5 Designer Secrets to a Cozy Modern Farmhouse (Engage Your Senses)

We’ve been living in our modern farmhouse for almost 9 years, and if I’m honest, achieving a cozy, curated, and lived-in feel took some time to achieve. If you’re struggling to make your home feel less like a showroom and more like a sanctuary, I’ve got you covered. The secret, designers know, lies in more than just aesthetics. It’s about how your home feels. Today, I’m sharing five designer secrets to a Cozy Modern Farmhouse that I’ve personally adopted and refined over the last few years. You’ll learn how to truly engage your senses to create a budget-friendly haven with a cozy, inviting feel. Let’s get started.

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Designer Secrets: Engage Your Senses

Modern farmhouse style has captured hearts with its blend of rustic charm and contemporary country simplicity. Although the style may seem straightforward, achieving a curated, cozy, and unique look can be elusive. I’m sharing how I’ve adopted these designer secrets by focusing on our five senses. I’ll guide you through how engaging your senses— sight, smell, touch, sound, and taste — can help you transform your home into the relaxing, inviting retreat of your dreams. Let’s begin with sight!

Sight – Secret #1 – Layering Lighting Like A Designer

Nothing ruins the atmosphere of a space more than poor lighting. Here are some budget-friendly designer tips to ensure your home is cozy.

Let The Light Shine In

No one likes a gloomy room, so during the day, throw open the blinds, curtains, and shutters to let the natural light fill the room. Open interior doors to let light travel from room to room, creating an open and airy feel. If it’s a gloomy day outside, use lamps and candles to brighten dark corners.

Indirect Lighting

As evening approaches, don’t brighten your rooms with overhead lighting. Instead, layer the lights in your living areas, bedrooms, and dining rooms. Create a warm, cozy, and magical feel with soft lamps on side tables. Use low Kelvin LED bulbs for a subdued lighting effect. Add warm-colored lampshades to soften the lighting further.

To add more layers, consider more subdued lighting with wall sconces, art lights, flicker candles, and string lights. Highlight the inside of book shelves, cabinet tops, mantels, and vignettes with tea light flicker candles, cordless portable LED Lamps, or pop lights. Create a cozy reading nook with a floor lamp or a wall sconce. Avoid using overhead lighting unless absolutely necessary for a specific task.

Add Dimmers For Task and Overhead Lights

You may need a bright light in your kitchen, office, and bathrooms when they are in use. However, at the end of the day, you may want a more subdued atmosphere. I recommend adding dimmer switches to lower the brightness. They are inexpensive and easy to install.

If you want to add a dimmer to your existing switch, this toggle switch will work with your existing face plates.

Soothing Color Palette

Another designer secret is to create a soothing color palette that invites you to relax. Opt for warm and inviting wall colors, upholstery, and furniture in soft creamy whites, soft grays, or muted greens and blues. These colors create a soothing backdrop for your cozy farmhouse decor. With a neutral color palette, you can add pops of color to update your rooms for the season.

Designer Tip: Reflective Elements

A final designer tip that delights the sense of sight is to add reflective elements to your farmhouse. Use copper, brass, silver, and mirrors to brighten your spaces. Here are a few designer tips you can easily incorporate into your home.

• Add layers of shiny brass, silver, or copper to dark corners, low tables, or low shelves to draw the eye.
• Place a mirror facing a window to reflect the light into the room.
• Layer brass or silver candlesticks with battery-operated candles to draw attention to your mantel, centerpiece, or vignette.
• Place small mirrors at the back of dark cabinets or bookshelves to bring in more light and reflect the other objects on the shelves.

A vintage silver tray adds a reflective backdrop for this shelf vignette.

Touch – Secret #2 – The Designer’s Guide To Cozy Textures

Imagine sinking into a comfy sofa with fluffy pillows and soft throw blankets. Think chunky knit throws, linen or cotton slipcovers, woven baskets, and jute or sisal rugs. Texture can be added with wall treatments such as shiplap wall, wallpaper, and backsplashes. In addition to rugs, textured tiles, and rustic wood flooring materials can add warmth and contribute to that relaxed farmhouse feel throughout your home.

