Primitive Decor

There’s a new trend rising in home decor. It’s called primitive decor and it’s hot on the heels of a shabby and chic, mixed with country style.

What’s Primitive Decorating?

Primitive decor is however you define it. The rules aren’t set in stone. Take some rustic pieces, some old-world paint colors, a bit of crackled varnish or aged wood, and add your own tastes and flair to the mix.

It’s a personal style, blended with antiques (cherished or abused).

You can even mix in old and battered furniture with some of the new high-tech decor pieces. The only real trick to making that blend work visually is a unifying theme. This could be as simple as a collection of artifacts scattered around your room.

For instance, imagine a deep and muted sage green living room with old tapestry footstools, a new taupe leather couch and antique bookcases and side tables. This is your ‘garden inspired room’. You could tie these new and old pieces together with vintage botanical prints on the walls, nostalgic seed packet pillows, or a collection of decorative, rustic bird houses scattered throughout the room.

The concept behind mixing old with new for a primitive look is to simply choose a theme. Make it personal. It could be angels, it could be gardening. Perhaps roosters are your passion? Or wild birds (my favorite).

Have a browse around the site and explore some of my favorite off site links. I’ll bet that within the next 20 minutes you’ll have some inspired ideas to work from.

Laura Childs

p.s. Don’t forget your lighting! Far too often we overlook this when decorating. The right light fixture can take a room that seems hopeless and turn it into a divinely decorated family hang-out.

Primitive rug hooking hand-dyed wool - butterscotch!