type decorations--just a plain country home.

[SouthernBelle]

Is a screened in porch "a nice to have" in your area? If you plan to have guests, you'll want a few bathrooms.

I plan to have a bunk room when we finish our vacation house. Would that be nice for your nephews too? I've run across some great pictures of built in bunks over the years. Talk about inspirational!

On those hot days it will....the sun sets at the front of the block!!

But yes: these are my "wish list requirements"

3 bedrooms
separate formal lounge
kitchen/dinging/living
ensuite
bathroom
laundry

[Zuzu's Garden]

I think "American Rustic/Country" has as many different decorating styles as "Cottage". When I think of American Rustic/Country, I think quilts, woodstove or fireplace, willow or pine furniture, tin accents, darker colors, and wood paneling.

How do you define American Rustic/Country, SouthernBelle?

Zuzu

[SouthernBelle]

I think "American Rustic/Country" has as many different decorating styles as "Cottage". When I think of American Rustic/Country, I think quilts, woodstove or fireplace, willow or pine furniture, tin accents, darker colors, and wood paneling.

How do you define American Rustic/Country, SouthernBelle?

Zuzu

Bear with me on this I am still new at all this!

I make patchwork quilts - so I guess I'd like a house that looked homey and country. Like it belonged in the south!

Im actually form Australia, but I love the American country home look.

[RoseMary]

Quilts and baskets are just perfect for the American country look! I used to piece tops all the time, but haven't for the past year or so. I'd love to see some of your quilts, SouthernBelle.

I love to decorate with baskets. They are especially useful in a small home~instant extra storage space.

Our floors are pine boards and I sometimes use small throw rugs. I love large braided and rag rugs. I'd like one in my living room, but I'm afraid my cat would tear it up. My grandma used to crochet rag rugs~I wish she had taught me how!

[LindaLK]

Hi Southern Belle, :)


Exposed wooden beams are in most older homes here in New England. Wide wood floor boards. I agree, a fireplace is a plus. I have one, and wouldn`t live with out one. I also love claw foot bath tubs. Tin ceilings and or back splashes. Farm house sinks. Exterior shutters. Give me something old over something new any day.


You could try looking at ``This Old House, or ``Old House Journal.`` They both have a web~site, as well as, a magazine. ``Country Sampler`` also has a magazine and a web~site. Your other source would be to do a Google search.


Have a good day.



Hugs,
Linda :)

[WannaBHomemaker]

SouthernBelle, I live in TX so I know about country houses! Like Linda said, exposed wood beams, even if they're not the actual weight bearing ones. and like RoseMary mentioned, wood floors. Barn Red, Country Blue, and Cream colors. real wood furniture, barnwood furniture is popular here but that may be too rustic for you. My coffee table is an old wooden door cut in half and table legs nailed to it. The paint is peeling off and I love it! My parents stained their own baseboards and crown molding and it really helped the house look country. White stone is really popular for fireplaces and exterior accents down here. Stained concrete floors throughout. Can even do stained concrete counters. I subscribe to Country Living magazine. ... I don't know, maybe that gives you some ideas.

[chyna]

Guess it depends on the country you are going for too. Here it wouldn't be white stone but more than likely river rock or sandstone for the fireplace, pine floors or even oak and more nature inspired colors like greens, browns, sky blue (darker version), that sort of thing and depending on if you've lived here your whole life or not maybe some Native American stuff. And of course a saddle mounted on the walls along with dead animals. About half of that stuff I can handle. Dead animals aren't one of them. :o:eek:

[LindaLK]

Hello Everyone, :)


I for one, never quite understood the joy, and feelings of great accomplishment, of killing a defensless animal with a gun or bow and arrow. Then mounting its head on your wall! :eek:


Have a good day everyone.




Hugs,
Linda :)

[chyna]

Me neither and they are so creeping when you watch the tv in the dark! I babysat for a couple who had head upon head mounted on the wall next to their tv. I hated going over there in the night time!!!

That was one of the things I told my dh when we were setting up house and talking about our first home together. Absolutely positively no heads on the walls, nor just the horns. I'm about as anti-hunting lodge as they get. :o worked at a summer camp for a rich family that did the whole hunting lodge motif inthe main lodge. Add vacuuming buffalo hide rugs to that list as well as chandeliers made from antlers. We don't even have antlers around our mountainman rendezvous site. Come to think of it I don't have skulls either. Guess the rules apply there too. :o

[CohenCottage]

I love wood floors, exposed beams, farm sinks, tin ceilings/backspashes, etc., but dead animals freak me out way less than country blue and "country" knick-knacks!! I think I was scarred in childhood by mauve/blue and country "accents"...

[Breezy]

I'm with you Linda & Tanya ~ no once living animals on these walls ever ~ I don't know why people call killing animals a sport ~ it would possibly be sporting if the animal also had a gun;)

ps~ killing for food is one thing but killing for the fun of it is wrong & I don't get how killing animals could be fun anyway













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[Gigi]

Hi Southern Belle & everyone else...

You make quilts??? Oh that's sounds so cozy and beautiful- I would center (especially the bedrooms) around the colors of your fav quilts...

I hope you can post a pic or two of them! I have never quilted and admire those creations so much...

[chyna]

Your country blue and mauve is probably like my barnwood and browns aversion. I do think the wall of barnwood with the faux door is nifty but talk about a hassle to dust. And my mom rarely did that, I'd get sick of the dusty barnwood and would have to pull out the vac with the brush attachment and go to work on that thing. Let's just say I'll do logs in my house but old barnwood? Never!!! Like the lichen covered sandstone. Not happening.

[rubyslippers]

Well, I just moved into my first home over the holidays. I am living in a war-time cottage - - two bedrooms / one bathroom / sunroom - - the floorplan is very interesting. Other than a unique foyer, the house pretty much opens into the kitchen. (At first this was odd to me, then I realized that lots of times garages open into kitchens anyway, but in my cottage I just walk in the front door.) It is very cozy and immediately welcoming. We happen to have exposed brick that was painted white long ago as well as built in bookshelves. We did a historically-accurate refinish for the 2 1/4 pine floors - - I'll post about this if anyone is interested later and more or less just moved everything in the house. I don't make quilts, but I have been given a few over the years. With that said, I have an aversion to the "country-country" look. Some vibrant rugs from Anthropologie paired with furniture from my grandmother, from my childhood, from thrift stores, and things I have painted and added new hardware to adorn my home. I don't shy away from eclectic framed posters (right now I have one in a red frame with a famous LIFE photograph of Route 66 over my fireplace) - - the red worked for the holidays - - I'm sure it will rotate regularly. My house is pretty small. With that said, if I had another bathroom or a third bedroom I might never move away. I feel quite at peace here with my husband and our cat. (Oh yes, I also have BRIGHT RED countertops in my kitchen and lost of blue furniture that I have thrown together in a French Provencal kind of way.) Don't forget that French Country can have its place in a "American" Country. This is one of my favorite ways of figuring out what colors can go together. French Country is very bold - - just visit Williams-Sonoma's website and check out their table linens - - it is kind of crazy, but those fabrics make great jumping off points for nifty color schemes. Anyway, please keep us posted as you make choices. We love to help with this stuff - - I'm processing the tin backsplash idea myself, but I thing subway tile might be more historically accurate. No matter what, a quality job with the elements you love will bring together a cohesive whole.

Bye,

Rubyslippers

[puck]

Rubyslippers -

French Country? The best blog for that hands down, is Cote De Texas. Tell her "cottage of stone" sent you her way.

cotedetexas.blogspot.com