Dare to be rustic!

I love designers and home owners that have the courage to use rustic, vintage, even beat up, pieces of furniture in a confident way. This opens up all sort of opportunities to find great pieces at auctions for a song!

All photos from Skona Hem - Designer: Nina Hartmann Sundgren

In this Swedish home, the home owner has a passion for vintage, and it all ties together in a simple white scheme with touches of browns. The top photo of the entryway shows a pealing console table with vintage luggage on the shelves. It's dressed up with a chandelier and elaborate wall sconces. 

The dining area includes a painted farm house table, and industrial chairs. While the living room uses a vintage bench as a coffee table and a wonderful old cabinet for display and storage.

If we start with the entryway, this primitive wood sorting table would make a wonderful console table. This sold at a Copake Auction in Copake, NY for $80 off an auction estimate of $40 - $60. This is painted a chic gray, and measures 60 inches wide.

 Copake was also a great place to pick up a farm table to put in the dining area. This benchmade Quebec table sold for $900 off an auction estimate of $1,000 - $1,500. It measures 38 inches wide by 100 inches long. It has a wonderful wood top, and green painted base.  This would comfortably sit eight. Just find some industrial chairs for the look in the Swedish home.

I love this vintage metal medicine cabinet. This would be a terrific piece of furniture in the living room, used for storage and display. It has lots of drawers, a shelf, and three drop front doors. This is circa 1900, and sold at a Kamelot Auction in Philadelphia, PA for $850.

I'm in to rustic benches! This green painted bootjack bench would be great as a coffee table like the one in the photo above, or as a bench in the entryway for a place to sit to take off your boots. It's 78 inches long and sold at a Copake Auction for $70 off an auction estimate of $75 - $125. 

At a Kamelot Auction this pair of French end tables sold for $300. They have a wonderful faded paint patina and marble tops. These are circa 1940. Buy an Ikea sofa with a white slip cover, place the end table, the bench coffee table, and the medicine cabinet for an instant chic room for under $1,500. More than enough left over to add a couple of comfortable chairs!


I love the rustic look, and with just a little courage you can have a chic home for not too much cash. Think about adding something glamorous for contrast, like an elaborate chandelier or a pair of sconces.