For the last few decades, there's been a distinct split between high-end upscale home decorating and comfortable down-home affordable décor. The high-style magazines featured glossy photos of modern contemporary homes, replete with stone, glass and steel. The colors were stark – black and white with a few slashes of brilliant tones to emphasize the contrasts and smooth lines. Meanwhile, the magazines aimed at Mrs. America around the U.S.A. offered the warm, cozy sensibility of country kitsch and homespun fabrics. Cows and chickens, hearts and patchwork quilts, rag rugs and solid wood furniture filled rooms that invited guests to sit down, take your shoes off and set a spell.
The gap has closed, and one of today's hottest new decorating styles blends the two into a stylish, classic blend of rustic charm and high-bred functionality. This new style – call it rustic modern - features natural materials – wood and stone, wool, cotton, linen and silk – and floor plans that flow and move into each other without overcrowding. The best examples of rustic décor have the feeling of a country lodge on an estate – open, relaxing and friendly.
Want to bring a bit of rustic warmth to your decorating scheme? Here are some suggestions from top designers.
Go for the country cabin look. Wood wall paneling is back in style – but with a twist. Rustic paneling features wide planks and a rough-hewn look, with a warm, honey tone.
Country crafts can warm your whole room. Try a classic patchwork quilt on a metal frame bed, or throw it over the back of a homespun sofa. Patchwork and appliquéd pillows with a country theme can bring a hint of rustic charm to your living and sitting rooms.
Think hunting lodge. Functionality meets creativity in some of the most charming and whimsical accents. Chainsaw carved bears sit by fireplaces, deer antlers hang on walls to hold hats and wrought iron is everywhere.
The right floor can transform your entire room. Bare wood is beautiful, and fits the style perfectly, but it's not your only choice. Stone floors softened with woven and braided area rugs, or a classic sheepskin from Australia or New Zealand can be the perfect backdrop for rustic furniture and collections.
Go Navajo. Or Hudson Bay. Woven wool throws in Southwestern designs or a classic Hudson Bay wool blanket are a subtle touch of bygone rustic charm with a masculine feel that's perfect for this style.
Keep it subtle. Opt for an open floor plan with plenty of seating space and choose your colors and materials to accent a few special pieces.
Antler lamps are wonderful for enhancing western home decor. Much more than a lighting fixture, antler lamps bring charm to your environment. If you have a mountain cabin or western style home, the elegant character of antlers with their beautiful shapes and variations in natural color will give your home the distinctive rustic style you are hoping to create.
For decades, ranch style home owners as well as those building more sophisticated cabins have used antler lamps as beautiful rustic lighting to complete their western or southwestern home decor. Because of the natural shape of antler lamps and chandeliers there is a rustic charm inherent within the antlers that wonderfully enhances any type of rustic furniture. There is something distinctive about antler lamps that combines all the elements and gives off a sophisticated western feel in the area. Antler lamps have a quality about them that easily enhances balance and focus in any environment.
Antler lamps also accompany many other western elements in home decor. In the Northwestern states or "north woods" antlers may be attached to snow shoes and complimented with rawhide lamp shades to make beautiful wall sconces. The light wood and rawhide lacing on the snow shoe, together with the leather binding and pleasant glow of the hand stitched shade, make it a wonderful harmony. Weather you choose to adorn your antler lamp with rustic light rawhide shades or country style dark rawhide lampshades, the choice is yours and the effect will be fabulous.
Smaller antler chandeliers are made from whitetail deer antlers while large chandeliers sometimes have many tiers of huge elk antlers. Weather your area is large or small an antler chandelier will bring the spirit of the old west alive in your home.
In Jackson Hole, WY the town's square is decorated with arches made from Elk antlers. It is certainly unique, and you can create the same look with antler lamps. Small lamps are made from whitetail deer antlers while large light fixtures such as chandeliers may have tiers of elk antlers with rawhide lampshades. One of the most popular lamps is created using moose antlers, unmistakable with their great dark palms and beautiful dark rawhide lamp shades.
Throughout the year, organizations like the Boy Scouts will search for the prized sheds. If you ever find antler sheds outdoors, it is an amazing occurrence. Antler lamps enhance that same style in your home and can change your setting's ambiance in a most exciting way.
Antlers are found in different qualities that are categorized like rare coins. The best quality is awarded an "A" grade. The grading system, indirectly, has to do with the length of time the sheds lie outdoors before found. The more time they are left in the wild, the more they break down. New antler sheds are a darker brown color. Sheds that are not found quickly will start to bleach in the sun until they become a chalky white. Another factor they loose their quality is because of chew marks from small animals and stains from wet ground or moss.
There are also different ways of making the antler lamps themselves. Some lamp makers use glue to hold the antlers together. Others may fasten them together with a rawhide thong for a rustic Indian look. And some of the most attractive antler lamps may use a combination of being glued, drilled and screwed together, with the holes closed up for a natural look. High end lamps will almost always include rawhide lamp shades.
Each antler is somewhat varied than any other, so each antler lamp is a unique treasure and is great for rustic lighting. Enhance western decor in your home and compliment your rustic home furnishings with the beautiful, rustic antler lamps.
Both Jared Winston & Craig Chambers are contributors for EditorialToday. The above articles have been edited for relevancy and timeliness. All write-ups, reviews, tips and guides published by EditorialToday.com and its partners or affiliates are for informational purposes only. They should not be used for any legal or any other type of advice. We do not endorse any author, contributor, writer or article posted by our team.
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