Country style home decor has been a fixture in American culture for centuries. At times, it has been the popular, current look of the American home, which is where the style originated, while more recently it has tended to be used as a more vintage, reminiscent style than a look which is up to date, so to speak. That certainly does not have to be the case, however. With a few small and simple changes, country style home decor can be brought into the twenty-first century.

The great challenge of updating country style home decor is making the necessary changes in such a way that it leaves the basics in tact. After all, if you change the values and principles that are at the core of the country style, then you cannot truly call the result country at all. This is not to say that there is no variety within the country style. In fact, there are an amazing number of different subsets of the country decor, from the basic, frontier image of rustic country to the refined and elegant atmosphere of French country. Understanding these differences is the key to finding the right balance of changes and similarities to update your country look.

Take, for instance, the traditional American country decor. This is probably the best thing to use as a base line of country style home decor. The style is characterized by simplicity, in both the over all design of the objects in the decor, and in the function of everything. Usually, color schemes are light, very often based in a white tone, or sometimes a pale cream or beige. Often, there are some natural elements involved in the decor, such as flowers (or, more often, floral prints.) Compare this to a few other country styles, such as the rustic style. Rustic decor is, indeed, simplistic in form and function. In fact, it is much more so simplistic than the traditional American style. Similarly, the presence of natural elements is much more pronounced in the rustic style, as essentially every piece of furniture in made from wood, most of which is unfinished. However, the coloration in the rustic style is generally quite a bit darker

You can easily adapt your country style home decor by working with different levels of thee three principals. Adding more natural elements with give your decor a more earthy, rustic look. Similarly, more simplicity will make it look more old-fashioned. So, if you want to give your country decor a bit of an update, an excellent method would be to make things a bit more complex and a bit less natural. This does not mean to cut nature altogether or over complicate your decor, by any means, but you should make your natural references a bit less obvious. For instance, work with stone rather than wood or flowers as your basic natural material, such as granite counter tops and the like. Also, try working in a few elements that one normally would not find in a traditional country style home decor.

Copyright Jared Winston, 2006. All Rights Reserved.