Big Shout Out to Architectural Digest for sharing the love ahead of the City Farmhouse Style book release! Read all about it!

3 Brilliant Home Design Ideas from the Cutest Modern Farmhouses

A.k.a. three "Why didn't I think of that?!" moments
TEXT BY
LINDSEY MATHER
Posted August 31, 2017

Vintage store owner and interior designer Kim Leggett muses farmhouse style doesn't fit easily under one label, or even two. (Something, as humans, we can totally empathize with.) "The beauty of farmhouse style is that it recognizes no boundaries. It embraces an eclectic mix of periods and aesthetics, combining the traditional farmhouse of decades ago with modern trends of today," she writes in her new book City Farmhouse Style ($35, Abrams). So, what happens when homeowners throw out the design rulebook? Genius decorating ideas pop up everywhere. A flip through Leggett's book reveals dozens, but here are three of our favorites.

Any wood can make a countertop

Butcher block is great, but so are salvaged joists (they're probably cheaper, too). Ultimately, it's all about how you seal it. According to Leggett, these countertops in the kitchen of a historic cottage in McKinney, Texas, were given a "proper shellacking, in a good way: with a few coats of liquid glass, also known as bar resin, to seal the wood but retain its organic beauty, knots and all."

No headboard, no problem

We've already discussed the fact that it's totally OK to put a bed in front of a window, and upstairs in the same Texas home, a twin bed is purposefully tucked right under a sill of the same width. "Instead of wedging [a headboard] in and blocking out natural light, use the whole window as a clever alternative," writes Leggett.

When it comes to storage, think outside the cabinet

In an 800-square-foot house in Hollywood Hills, the homeowners made the most of every free surface, even vertical ones. They updated their traditional entryway cupboard with a hanging brass mail bag on one side and a hook to hold a tote full of grab-and-go pet supplies on the other.

For more design hacks, snag a copy of City Farmhouse Style, on shelves in September.