Decorating
Styling: How to Introduce a Colourful, Folk-inspired Feel to Your Home
The ingredients of a modern, folk-inspired scheme? Colourful textiles, painted furniture, artisan ceramics and a dash of imagination...
Homespun, artisanal, unpretentious, colourful – these are just some of the adjectives that can be applied to folk-inspired style. The folk look shares many of the qualities of vintage style, with its love of upcycled and found objects, but injects a lot more colour. Set against bold paint shades and rich wallpapers are a whole host of hand-stitched, homemade or crafted objects, from chunky ceramics to crocheted blankets, bold floral fabrics to naive art. Mix and match for an eclectic, exciting look that ditches considered minimalism in favour of feeling the folk!
Upcycle colourfully
Painted furniture, cushion covers hand-stitched from fabric remnants or small squares of crochet, a chair reupholstered in a bold shade – these are some of the key ingredients of the folk look.
Explore ways to make a rainbow in your home
Painted furniture, cushion covers hand-stitched from fabric remnants or small squares of crochet, a chair reupholstered in a bold shade – these are some of the key ingredients of the folk look.
Explore ways to make a rainbow in your home
Collect some crochet
Made using a hooked needle, crochet often features a mash-up of clashing colours in a patchwork design. It is central to folk style, but also weaves a little granny chic into a space, bringing the comforting associations of homemade blankets and tea cosies!
Made using a hooked needle, crochet often features a mash-up of clashing colours in a patchwork design. It is central to folk style, but also weaves a little granny chic into a space, bringing the comforting associations of homemade blankets and tea cosies!
Mix up textiles
The folk look is anything but coordinated, so revel in the opportunity to mix up contrasting textiles in different patterns and colours. It’s hard to imagine anything other than a soft, folky scheme up here in this attic bedroom, with its heavy beams – the lush mix of textiles against a soft green backdrop really suits this atmospheric space.
The folk look is anything but coordinated, so revel in the opportunity to mix up contrasting textiles in different patterns and colours. It’s hard to imagine anything other than a soft, folky scheme up here in this attic bedroom, with its heavy beams – the lush mix of textiles against a soft green backdrop really suits this atmospheric space.
Steal from nature
Bring the deep dark woods into your home by peppering it with beasties and trees. Animals, particularly owls, foxes and wolves, often appear in folk-inspired schemes. Trees are another favourite motif, and look especially folky when rendered as bold, slightly abstract designs, as on these curtains.
Bring the deep dark woods into your home by peppering it with beasties and trees. Animals, particularly owls, foxes and wolves, often appear in folk-inspired schemes. Trees are another favourite motif, and look especially folky when rendered as bold, slightly abstract designs, as on these curtains.
Display chunky ceramics
The greens, blues and oranges on chunky, artisan-created ceramics are right up the folky street. Cluster a group of vessels together for maximum homespun style.
Discover more creative ways to style your sideboard
The greens, blues and oranges on chunky, artisan-created ceramics are right up the folky street. Cluster a group of vessels together for maximum homespun style.
Discover more creative ways to style your sideboard
Find the right florals
Choose floral fabrics and papers that tip towards the Eastern European. (Think of a babushka’s headscarf and you’re halfway there…) Avoid anything too pretty, countrified or vintage or, at best, weave those patterns in with bolder, brassier florals.
Choose floral fabrics and papers that tip towards the Eastern European. (Think of a babushka’s headscarf and you’re halfway there…) Avoid anything too pretty, countrified or vintage or, at best, weave those patterns in with bolder, brassier florals.
Select a statement piece
Nod towards folk style with just one or two items for a striking but balanced look. Here, this gorgeous bedspread is brimming with folky feeling, thanks to its lush colours and slightly ethnic pattern. The lamp bases are another folk-inspired ingredient, too (turquoise crops up a lot in the folk palette), but the rest of the room is more neutral to anchor the vibrancy.
Nod towards folk style with just one or two items for a striking but balanced look. Here, this gorgeous bedspread is brimming with folky feeling, thanks to its lush colours and slightly ethnic pattern. The lamp bases are another folk-inspired ingredient, too (turquoise crops up a lot in the folk palette), but the rest of the room is more neutral to anchor the vibrancy.
Create a magical mural
Weave some fairy-tale magic into your home with a huge wall of folk art. This is actually a wallpaper panel, boldly clashed with chequerboard floor tiles.
Weave some fairy-tale magic into your home with a huge wall of folk art. This is actually a wallpaper panel, boldly clashed with chequerboard floor tiles.
Team hot colour and dark wood
Heavy, dark wooden furniture is juxtaposed boldly with colourful wallpaper here. The eye doesn’t quite know what to focus on first – the cabinet, the orange paper or the array of ceramics and paintings displayed on top. This is the point, though – it’s a riotous celebration of materials and colours, from heavy carved wood to brightly painted vases.
Heavy, dark wooden furniture is juxtaposed boldly with colourful wallpaper here. The eye doesn’t quite know what to focus on first – the cabinet, the orange paper or the array of ceramics and paintings displayed on top. This is the point, though – it’s a riotous celebration of materials and colours, from heavy carved wood to brightly painted vases.
Add dolls as details
Russian matryoshka dolls deliver a quick and immediate dose of folk style to almost any scheme. Borrow their bright, saturated colours to use elsewhere, or simply let them stand alone, looking cheery and cute.
TELL US…
Feeling good about the folk look? Share your thoughts in the Comments below.
Russian matryoshka dolls deliver a quick and immediate dose of folk style to almost any scheme. Borrow their bright, saturated colours to use elsewhere, or simply let them stand alone, looking cheery and cute.
TELL US…
Feeling good about the folk look? Share your thoughts in the Comments below.
As well as a look, folk style is a way of living: unpretentious, cosy, welcoming. This lovely window seat captures that feeling. Homemade art and piles of cushions in bright, ethnic patterns create a relaxed space in which to enjoy a library of books, stored casually on shelves either side.