I am just thankful my own personal style, "modern funeral parlor", has yet to take off for I like my decor to be off trend ;).

Wait: I thought it was modern farmhouse, no?

It is really important to find a decorating style that suits your home and your lifestyle. I can see young people seeking to "find" their style, but change for the sake of change is not something I can relate to.

I'm still struggling to understand what is meant by any style with "farmhouse" in the name. (Don't try to explain; many others have already tried and though I feel like I understand it in the moment, the next time it comes up I'm back to square one. Kind of like remembering what all the three-letter acronyms at work stand for; people explain but it just doesn't stick.)

I always chuckle when I hear "Farmhouse style."

All the farmhouses I have ever been in were nothing in the style that people are trying to achieve now.

My Grandparents' farm house had gorgeous wood floors in every room but the kitchen. Green linoleum tiled floor in the kitchen. (probably asbestos filled too) Plywood cabinets and a big ol' wood cookstove that I'd love to have. And when it was calving time, the kitchen was usually accented with a baby calf too.

The kitchen table had a big tea towel that covered the breakfast leftovers, biscuits, bacon or sausage. Butter & jelly sat out on there as well. All day. Probably all night too. (amazingly - no one died of food poisoning) The tea towel was to keep the flies off.

About the only "industrial" thing in the house was the slop bucket by the corner of the stove.

As far as "modern" for Granny it meant, the big wood cook stove (that also heated the house -winter as well as summer.) Sometime in the 1960's she got an electric range and then went thoroughly modern in the 1980's when she got a microwave!

"Industrial farmhouse"? Okay, I see chicken factories out there on the horizon, Tyson, Perdue... Is this for a home to live in? Or for 3000 different chicken bits from at least 1000 chickens, in one chicken burger?

My grandparents' farmhouse was a custom built MCM ranch--we still have grandma's notebook full of AD clippings.

Yes I was just thinking about what's popular today vs. 10 years ago. I'd imagine those wanting the trendy look of today in a few years will laugh and wonder what they were thinking. I sure did that. My style is still somewhat changing but there are certain things, whether they're popular or not, that I KNOW that I like. Actually, I'd prefer those things not become popular. I wonder what everyone who doesn't live in a barn is going to do with barn doors.

None of the farmhouse style interiors look anything like the farmhouse that I grew up in, but they do remind me of our barns and outbuildings, such as sheds and chicken coops.

I've always hated barns (partly because I had to milk cows) and don't like to be reminded of them. I also had to throw corn to the pigs from the corn bin, which often had rats and snakes. My father wanted me to shuck the corn before throwing it into the pig pens, but I felt the pigs could do that more easily themselves, and so I never did.

Barns in central Texas may be more primitive than those in the northeast, however.

I grew up on a farm in a mid-century house that my mom had decorated in typical mid-century colonial style-hammered copper pulls, a copper lantern-style fixture over the dining table, copper-colored Frigidaire range (detecting a theme?). Everything was copper and olive green. The dining table and chairs came from second-hand shops and the chairs were similar styles but didn't match, though Mom "antiqued" everything with an olive green finish.

Probably why I struggle with "farmhouse" as a style.

"Wait: I thought it was modern farmhouse, no?"

That was last week. At least it's not 'primitive' farmhouse, then the worst of the distressed look would come roaring back, if only for a few days.

Lars has a good point. Many of the farmy things being used as decor are inspired by the dirty and less pleasant parts of a farm--not the house where one would actually LIVE.

Industrial predates farmhouse and it seems to have waned. I think that style grew out of steam punk, so it's several years old. RH popularized industrial.

I see much of farmhouse as similar to "contemporary cape cod".

I'm struggling because my house has a similar farmhouse house look with the wood siding, white seems to be the best color for it, then I see it as trendy on this forum and I freeze. I removed old bifold doors to my office, my designer suggested a barn door, again I freeze, I don't like barn doors but they do make the most sense. So I'm contemplating it. I don't want trendy, but I want to go with the style my house dictates. I just moved from a mandatory all white house city, now I'm considering a white house, well at least none of my neighbors have a white house. My designer keeps saying white is timeless, yes it is kinda.

I laugh when people want to make a house something it is not. You can't make a tutor house into a MCM, etc. You have to have the house speak to you on how it wants to be decorated. Personally I like coastal, but live 8 hrs away from any beach. My house 70s quad level would look stupid silly with coastal decor. But what I can do is use coastal colors in my house.

My daughter informed me that my kitchen is a bit "farmhousey". She prefers "industrial". I just (quietly) roll my eyes lol.

"vernacular modern"? seems a little less theme park - a contemporary reinterpretation of traditional regional architecture (i.e. farmhouse). The execution of that concept is what works or doesn't....just my random thoughts

Sadly it seems like whatever is the current popular HGTV show dictates the style everyone seems to emulate. And suddenly that's all you can find in stores and every local remodel flip looks to impersonate the design. Oh well, it will pass and something else will be in style.

