Rustic… What kind of rustic? About rustic interiors…

On websites, blogs, interior design magazines you can read and see rustic interiors. Rustic… what kind of rustic interiors? If an article, a post, a picture in a newspaper has caught your attention and the headline in it had this one foreign word “rustic”, we recommend reading it to the end! There will be a few tidbits about what kind of interiors you might call rustic and what extras you need to add to your rooms, hallways, bathrooms and kitchens for a rustic room effect! Perhaps something will inspire you! Come and read it!

Rustic… what kind of rustic?

First curiosity: where did the name rustic come from?

In the professional language of art historians and architects, the word “rustic” is used. This term means the way a wall is worked. To be more precise, the stone cladding that makes the wall look as if it was old. Rustic wall cladding makes the building look raw. Such cladding has already appeared in Renaissance buildings. They were also called “wild” claddings because the treated face of the wall was supposed to imitate a natural stone crowbar. Strangely enough, this was the way to decorate urban Renaissance and Baroque buildings for private and residential purposes, or public buildings
rustic style is associated with the decor of country cottages and manors

Another interesting fact: what does the word ‘rustic’ mean?

in Latin, “rusticalis”, “ruralis” means rural, peasant
sometimes with a rustic term, someone understands something made by a craftsman, not an object that is a mass-produced product
Rustic interiors are rural in character, which bring to mind the familiar, the countryside, natural simplicity, the population. Rustic interiors are characterized by cosiness.

Rustic interiors

It is a mistake to assume that rustic interiors can only be arranged in the countryside! Even in the middle of the city, in a flat, a rustic effect can be achieved.

Rustic can be:

• Kitchens,
• Dining rooms
• Bathrooms
• Hallway
• Bedroom
• Living room.

Actually all rooms! The opinion that it is necessary to arrange a rustic interior “from scratch” in order to achieve an effect is also untrue. In fact, in many cases, all you need is accessories: small things in the form of objects or fabrics. Properly selected, they can give any interior, be it the kitchen or living room, a rustic character. One of the features of a rustic style is the impression of familiarity and cosiness. The residents and guests in a rustic interior feel the atmosphere of “family warmth”.

What can give your interior a rustic character?

Here are some hints and ideas on what to do, what to buy, what to decide on so that our interiors have this magical “something” that will make us feel idyllic and angelic. The list of ideas will start with more demanding works and financial outlays related to the appearance of the room and will end with trinkets, which can be found in many nearby shops, and even such things that we can simply bring with us from a hike to the forest, or a holiday or weekend trip.

• rustic wall, or a selected part of it
• rustic flooring
• fireplace with elements of wood, stone, brick, with an open heart, with embedded ceramic tiles, can also be stylized or modern cast iron cooker
• beams on the ceiling
• properly arranged lighting
• wooden, stylish furniture
• rustic carpets
• rustic textiles: curtains, macadamias, capes, bedspreads, curtains, tablecloths, etc.
• trinkets and various accessories made of natural materials

Rustic materials

Rustic materials are associated with objects made of:

• stone,
• bricks,
• wood,
• ceramics,
• copper,
• old glass,
• porcelain,
• faience,
• wickerwork,
• stoneware,
• wrought iron
• steel
• linen

Rustic kitchen

A rustic kitchen, as well as other rooms in your house or flat, is relatively easy to arrange. Maybe we don’t necessarily have to brick something out of raw bricks or slate, it’s often just not possible to put a fireplace with a beautiful wooden lintel, a bread oven or an open fireplace that acts as a warm-up for winter evenings, but we can highlight the furniture, the items we use every day in the kitchen and all kinds of accessories to give the kitchen a rustic look. What’s cool about choosing these variations is that they can be from different parts of the world or different eras and will still fit together. Contrary to appearances, a rustic kitchen can be a modern one. We can achieve a rustic atmosphere in the kitchen by combining modern materials with old ones. However, we warn against combining rustic style and glamour in one interior! In a rustic kitchen, you can find raw wall coverings, or its elements, made of wood, brick or sandstone. Kitchens with a tiled cooker or bread oven look great, but you can only think of such a solution in a kitchen located in a detached house. Wooden furniture, not necessarily only raw country benches, crates, tables, but also wooden sideboards with marble countertops, or various types of display cases, hanging cabinets, shelves, hangers or even stylish lamps will also give the interior a rustic atmosphere. Of course, an eye-catching element will be the items “with a soul” chosen by the host. In the kitchen, these can be wooden cutting boards, or wooden plates or bowls. A collection of clay pots, archaic ceramic or porcelain coffee or tea makers, old jars and bottles made of blown glass, faience, often hand-painted plates, bowls or teapots. Wicker baskets, copper pots and textiles. In the former kitchen, hand-embroidered machetes with various inscriptions and pictures of the housewife’s life were used. Such models can be a perfect decoration from the era! They can be matched in terms of colour to the furniture and wall colour. But you can also think of a suitable chair liner – if you also have a place to eat in your dining room. You can also choose a window covering, crocheted curtains, jealousies or tablecloths, or cloths with a local folk pattern. Some people go a step further by equipping their rustic kitchen with retro-style household appliances! Refrigerator, oven, kettle, coffee maker, toaster and other kitchen utensils are offered in this old-fashioned style in many appliance shops.

Rustic rooms

Remember, a rustic style is not the same as a reconstruction of a folk interior! The rooms do not have to have all the rustic style elements described below. Do not use all of the following ideas. Just arrange a bedroom, hallway, living room, dining room, office, or child’s room in a rustic style using one or more rustic elements! Rustic rooms should be simple and climatic at the same time. It’s great if the floor is wooden, or if panels or wood-like tiles are installed on the ground. Rustic style lovers install real or imitating old ceiling beams on the ceiling in country cottages or old Polish manors. In old houses in the countryside on the most important beam, some even buy such a beam from some demolished wooden house or search for it at an auction on the Internet. Not all furniture has to be old or stylized. You can live in a modern way, but in any interior, in your house or flat, you can have one or two pieces of equipment/furniture made of wood. These can be:

• a table,
• chair,
• shelf,
• website,
• wardrobe,
• underwear,
• dressing table
• or a desk.

The specialists in the field of interior design repeat that the most common mistake in rustic interior design is “falling into excess”. An impressive rustic accessory can be a lamp or wall lamps. Various kinds of old or stylized objects and textiles are perfect: curtains, bedspreads, tablecloths, capes, carpets, macramées and machetes. Flax and felt are both raw and at the same time giving the interior a rustic atmosphere. The articles on rustic colours most often mention the sapwood of the walls (formerly the chambers were bleached), the natural shades of wood, but also the vivid colours: red, orange or blue and green.

Holiday climate, countryside climate, wood, forest, peace – we can transfer to our interiors not only by buying specific items. We can also do something rustic ourselves. You will find a lot of excellent “do it yourself” ideas at Pinterest. If you want something unique, follow the online auctions marked “antiques and collections” or go to some local antique exchange. You can also go to some craftsman living in the countryside or look around, for example, during weekend trips or holiday trips to the local artists who sculpt, wicker and ceramics. Sometimes all you need is a grandmother’s vase with flowers collected in the meadow, a bouquet of dried herbs collected during a trip out of town, stones brought from a forest hike.

Nowadays, many interior architects like to use rustic style. It offers many arrangement possibilities combined with the most modern trends in interior design. The rustic style works well in combination with glass, steel, marble and recently more and more fashionable architectural concrete. There is no doubt that between the term “rustic style” and “perfect interior” or “Eco-trend of the 21st century” one can boldly put the “equals” sign. The rustic style is a climatic style, devoid of splendour and artificiality, natural and warm.