This post lists 17 decor ideas for your neutral rustic living room! All ideas are small space and small home friendly.
Last Updated: 06/25/24
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When it comes to designing your neutral rustic living room, it can be overwhelming to know where to start. I find living rooms to be the hardest space in the house to design because, well, it’s so lived in!
I always spend the most time putting my living room together because it’s what will most likely be used and seen the most. Getting it right is CRUCIAL.
If your color palette taste consists of neutrals and earthy tones, I will admit, it does make the design process a lot easier! You’ll have to worry a lot less about coordinating colors and patterns. Plus, you’re already totally on trend for this year. Check out Top 10 Living Room Trends for 2024 to see what I’m talking about!
Rustic is one of those words that I think gets misused on spaces like Pinterest and the blogosphere. It has become a sort of blanket term for Farmhouse, but I don’t think that’s quite hitting the nail on the head.
Let’s break down the basic design themes of a neutral rustic living room:
Neutral Tones:
This is mostly self explanatory. Neutral color tones are colors that aren’t bold. They’re desaturated and calm in nature.
Think earthy tones and hues. Especially when it comes to rustic neutrals, we want to keep the palette warm.
No grays and cold neutrals here!
Rustic Style:
Like I said earlier, I feel this term is often misused. Rustic essentially means something that is simply made.
So what does that mean? When I think of rustic, I think of simple construction. Something you can look at and probably find a way to DIY if you’re handy.
There’s also a “back country” sense to the word rustic. Think log cabins and cottages.
Natural Materials:
Because of the definition of the word rustic, it can be assumed that using a lot of natural materials is also very important.
Wood, brick, jute, furs, wools, and leathers are the materials you’ll want to focus your energy on. Natural materials bring a homey coziness to any space that suits a living room very well.
Most if not all natural materials have neutral tones and earthy hues for color already. Using natural materials feels like a hack because they all truly coordinate well together. The more layering the better!
Now that we know the basic design patterns for your neutral rustic living room, let’s get into the actual design ideas!
Neutral Rustic Living Room Decor Ideas For ANY Sized Space
Related to Neutral Rustic Living Room Decor:
1. Coffee Table
Source: Laine and Layne
Coffee tables are essentially the centerpiece of the living room. You want your coffee table to perfectly fit the theme you’re trying to achieve.
For a neutral rustic living room, I love a simple wooden table with raw edges.
Add different natural material decor on top like this wicker basket and ceramic bowl combo.
Source: Twelve on Main
If you’re looking for something more dynamic, try layering a few smaller tables like this log cluster.
Pro tip: if you check out lumber yards in your area, they often will have scrap stumps and slices that they’ll give to you for free or very low cost.
I love this layered look for a small space especially. In living rooms with less square footage, you want to utilize every space to its full potential!
2. Stone Wall
Source: The Honest Home
Adding a “stone” wall to your home can bring instant charm and sophistication to your rustic space. This stone accent wall with wooden beams and a wood pictures frames is a stunning combo.
Don’t worry, you don’t actually have to buy and mortar stone to your walls.
You can buy really authentic looking stone veneer, then use joint compound along the edges of stones to really sell the look.
3. Wood Beams
Source: AuLivin
Wooden beams INSTANTLY add rustic charm to any space. The ceiling is often an underutilized decorating space that we want to take advantage of in smaller living rooms.
Beams really incorporate the log cabin feel and can be surprisingly easy to install.
Source: Jaime Costiglio
Home Depot sells pre-made faux beams that you can nail to your ceiling, or you can build your own beams to achieve a desired look.
The charm and beauty of wood beams is absolutely undeniable.
4. Side Tables
Side tables are an incredibly easy way to make a huge difference in your small living room.
They come in all shapes and sizes so you can really customize the look you’re going for.
For your neutral rustic living room, I love a raw edge wood slice table like the one above.
Source: DIYGadgets
Sometimes raw edge furniture can cost an arm and a leg, so try DIY-ing a log cluster table instead!
This look is so cool and unique. All of your guests will be asking where you got it and it’s always fun to be able to say you made it yourself.
5. Wood Plank Walls
Wood plank walls can be a hefty project, but boy do they make an impact. Especially in smaller living rooms, this can be a fantastic way to achieve your rustic dream.
Go full floor to ceiling if you want to feel like you’re living in the middle of the mountains, or pick one wall and make a statement accent wall.
Tongue and groove boards come in all different forms, but you can often find unstained boards for a pretty affordable rate. Then you can stain them to your desired color before installing.
6. Brick Walls
Source: Our NC Nest
Similar to the stone veneer wall shown earlier, you can delve into a similar project but with brick veneer.
I love this above molding brick accent wall. Accenting the upper half of your wall space is a great way to optimize every inch of a smaller space.
You can also purchase real bricks that are thinly sliced so they don’t bring your walls in too much. Then just go in between the bricks with grout for a truly authentic look.
Source: In Honor of Design
Check out In Honor of Design’s DIY brick wall tutorial.
She breaks down installation and also how to achieve the rustic weathered look you see above.
7. Area Rugs
Source: Monarch Way
Area rugs are one of my favorite ways to liven up a space. Especially if you have a smaller living room, an area rug can be a gamechanger.
For your neutral rustic living room, consider a faux hide rug. They come in all different colors and animal skins, but you truly can’t go wrong.
