If you’re looking mournfully at your high-gloss, boom-era kitchen and yearning for hand-painted pastel cabinets — yet you’re still unwilling to part with your Eames dining chairs — you’re bang on trend.
The future isn’t orange lacquer, nor is it chintz overload: it is the best of both worlds. Designers are calling it "contemporary country picture". It mixes the charm of the farmhouse with raw, modernist trimmings.
Think a weathered dining table with bright, sleek accessories or a wrought-iron bed dressed in zany fabric. This look is not a mere trend — it’s a key new direction for modern homes, whether you’re a country or a city mouse.
So don’t throw away the skinny leather sofa, just throw a cosy floral knit across its back.
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To achieve the look, start with a modernist base and country it up a bit with florals, textures, hand-painted furniture and the odd older piece.
If you are buying for a country-style home, add a few starkly modernist accessories and fabrics — even if your gut says they just won’t go. The generic showhouse style is over. Take a few risks, go out on a limb: your home will thank you for it, and you shouldn’t tire of it.
A clever way to achieve contempo-country is to take traditional manor motifs, such as flying ducks, mantelpiece china dogs and a wall full of plates, and turn them on their head. The ducks should be placed in an unusual position — forget the bathroom wall and consider over the dining table instead.
Try the modern Doggy Lamp by Ben de Lisi for Debenhams (€45), which is an up-to-date wink at the traditional motif. Ikea’s new fabric ranges and Marks & Spencer’s cushions also carry new versions of the canine print. Rummage through charity shops for an odd collection of vintage plates and make a wall feature of them.
Repainting old furniture is an easy and cheap way to create the look — for best effect, add an assortment of upcycled chairs to a modern dining table, or go for the ready-made version, such as those sold by Love Your Home For Less (€178, not including delivery). You could also visit the monthly Newmarket Brocante, in Dublin 8, where companies such as Alice at Home will sell you a revamped chair or table at a decent price.
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In fabrics, go wild with modern stripes juxtaposed against your country setting, or add floral flourishes. Large floral designs say 2010 far better than the smaller, twee versions, but still, a chintzy duvet looks great on a super-modern bed.
There are few rules — though don’t overdo it in either direction. Embrace colour and keep a country backdrop neutral with a pop of brights from chic accessories. In country kitchens, The Contemporary Home’s Bouquet tea set with a gorgeous floral interior is just right (€36.35).
Store modern, bright plates and bowls, country-style, in the open. Put them on shelves or a kitchen sideboard. The Kitchen Shop, an Irish company, makes great contempo-country fitted kitchens and components, including the Farmleigh Lagoon kitchen island in a mint green. Kitchens start at €6,000.
House of Fraser’s autumn/winter collection is dripping with contemporary cool, tinged with a country, homely feel. Curvy and unembellished in bright yellows and blues, it can be complemented by matching glassware.
Debenhams bed linen features stripes set against earth-hued knit fabrics, as well freshly modern florals and bedding by its latest designer, Lisa Stickley, who has been dubbed a new, fresher Cath Kidston. The work of Stickley epitomises the urban country look. Her Posie cake stand (€38) is made of modern-patterned china in the traditional country cake-lover form.
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Marks & Spencer’s homewares buyer is obviously a fan of the country mix. Knitted cushions in indigo (€40), the traditional pepper mill form in red lacquer (€22), the Rouge Flower teapot (€32), the cow-shaped milk jug and the Emily chair in Melita pinstripe (no price available ) are good examples.
Marks & Spencer homewares are available in the brand’s larger stores, such as Liffey Valley and Dundrum. Tesco’s homewares include a great semi-retro, eye-catching, poppy-red reading lamp (€25) and star mugs (€3 each), which look great against a pastel duck egg blue.
www.tescodirect.com; marksandspencer.com; debenhams.com, houseoffraser.ie; tch.net;
loveyourhomeforless.co.uk; ikea.ie; newmarketbrocante.com; thekitchenshopie