Lucas Roberts
As interior design goes, this look really is in a class of its own: it’s both grand and elegant, yet also cosy and inviting, with an off-hand, effortless charm that make it feel truly timeless. Here, we’ve shared some a few country living room ideas to help you design a stunning space with an authentically rustic English feel.
The rustic look we know and love today is all thanks to Nancy Lancaster, an interior designer, socialite, and ‘tastemaker’ who revolutionised the way that British homes were decorated back in in the 1940s and 50s.
The American-born heiress was the owner of interiors and textile design company Colefax and Fowler, and under her direction the brand would go on to redefine English style. While the Victorian look that came before it was very ordered and stuffy, the country house style that Lancaster pioneered was airy, relaxed, and allowed for a more eclectic and mismatched look. Her aim was to combine comfort with elegance, making rooms feel like ‘lived in’ family homes, rather than chilly museum exhibitions.
She created interiors for the likes of Winston Churchill and the Rothschild family, and many of the rooms she decorated still survive today — a testament to the timelessness of this look. While there’s no magic formula that will create the perfect rustic living space, there are a number of key pieces and accents that are nearly always present in a country-inspired home.
If you’re lucky enough to have original floorboards, don’t cover them up with wall-to-wall carpeting, as these can be a lovely feature in a country style living room.
Lighter, airy shades can also work well, particularly if you’d like to make your space to look a bit larger: think off-whites and creams, as these have a more homely feel than pure whites. You could even take inspiration from one of Nancy Lancaster’s most famous living spaces: the yellow drawing room at Avery Row in Mayfair. With its instantly recognisably tufted buttons, rolled armrests, and low back, this design classic is the ideal centrepiece for your country living room.
So, pair your sofa with a wing back armchair in a contrasting fabric or leather for an authentically mismatched, welcoming country feel. One of Lancaster’s rules was that you should always try to put something ‘ugly’ in your rustic living room to highlight the beauty of the other pieces around it and to stop the whole thing from being too curated and formal.
Old vintage pieces, like typewriters, telephones, and wire baskets, are ideal for this: you could even try using an old leather trunk in place of coffee table. Natural hair-on hide rugs always add a rustic sense of character to your space, and they prevent your living room from looking too twee or chintzy. Exposed brickwork around chimneys will instantly add that country cottage feel, while stone flags, fireplaces, and mantlepieces are all typical features in an English manor house.
