The Farmhouse Book

I referred to this book in my last post and got a question on it, so it is the subject of today.
It is an amazing book on farmhouses!  The Farmhouse by Jean Rehkamp Larson gives "new inspiration for the classic American home" It truly covers all styles of farmhouses from very simple to shabby chic to ultra contemporary.  My husband and I discovered it while at Barnes and Noble looking at house design books.  We were on a mission to discover what type of home we wanted.  We knew it wasn't the typical Dallas style house that is built here in Oklahoma at present.  We wanted something with more character, a little old fashioned, and something small.  We weren't sure what style though.  Craftsman homes intrigued us but after looking at pictures we decided that the dark woods that fill them were not for us.  We also considered a Texas ranch styled home.  We loved the timber framing on the inside and out but most of those are large.  So while looking at books filled with beautiful homes, we both kept coming back to this book , The Farmhouse. Small, stylish, simple with an appreciation for the past - farmhouse was our style.  We bought the book.

From there we poured over the pages. I have always loved old fashioned things. My husband leans more toward contemorary.  What we did was choose ideas that we each liked and blended them into our home.  This book went with me everywhere I went while we were building.  That and the "building binder" that I will tell you about later.  It was our reference for deciding what would fit and what wouldn't.  From this book, we picked barn doors, style of trim, butcher block countertops, keyless lights, sealed concrete floors, metal stair railing, and more.  The Farmhouse gave us the inspiration to blend our personal styles into our home.

Comments

  1. Buying it this weekend! Thanks for the post.

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  2. Wish I'd had that inspiration about 40 years ago.

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  3. I'm responding to a very old post, but this book sat at my daughter's piano teacher's house for the last year. Each time I was waiting, I'd pick it up like it was new and soak up everything I could from the book. The houses are fantastic, but a couple would not be my first choice. It made me try to figure out what we could do to improve the farmhouse we have. Now that is in the works. Great book!

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  4. Wish I could convince my husband that we need to redo our home and make it more of a ranch home and that we need storage as we have none! 5 people in a three bedroom home just does not make for fun at times!

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  5. Hi Carol. This is a great book about farmhouses. When designing our home we took many ideas from it. The concept of living small and simple was from Sarah Susanka's books though. We have little storage therefore we keep only what we need. We also have 5 people in a two bedroom. We do have plenty of living space though which keeps us all happy!

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  6. My husband and I are building a farmhouse and this was THE PERFECT blog to find! Your little house is beautiful! May I ask about how much the whole thing cost when you were finished?

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    1. Thank you for the compliment! Email me through my profile & I will share more info with you.

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  7. May I ask how much y'all spent on the house once everything was finished?

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    1. Alex,
      Click on Kim in the upper right sidebar by my picture and it will take you to a page that contains my email address. I will answer your question privately. Thanks!

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