It's the same thing with fashion. We have threads all the time in conversations from people trying to find stylish clothes. I don't think there is anything wrong with trying to make your home stylish too.

The big problem with chasing home styles is that it can get very expensive. And you can't put your gray stained wood look tile floors in the closet and then drag them to the Goodwill when you get tired of the look.

i thought it was "urban farmhouse?" Now there's an oxymoron...

I think the current "farmhouse" trend is due to Fixer Upper. Maybe the next big (HG)TV show will be different, as in traditional. Please bring back Joe Ruggiero, Lynette Jennings, more Sarah and Tommy, or a Designer Guys style show. There was a show called Beautiful Homes. They should do a Throwback Thursday line up.

Welp, here's a link to Pottery Barn's definition of 'industrial farmhouse.' When you google it, it seems like it's unfinished wood with rusted metal. Industrial Farmhouse definition

I'm with you Allison. I loved Candice Olson's decorating style. She would explain what she did and why it works.

Just had a conversation with my contractor the other day — I said I wanted bead board wainscoting in the bathroom — he said, wait, do you want bead board or shiplap? Aaagghhhhh. Joanna Gaines has even gotten to him!

Oh Sue, the thought of your new house with shiplap made me grimace. Keep a close eye on that guy :)

I've lived in a postandbeam house for 30 years which was built in 1972. I have lived through it being disparaged as a form of construction and it being sought after by purchasers for which they were prepared to pay a premium. I'm a firm believer in the word eclectic for my interior decorating style.

Here are samples of the furniture we had in the 1950s that my mother bought in San Antonio:

The sofa (which my mother called a divan) would make into a bed like thisIt came with tables
We had the coffee table and two side tables. I did not like the steer stitched into the back when I was a small child. My bedroom in the 1950s had wallpaper with cowboys riding broncos on it (which I hated) and I had a chenille bedspread with a cowboy riding a bronco, and I could not wait to change that.

I grew up 27 miles south of Joanna Gaines and had some pretty bad experiences in Waco. My mother did a lot of furniture shopping in San Antonio because it was fairly close and had better highways than Dallas, but the styles were very rustic - much like what you would find in Fort Worth. I did not like the Cowtown look, and I did not wear blue jeans as a child - I always wore slacks to school, even elementary school.

Looking at Lar's mother's furniture, I am reminded of the scene from When harry Meet Sally

I live on a house on a farm (with a husband, 2 or 3 kids depending on the time of year, several hundred head of cattle, 100 chickens, and several dozen sheep) and I'm thoroughly confused by modern industrial coastal rustic urban steampunk farmhouse.

Actually, I'm living in one house and finishing up another so we can move in soon; neither one has shiplap, bead board, barn doors, and NO unfinished wood or rusted metal is allowed indoors. I do like easy care finishes, so we have vinyl plank flooring throughout (not grey or whitewashed, just a nice medium brown), and where we live in rural western Canada, it can be hard to access certain brands and items, so it helps if what I want is available at (sigh) Rona, Home Hardware, Canadian Tire, Ikea, Wayfair Canada, Home Depot, and Lowes. What is available locally at places like the Brick (and at Sears Canada before it died) is dreadful. At this point I could get an Olympic medal in online shopping lol. And we have hard water, so there's no point in spending oodles of money of fancy sinks or faucets. I have no access to reupholsterers, curtain hangers, curtain makers, etc. talented or otherwise. If someone around Edmonton would like to prove me wrong, please please please contact me : ) .

We also have what's known locally as "peasant TV" -- an antenna on the roof that gives us access to two channels (if the wind isn't blowing too hard!), CTV and Global, so no ready access to Joanna Gaines and her Fixer Uppering. But we can get "Escape to the Country" on CBC online so I'm happy.

I have to give a shoutout to Costco Canada for the reasonably priced hardwired towel warmers I found several years ago, after we returned from a holiday in France. My husband thought it would be a great idea in the house, which we had just started building. If there's anything cold, tired farmers like, it's warm towels : ) .

And we're not even Costco members, because we don't make it to the big city often enough.

I actually have a friend who lives in Edmonton.

Louise, if your friend has a way with pretty fabric and doesn't charge too much, I would be happy to get name, number, etc.! I'm pretty sure I'm contactable via GW.

For many people, consumerism replaced personal style long ago.

I think people develop a personal style based on what they’re exposed to. They either grow up in stylish homes, have an interest in reading books on decor and shelter magazines, or study lots of online design photos and blogs. If the only exposure someone has to design and decor is on tv or what is on the showroom floor in moderately priced furniture stores, that’s where their influences are going to come from. Doesn’t make them bad people, just uninformed about design options. Everyone is good at something, most people are not good at everything.

Saypoint, people used to try to educate themselves but no one has the time or chooses to make time. They just want what their neighbor has.