8 Home Decor Styles and What Decor to Buy for Each Style

Do you know your home decor style? Maybe you like a few different home decor styles and don’t know how to shop for home decor to make everything look cohesive.

Last week I wrote an article on How to Make Your Home Look Cohesive and one of the main points was to stick to one style in your home. Then, I realized that not everyone knows what their home decor style is or even the difference between the styles.

So I collected 8 of the most common home decor styles that I see and created lists of the home decor items that typically make up each particular style.

This is my personal take on these home decor styles and I’m sure not everyone will agree with me on some things, but these are the items I would choose for each style if I were personally decorating my home in these styles. This doesn’t mean these are the home decor “rules” for this style and it doesn’t mean that you have to necessarily like all the items in the list in order to prefer this style.

So basically, this is a general list to help you figure out what style you prefer and what to purchase for decor to work with that style.

Styles change and evolve through the years as people bring their own personal touches to each style. You may find you like more than one style and want to mix and match.

This post may contain affiliate links and I may receive commission if you decide to make a purchase at no extra expense to you. For more information, see my disclosure.

8 HOME DECOR STYLES AND WHAT DECOR TO BUY FOR EACH STYLE

Each style below gives a brief description of that style and what decor items are typically found in homes that reflect that style. Then, I did some shopping and found items that will hopefully help you see a visual representation of each style. Click on each item to shop that item or similar items!

RUSTIC FARMHOUSE (Farmhouse)

Thanks to Joanna Gaines, the farmhouse style quickly became more and more popular as people loved everything she did for this style. Taking old things and making them beautiful is the ultimate goal for this style.

Lately, people seem to be fading out of this style and growing into the modern farmhouse trend. However, there are still some true farmhouse style lovers out there and their homes usually consist of the items below. These items are typically easy to find in stores which tells me that this style hasn’t gone away just yet and is still pretty popular!

Greenery
Old books
Black and white checkered
Galvanized decor
Artwork of farm animals
Wire baskets
Shiplap
Metal bedframes
Lanterns
Blanket ladder
Tobacco basket
Rae Dunn
Edison light fixtures
Rustic wood accents- Old, repurposed wood features
Subway tile
Chicken wire
Mason jars
Wood antiques (old furniture, using old wooden windows and doors as decor)
Greenery wreaths
Unorganized gallery wall (random decor such as letters or clocks and various frame sizes)

MODERN FARMHOUSE

Modern farmhouse branched off of the farmhouse style, but rather than having rustic touches, it focuses on incorporating a modern feel to the original farmhouse. One difference I’ve noticed is this style tends to be “less is more” rather than in the farmhouse style where you might see more items clustered together or even some gallery walls that have various wall decor and frames placed together.

Modern farmhouse is a more popular style right now. However, it seems like most people who style their homes in this style are slowly incorporating less and less farmhouse features and digging deeper into the modern looks. I wouldn’t be surprised if we saw this style fade away in the next few years and a new more modern style take it’s place.

The list is small for this style only because I chose the items that are slightly different from strictly modern or strictly farmhouse. However, if you’re looking to style your home with a modern farmhouse style, my suggestion would be to focus on this list to get the basics and then look through the modern and farmhouse style lists to find items to incorporate and mix in.

Eucalyptus greenery and olive tree greenery
Wood features and accents (lighter brown or natural wood for a more modern look and darker wood for a more farmhouse look)
Neutral colors and sometimes black accents
Floating wood shelves
White backsplash (typically subway tiles)
Wood frame white signs with sayings
Caramel leather
Clean decor (items that don’t have a lot of texture or bright colors)
Organized and symmetrical gallery wall

INDUSTRIAL

The industrial style was originally inspired by factories, warehouses and other industrial architectural structures. It focuses heavily on metal features, brick and reclaimed wood.

The goal of this style is to keep things minimalistic and is ideal in open spaces. It’s more popular in homes that are open concept or large studio apartments. Having a lot of walls and doors can make this style hard to really stand out and work for a space.

