Meanwhile, the appropriation of industrial elements in residential and hospitality interior design was gaining popularity. O’Brien called the effect “warm modernism,” as if the home-y accents were warming up a fundamentally modern scene, but you could also argue that it was more “modern traditional,” with the modern accents bringing the traditional decor into the present, the same way that “modern farmhouse” updates the traditional farmhouse look today. An actual centuries-old schoolhouse, graced with the wide-planked floors so beloved by modern farmhouse fans, the house is filled with a modern farmhouse mix of furnishings, like 1930s aluminum chairs paired with more traditional slat-backed mahogany ones. Decorator Thomas O’Brien’s Long Island home is another early example of the emerging “modern farmhouse” style. Looking at Carter’s home, you can see many of the hallmarks of the “modern farmhouse” style: white walls, old furniture, and a somewhat sparse feeling. The home was an instant sensation that let him quit his day job and start his design firm, now part of the Architectural Digest 100. In 1997, years before a casting agent discovered Joanna Gaines through a 2012 blog post on, Darryl Carter was a Washington, D.C.-area lawyer with a passion for decorating when his home landed on the cover of Metropolitan Home magazine. Plus, the style itself was cheap and DIY-able: You could paint things white and nail up shiplap yourself.įollowing Ashwell, there were many decorators who played with this mix of a country look (rustic wood, humble antiques, and simple silhouettes) paired with “modern” furnishings and accessories, whether they were actual midcentury modern pieces or those with the clean lines that we call “modern” - a combination that was even a little daring. The look of the modern farmhouse style harkened back to a simpler, humbler ambition of homeownership. This time, instead of being a reaction to ’80s excess, the trend was a response to the flipper mentality of pre-crash America, which saw home renovation as a guaranteed gold mine. Green’s observation about the timing of shabby chic’s rise could just as easily be applied to the rise of modern farmhouse following the crash of 2008.
#JOANNA GAINES MODERN FARMHOUSE LIVING ROOM FULL#
Ashwell intuitively positioned herself in opposition to the buttoned-up decorating styles associated with the financial excesses of the 1980s and the subsequent recession, which was soon to be in full bloom.” Writing in the New York Times, Penelope Green explained how the look spoke to the country’s economic outlook at the time: “Ms. Shabby chic’s rise corresponded to the beginning of a recession in the late 1980s. While the shabby chic look was more feminine than modern farmhouse, the two share several traits, including distressed woods, a whitewashed palette, and vintage everything.
Google tracks the use of the phrase “modern farmhouse” as nearly nonexistent from 2004 (when the search engine began tracking phrases) to 2015, with a sharp climb beginning in 2016 and continuing upward and upward with each passing month.īefore there was “modern farmhouse,” there was “shabby chic.” Founded in 1989 by Rachel Ashwell, Shabby Chic started out as a shop in Santa Monica filled with vintage furniture, a sea of white slipcovers, and accents of floral chintz.
The New York Times first used the phrase “modern farmhouse” in an October 2016 article describing the work of the Jersey Ice Cream Co., an interior-design firm that gained attention in the early 2010s for home makeovers that layer in reclaimed wood, antique finds, and farmhouse sinks. What is surprising is that such a readily recognizable look is just a few years old.
The look is so predictable, it’s formulaic. A few vintage accessories, an apron sink, and some barn-style lighting? Check, check, check.
White walls and wide planked floors? Check, check. A decade ago the phrase “modern farmhouse” would perhaps have referred to a newly built actual farmhouse, but today it conjures a checklist of decor elements that add up to something a little bit country, a little bit industrial, and a whole lot of white paint.
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