Rustic Living Room Ideas, Decor, and Furniture Designs

The general feel in a rustic living room is a cozy vibe, with earth tones decorating the space. Here are the rustic living room ideas that will help transform your space.

Paint Colors and Wall Design Ideas

If you take a look at the pictures in the mood board, most of the rustic living rooms combine stone walls with more simple white/off white walls – just like the living room in picture (1). In my rustic paint post I talked about how white/off white walls are a modern choice for a rustic style room. This is because it is a great contrast and really shows off the the rustic pieces in the room, like exposed beams or a stone feature wall.

One way to create a well designed rustic space, is to make use of a feature wall. This is one wall in the room that has a rustic touch to it, say covered in stone, while all of the other walls are simply plastered and painted. This lets you create a rustic style, but it is toned down. In the living room, this feature wall could be the fire place chimney – as seen in picture (3).

For more ideas on paint colors and textured wall designs have a look at my mood board post here: Rustic Paint Colors and Textured Wall Designs.

Gathering Around the Coffee Table

The coffee table is one of the focal points in the living room (the other one is the seating area). Everything is usually centered around it, so the eye is drawn there first. The coffee table will really help create the style of the whole room.

Most of the living rooms in the mood board have pretty simple coffee tables, usually made out of wood, or are upholstered (with a dark fabric or with leather) and use a wooden tray as a flat surface.

If you need to create a more rustic style here are some other ideas for coffee tables:

Log tables
Reclaimed wood, or wooden chest

All of these ideas can also be used as side tables next to the couch. For more ideas check out my coffee table ideas mood board.

The Seating Area

Seats take up a lot of space in a living room. So the kind and style you get, will play a big role in the look of the room. For rustic living room furniture, the go to choice for seats are upholstered tan or brown ones, or leather sets (5).

The Windows and Ceiling

One good looking rustic design idea, ideal for a living room with white walls, is to use a wooden pole as a curtain rod with black iron brackets. The wooden pole will really stand out from the white walls. For curtain ideas, have a look at my post here: Rustic Window Treatments and Curtain Ideas.

There is not much to say about the ceiling, except that having exposed beams are the best design feature to have in a rustic living space.

Rustic Style Lighting

A rustic living room will have cozy warm lighting. Make use of fire with a fire pit or table lanterns and candles. Ceiling spot lights can be used to point down on any stone walls to highlight them. The style for most rustic light fixtures will be wrought iron. So use wrought iron chandeliers, wall lights, and side table lamps in the living room. For photos, ideas and a mood board, have a look here: Style Guide: Rustic Lighting Fixtures and Ideas.

Rustic Decor and Storage Items

Store firewood out in the open as the wood also acts as rustic living room decor. Some ways to do that include putting them in wicker baskets, wooden crates, or have a recessed wall in the living room where the wood can be stacked up (6).

Some ideas from my rustic storage ideas mood board included: