Fixer Upper Farmhouse Style – update in just One Room

I  love the new Farmhouse style from the hit show on HGTV.  Well my home is mostly Williamsburg style although I have updated it with paint colors and some other  additions.  I wanted to have the Fixed up look too but – well I can’t have everything and my husband would flip out if I wanted to change all of my traditional furniture that we have worked hard to get.  Well, we decided to go for the look in just one room and we started to redecorate the “Garden Room” which is where my showroom is.  Here are some of the photos.

Alot of the items are things I am selling but if you remember how this room used to look you would see that I took out all of the dark wood stained items (except a few).  I painted some pieces off white or pale blue and went around my house on a scavenger hunt taking everything that was silver, white, grey, black or a shade of bluish grey or greenish grey. See the article on paint colors for more on this: (paint colors for the farm house fixer)

I brought out any kind of wood furniture that I had which was a more natural color – either a light stain or no stain.  If you had a piece of furniture that had finish that was in bad shape you could paint it or you could strip it and get that natural, worn greyish wood look.

There are more ideas for painting furniture here:  How to paint your furniture.  This shelf was decorated with the Vintage Seltzer Bottles ($30 each ), old pewter and old or reproduction salt glazed stoneware.   

I had the old window for years, it had come from my friend Gerry’s house.  I hung  a boxwood wreath on it but I need to get a larger wreath.  But it looks cute.  The shelf has some of the new items I am selling which are ones that the decorators use the farmhouse redecorating tv shows.  I am mainly using the colors white, grey and beige in the room.  I will combine some of the antiques that I always sell with the new neutral look.  Here are the French Flower Buckets. I literally threw some hydrangea stems in there that I had from Michaels.  The shape of the buckets made arranging the flowers almost unnecessary.  I love the new chairs that came!  The fabric is so pretty and the perfect color for my new look.  The shutters were a great find and make a great background for the artwork.  

Again I just threw these flowers into the new metal urn that I am carrying in my new line.  I guess the shape just let the flowers fall naturally and I didn’t have to do any special arranging.

So don’t go crazy because most people have either a traditional home or even a modern Pottery Barn look, but if you try to re decorate just one room you will probably find that you have most of what you need already.  Just go on a scavenger hunt and look for the items in your home that have those cool colors.  You can rearrange everything room to room and get the new look in no time.

Don’t forget to look out in the yard too.  Old cement planters and garden decorations will bring in that weathered grey feel.  Old shutters, architectural features and tools can also help. 

Check the products I have for sale if you need a little touch to add to what you already have.  The fun is in the satisfaction you will get by just repurposing and rearranging what you already own.  Good luck! – Janice  Here is another article with more ideas: 10 Inexpensive ideas to get the Farmhouse Look.