This picture is from my own home where you can see I invested in a braided wool rug. I love this style of area rug and think it especially suits a rustic living room.
The neutral colors in this rug are simple, but still unique and add so much warmth and vibrancy to my smaller living room.
8. Open Shelves
Source: DigsDigs
Open shelving is a slept on design tool that can take your small space from plain to completely elevated and gorgeous.
I’m obsessed with dried florals and greenery for a rustic living room as seen above. Get the impact and beauty of plants but without the constant upkeep.
Source: Build It Thrifty
Open shelves are a great place to really incorporate theme into your home as well.
For your neutral rustic living room theme, stick to natural textures and warm neutral colors to tie in your shelving to the rest of the room.
9. Layers of Textures
Texture layering is one of those design tips that make a space look professionally curated. Think of every corner in your house from the ceiling, walls, seating, and floors as opportunities to add texture.
In the picture above, there are multiple layers of textures like stone, wood planking, jute in the rug, and leather in the pillows.
Photographer: Virginia Macdonald
Source: House & Home February 2017
This cozy living room also has superb layered textures. Layering rugs adds so much depth to a smaller space.
They even went so far as to incorporate different textures in the throw pillows with faux fur and wool being the most prominent.
10. Accent Wall
Source: Build It Thrifty
Accent walls can be a really affordable way to completely change the look of your small space.
I love this mountain accent wall for a neutral rustic living room because all it takes is some paint and molding to create such a beautiful effect.
An accent wall can be as simple, though, as using a different paint color.
Source: Wood N Hooks
If you’re not ready or financially able to commit to doing a full wall of tongue and groove and hardwood, you can get a similar effect with strips of plywood.
Cut and sand the edges yourself to get that really natural raw edge look, then stain and nail to the wall for a stunning rustic accent wall.
11. Faux Fur
Incorporating faux fur pieces into your neutral rustic living room will really emphasize the cottage/cabin feel of your space.
It’s an opportunity to layer textures and add visual interest to any nook.
I love using a large faux fur blanket like the one above because it feels instantly cozy.
It makes a leather couch look much more inviting. Everyone will be fighting over this blanket for movie night.
12. Antique Furniture
It’s going to be challenging to achieve a rustic look with new, manufactured furniture.
Newer factory furniture doesn’t possess the same charm and natural feel that vintage does.
Last year I purchased this vintage sewing table to repurpose as a desk and it’s one of my favorite corners in my living room.
Vintage curio cabinets are a great design choice because they are beautiful as a stand alone piece, but also provide the opportunity to fill them with more great pieces.
For a rustic living room, ceramics are always a great choice.
When going thrift and antique shopping, don’t be stumped into buying really high priced and curated furniture. Check out Facebook marketplace for the true diamonds in the rough.
13. Rustic Style Lighting
Source: Decorating HQ
Living room lighting is absolutely make it or break it in my book. Nothing zaps all the life out of a space like cold overhead lighting.
The more lamps and unique chandeliers with warm toned light bulbs, the better.
Chandeliers are a classic rustic design staple can be a great way to add balance to a room where a lot of the decor is below eye level.
I made this rattan chandelier for our living room myself using a rope light bulb strand from Amazon, and a basket from Target.
All I had to do was cute a hole in the bottom of the basket to insert the rope and voila! Lamps like this can retail for $100+ and I made mine for probably $30!
14. Throw Pillows
Source: Ella Claire & Co.
Throw pillows are everybody’s first go to when it comes to decorating a living room and for good reason.
They’re extremely customizable and very easy to switch out depending on the season and holiday.
It’s one of the easiest ways to layer textures and color as seen above. Try buying different sizes and shapes to really up your throw pillow game.
Pro tip: buy throw pillow inserts of multiple sizes, then purchase different colored and styled throw covers that you can alternate between seasons instead of buying all new pillows every time you want to switch things up.
15. Gallery Wall
Source: Diana Marie Home
I absolutely love a good gallery wall. They bring so much personality and charm to what would otherwise be an empty wall.
This one is expertly arranged using different types of materials and antiques. The use of old furniture legs is absolutely brilliant.
Source: Winston Homestead
For your neutral rustic living room, focus on artwork of nature, animals, and natural things.
I love the look of animal horns in a gallery wall to emphasize the rustic themes.
Experiment with different textures and materials with your frames. Gold, brass, and wood, as seen above, is a timeless yet powerful neutral and rustic combo.
16. “Stacked” Wood Wall
Credit: @willow_and_the_crystal_moon
I’ve been seeing this stacked wood wall trend all over in rustic and country interior design and I can’t get enough!
It’s the perfect accent to add to a wall that would otherwise be blank or boring.
If you have the space in your home, you can stack actual logs. You can also recreate this look by using adhesive and wood “cookies” to make the effect of stacked wood.
17. Monochrome Furniture
Credit: @ourdeerfarmhouse
Especially when it comes to rustic home decor, there tends to be a lot of wood tones and dark colored features.
Combat this by choosing a different monochrome color for all of your large furniture pieces.
I love how the homeowner above chose furniture in all cream and beige tones. It lightens up the space, ties in a lighter neutral color, and contrasts beautifully with the wood plank walls.
Related to Neutral Rustic Living Room Decor:
- Rustic Living Room Centerpiece Ideas
- Rustic Cabin Kitchen Ideas for Small Kitchens
- Mountain Cabin Decor Ideas