The brick backsplash and shiplap walls add texture to the modern farmhouse kitchen. More layers of texture are added with wooden cutting boards, baskets, warm metals, and vintage dishes.

Look to thrift stores and second-hand shops to find budget-friendly textured items to add to your home. You can read more at What To Look For In Thrift Stores This Year and 10 Must-Know Thrifting Tips For Home Decor Budget-Savvy Shoppers.

Smell: Secret #3 – The Hidden Power of Aromas

When I think of farmhouse scents, I’m drawn to the natural aromas of herbs and spices. Here are a few ways to create a calming atmosphere with scents in your home.

• Add fresh herbs to vases and planters.
• Fill your home with seasonal, fresh, and aromatic flowers, such as lilacs, roses, jasmine, lavender, and gardenia.
• Use essential oil dispensers.
• Purchase fragrant soaps and place them in bathrooms.
• Simmer spices on the stovetop.
• Scatter scented candles around your home. Even if they are not burning, a subtle scent will be emitted.
• Nothing delights the sense of smell like cookies baking in the oven or fresh-brewed coffee.

Add Natural Scents

When possible, I like to bring natural scents into my home. I have rosemary and sage plants that grow year-round in my garden. Whenever I want to freshen my bathroom, kitchen, and bedroom, I fill vases with fresh clippings. They will last for several weeks and give the space a fresh, clean scent. You can also put small herbs in indoor planters to freshen your kitchen windowsills.

In the spring, I bring aromatic blooms indoors. I have lilacs, gardenias, lavender, and roses growing in my garden and landscape. Bringing free blooms into your home is a budget-friendly option to add natural scents to satisfy your sense of smell.

Sound – Secret # 4 – Curating a Calm & Cozy Soundscape

In our farmhouse, the living area, kitchen, and dining room are all open to the overhead loft, so it’s important to define each space with area rugs and furniture placement. Many modern farmhouses have wide open spaces in which sounds can echo. To counteract the numerous hard surfaces, we have incorporated upholstered furniture and plush rugs.

I like to layer blankets, throws, and pillows on beds, sofas, and chairs to absorb sound.

A few other options include using a seat cushion in dining chairs or considering upholstered chairs and bar stools. Flank windows and doors with curtains, blinds, or plantation shutters. Instead of small door rugs, use oversized rugs at entryways, under seating areas, and in bedrooms.

Taste – Secret # 5 – Unexpected Cozy Element for Warmth & Treats

This final designer secret may seem unexpected, but if you have ever sold your home, you have been advised to have cookies, candy, or fresh fruit on the countertops. So it stands to reason that your home will feel cozy and inviting if you consider the sense of taste. Here are some ways to add a sense of taste to your home.

Create beverage stations that invite you and your guests to have a beverage or snack. They can be coffee bars, hot cocoa bars, or wine and cocktail stations.

Use a corner of your kitchen countertops for a simple coffee station with hanging mugs and all the fixings. Or for a more elaborate holiday theme, create a hot cocoa bar like Kim at Cottage in the Mitten did for Christmas. We converted a vintage card catalog chest into a wine bar in a nook under our staircase. It’s a favorite hangout spot during our annual Christmas party.

Display fresh fruit and vegetables in vintage bowls on your kitchen countertop for easy picking. Additionally, you can place bowls of candy or other snacks on side tables and coffee tables for easy access. While not directly decor, having comforting snacks or easy-to-access treats enhances the cozy atmosphere.

In conclusion: Budget Designer’s Secrets

These designers’ secrets offer simple and budget-friendly ways to make your home feel cozier. Don’t feel overwhelmed if your home isn’t exactly the way you want it. It takes time to develop a curated, comfy home. Begin to incorporate these designer secrets into one room at a time. As you style your room, consider each of the five senses. You don’t have to incorporate all five into every space. However, take a quick rundown and consider sight, feel, smell, sound, and taste as you evaluate your space. Make a note of gaps that you want to fill. Keep your notes with you as you visit thrift stores and second-hand shops for quick reference. Most importantly, enjoy the process and celebrate your wins.

Thank you for stopping by, and I look forward to sharing my next adventure with you.