9 Ways You Can Give Your Bathroom Decor a Farmhouse Look

Adding rural charm has long been a popular way to spruce up the home, and the farmhouse style is good at delivering that. If you want a trendy blend of modern simplicity and western charm, look no further. There’s something so relaxed about a farmhouse-style interior and its neutral color palette. 

This design style is famous for how it tastefully infuses a rustic feel into everything from your furniture to your appliances. It can even be vintage-focused with country-style elements such as cast iron trim, big wooden doors, and solid vintage furniture. The farmhouse design language is quite popular in bathroom remodels because it can take even a small cramped space and make it feel warm and inviting. 

The farmhouse look is derived from the classic farmhouses that once dotted the European countryside. This design style was brought to America thanks to a major influx of European migrants beginning in the eighteenth century. In the centuries since the style has evolved and developed a distinct flavor. After all, modern farmhouse-style homes are unlikely to contain any farm animals, and mostly populate the hills of suburbia rather than those of the agricultural hinterland. Nevertheless, the basic elements of the European farmhouses of old remain. 

Things to Consider 

Before you decide to bring this distinct design style to your bathroom, there are some details to consider. 

Why Have a Bathroom Style? 

Let’s face it, our bathrooms tend not to be that nice. They can often merely be the small room of necessity that we don’t prioritize making aesthetically pleasing. It is also not uncommon to find tacky decor or mismatched fixtures in a powder room that just happened to be available and are mosaicked together without much harmony. Fortunately, there are plenty of small ways to spruce things up in the water closet that can measurably improve things without a full bathroom remodel. 

As with many things in life, all you have to do is focus on the little things, and style is one of those small details. A style can go a long way towards making your water closet a nicer, airier, brighter, and cozier place to be. Given that we regularly use bathrooms, investing in making them nicer places to spend time seems worthwhile, especially when you consider just how much you can improve things with just a few cosmetic changes.    

What to Change In Your Bathroom for the Farmhouse Look

Making Your Bathroom a Better Place to Be

There are a few things to ask yourself before going full steam into converting your bathroom to the farmhouse style. The layout is the first thing to think about. Namely, consider what your daily bathroom routine is and how your current layout helps (or doesn’t help) make that routine easier. 

Also, think about how things can be modified to reflect the aesthetic you are going for. In other words, what can be changed most easily so that it is more farmhouse? The farmhouse aesthetic works better in an airy space, so consider what changes you can make to open your little powder room up more. 

Most designs work better when there is a generous amount of lighting, and a modern farmhouse bathroom is no exception. Are there any solutions for bringing natural light in with skylights or windows? If not, are there some areas that could benefit from some LED lighting fixtures? 

Questions to Ask Yourself Before Transforming Your Bathroom Design

Farmhouse Bathroom Design Ideas 

There are many countless farmhouse bathroom ideas out there that are easy to realize and irresistibly rustic-chic.

Sleek Modern Farmhouse Powder Room

A modern farmhouse design is quite flexible and can interact with lots of different motifs, making it a great direction to take for those that want something that stands out but is also easy on the eyes. Feel free to add color to your bathroom in the form of dark colors for tiles, floating vanities, and neutral colors for walls and backsplashes. This combination of the old wood motifs with newer modernist ones can really add sparkle and personality to your bathroom.

Subtle Decor and Interior Design Choices for a Chic Farmhouse Bathroom

Rustic Style Wood Bathroom

Wood is the key to the farmhouse interior design style, so be sure to be generous with using it. Add wood siding to bathrooms, wood trim to mirrors, wood on vanities, and wood floating shelves for starters. You can also add even more wood in the form of engineered hardwood if you’re ok with dealing with wood floor maintenance. If you want to max out on wood, top your farmhouse water closet off with some neat decor items made of wood. These can be things such as handcrafted wooden soap dishes, wood frames for mirrors, wood coat hangers, and the like.  

You Can Have a Wood Theme Without It Being Overbearing

The Chic Country Bathroom 

If you want to go back to the roots of the design style, a country-style bathroom just might be the best thing. The country design style is also about going all out with wooden fixtures and decor, but it emphasizes a more ‘vintage’ look. What that translates to is modern farmhouse bathroom decor made of reclaimed wood. The distressed look of reclaimed wood can add a lot of dimension and texture to your farmhouse bathroom since every piece of wood has its history etched in it for all to see.   

How A Farmhouse Design Can Look Elegant As Well

All White and Shiplap for Retro Warmth

This is one of the great power couples of the modern farmhouse style: shiplap bath caddy and white tiles. They just work so well together, with each material playing off their differences as well as accentuating each other’s qualities. Use these materials as wall paneling for a truly iconic and distinctive look that’s both old-school yet sleek and modern. 

All White Bathroom and Shiplap Accents for Retro Warmth

Boho Inspired Bathroom Decor 

The eclectic nature of Boho style jives quite well with the rustic character of farmhouse design. You might think that these two styles would clash chaotically, but they actually work quite well together to make a space feel warm and welcoming. If you’ve ever been in one of those homely vintage pharmacies that still serves milkshakes and root beer floats, you know exactly what warm fuzzy feeling this aesthetic can produce. 

Bohemian Decor Is the Harmonious Pairing for a Farmhouse Vibe

Go With White 

If you want to go for a more conservative look, keep the wood, but take out the colors and replace them with whites and neutral off-white shades. This makes for a subtle space that is relaxing to the eye and while allowing for plenty of light to permeate the area. To keep the space from being sterile, add some plants for more dimension. Also, you can offset these whites with some hints of browns and bronzes. A good place for those offset colors can be mirror frames, backsplashes, and other trim. 

White Is the Perfect Palette for Farmhouse Style Decor Items

Concrete Farmhouse Bathroom

A bathroom vanity also has a lot of possibilities for customization. The top is one of the components that can be made from a variety of materials, including natural stone, stainless steel, and concrete. For the farmhouse style, a dark-colored granite top works quite well, but concrete is another interesting choice if you want to go more in a minimalist direction. 

Concrete Bathroom Vanity Tops for a Modern Farmhouse Style

Sliding Barn Door 

This is one detail that can make the entire design style. A farmhouse bathroom won’t be all that authentic if it’s hidden behind a standard bathroom door, so why not upgrade to something more substantial? A sliding barn door is typically a big, heavy, solid oak affair with cast-iron rails and rollers and cast iron handles. It is the perfect embodiment of what the farmhouse style is supposed to be: something that’s durable, feels like it was made by a farmer, and is heavy and substantial.  

Nothing Says Farmhouse More than A Sliding Door Bathroom

Mason Jar Decor In the Water Closet

This can seem like more of a bandwagon trend, but mason jars can help to add to the authentic farmhouse feel. They can be used in plenty of different ways as farmhouse bathroom decor. Mason jars can be filled with q-tips, or can even be used as charming pots for small plants. They can also, however, be used as hoods for vanity lights and other eclectic light fixtures. If you want to lean hard into the vintage look, few light fixtures come close to giving you the same look as mason jars do.  

Different Ways You Can Use Mason Jars for Farmhouse Bathroom Decor