This style can be incorporated with the farmhouse style because bringing in a few metals and reclaimed wood will still create the rustic farmhouse vibe people are going for, but brings a little more edge to the look.

Metal features (typically black or silver)
Cement or concrete
Darker tones- darker wood
Using piping as decor
Metal and wood furniture
Brick accent wall
Open space and open shelving
Caged lighting

MODERN

There are various modern styles and it’s constantly evolving. Some modern variations involve pops of color and mixing unique patterns together with a lot of abstract art.

However, if I were personally going to decorate my home in a more modern look, I would focus on a clean look with neutrals and unique architectural accent pieces. So, the list below reflects that type of modern style.

Board and baton on walls is common
Less is more
Light wood features
Concrete fireplace
Concrete decor
Unique architecture
Unique light fixtures
Gold metals
Abstract art or art that isn’t overly detailed (minimalist art)
Variety of shapes
Archways or arch paint features
Paint features

FRENCH COUNTRY

French country is a unique and more old fashioned style. It focuses on vintage items and antiques that have a lot of character and fancy designs.

I don’t see a home completely in this style often, but it is definitely one to be noted because people often take from this style and work pieces of it into their decor. Antique stores are still very popular and a lot of people love to get nostalgic and historical pieces to incorporate into their homes.

The French country style works well with some farmhouse items because of the focus on older, sometimes rustic decor.

Antiques
Dried flowers
Florals
Pastel colors
Scroll lanterns
Textured furniture
Nothing is perfectly square and has a lot of character and swirly design in it
Doilies
Button tufted furniture
Ruffles

COASTAL

For the most part, you only see the coastal style in beach homes or in states that are close to the ocean. However, there are still people who love the ocean and still want those nautical vibes for their homes.

There’s a certain kind of comfort and cozy that this style brings as it focuses and neutrals and blues with many rope and wooden decor features.

Blues, light greys and whites
Sometimes light colored wood features
Light colored baskets
Wicker
Rope decor
Driftwood
Blue clear vases
Clay pottery
Shells
Anchors or a helm (ship’s steering wheel)
Artwork of waves
Fiddle Leaf greenery or palm trees
Slipcovered sofas

BOHO (Bohemian)

The boho trend has been rising as people have been finding ways to incorporate it into their homes. This style is inspired by the 1970’s creating a laidback and eclectic look using layers, textures and vibrant colors, particularly burnt orange or teal.

Macramé is a popular item from this style that many people have fallen in love with. More and more stores are bringing macramé into their home decor sections which should show you how popular this style is becoming.

Macramé
Wicker and cane webbing
Greenery- typically hanging plants, cactus, fiddle leaf or ferns
Neutrals and burnt orange
Carmel leather
Basket wall
Terracotta
Tribal patterns
Honeycomb shelves
Pampas grass
Desert artwork
Cow skull

MID-CENTURY MODERN

This style is a little more unique. It’s mostly noted for its furniture and the shape and style they create. I don’t often see houses fully decorated in this style, but mostly seeing mid-century modern pieces incorporated into other decor styles. So it’s a very versatile style and works well with modern and boho styles.

Caramel leather
Peg leg furniture
Velvet furniture
Modern and abstract artwork
Blues and greens with caramel brown wood
Accent chair with wood armrest

CONCLUSION

As you can see, a lot of decor items work well in more than one style of decor. When I’m decorating, I try to find more versatile items so when my decor style changes (because it does every few years… haha), I’ll still have items that will shift over easily to the new style I’m loving.

There are many more home decor styles, but these are the ones I personally see more often. I hope this helped you figure out what your unique home decor style is and how to bring it alive in your home.

Don’t be afraid to mix and match! As you can see, that’s how we’ve created new styles. And many styles will flow together well if done correctly.

What’s your favorite home decor style? Comment below!