American Country Style

It takes a while to arrive, following a narrow country road that bends past fields and stone walls, easing you into a slower rhythm as much as a different place. When you pause at a roadside market or an old filling station, even the details feel familiar and enduring—weathered signage, hand-painted lettering, pumps or counters that look as though they have been there for decades.

Along the way, clapboard barns sit low against the land, silos and water towers rising gently above them, softened by age and use. There is the distinct sense that life here has changed gradually, shaped more by season and necessity than by fashion, and that the landscape itself still sets the pace.

American Country style lingers most comfortably on small farms, in village houses, and in quiet rural retreats. It lives in the plainspoken grace of a country town, in the wide porches and worn thresholds of a century-old inn, and in interiors shaped by hand, habit, and purpose rather than display.

Whether you imagine yourself putting up preserves on a cast-iron stove, folding laundry beside an open window, or sipping a highball in a knotty-pine sitting room, American Country design is always about ease. It favors honest materials, familiar forms, and the kind of natural beauty that invites you to stay awhile—unpretentious, welcoming, and deeply rooted.

Woodwork is a good place to begin. Walls and floors of warm, plain pine boards, unfinished for a true pioneer look or stained for a more refined feeling, provide a backdrop for whatever homespun furnishings and accessories catch your fancy.

Practical items like old-fashioned cookware, rag rugs and antique quilts are both beautiful and useful. Old farm and household implements have a unique beauty, like the horse-drawn plow. A butter churn, a grain mill, an antique meat grinder, and, of course, a copper kettle are all good accent choices. Restored vintage ranges and refrigerators have become more easily available in recent years, and nothing says country like a cast-iron potbelly heating stove.

If you’re looking more for a turn-of-the-century “Great Camp” and less for a pioneer homestead, try antlers above a stone fireplace, knotty pine paneling, and (for the unsqueamish) hunting trophies and motifs.

A generous portion of luxury is appropriate: exquisite lace curtains, a beautifully restored old upright piano for evening sing-along. Don’t forget cozy nooks with leather armchairs in which to curl up with a book, and, if space permits, multiple fireplaces. And bearskin rugs may have fallen out of favor, but plush carpets scattered across wood or stone floors will keep out the chill mountain air.

In the English countryside, pretty villages dot rolling hills and cobblestones line narrow medieval streets. Come in through the garden gate, and you'll find a steep thatched roof overhanging ancient leaded glass windows. Old garden roses creep around the carved oak door. The grounds, whether a picturesque cottage garden or the rolling parkland of the local manor house, are lovingly cared for. Everything is fresh, tidy, and welcoming.

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The charm of painted scrolls on ceiling beams needs no introduction. This decorative accent is a delightful addition to any room. And though beams are common elements in many interiors, rarely do we see them used as a focal point for decorative applications. Whether you enjoy the old world charm of Italy, or the contemporary flair of a San Francisco loft space, these techniques can be adapted to suit the most creative inspiration.

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