Chicken Wallpaper

For some, the phrase “rustic style” suggests a house like “La Pitchoune,” the late chef Julia Child’s cottage in Provence, with its exposed wooden beams and well-worn antique furniture. For others, rustic furnishings and decor prompt images of a place like the Lake Placid Lodge in Upstate New York, with its stone fireplaces and knotty pine paneling. Indeed, rustic furniture design takes many forms: twig furniture, a plank trestle table, a hand-stitched quilt, a chandelier made of deer antlers.

The rustic style originated in the late 1800s in England, where it was heavily influenced by Romanticism. By the 20th century, it had spread to the United States, adopted by wealthy New Yorkers and the National Park Service alike. Although there are many categories of rustic furniture, one of the most popular and familiar manifestations of the style is the 1903 Thomas Lee Adirondack chair.

Rustic design is perhaps mostly about texture and humble materials: hand-hewn wood, woven rush seating, wrought iron, coarse stone and weathered metal. As a decor, it exudes warmth and honesty, while a single piece of countrified design adds an intriguing visual counterpoint in a sleek, modern environment.

Easily identifiable by its rough textures, earthy colors and natural materials, rustic furniture helps bring the beauty of the outdoors inside. As you can see on 1stDibs, rustic wares offer no end of inspiration.

Forget everything you believed about wallpaper (including mental images of your great aunt’s outdated decor). While paint has long had its place, there are fresh, modern designs these days in wallpaper that offer endless possibilities.

“There is undoubtedly an excitement surrounding pattern at the moment,” says Nick Cope, who cofounded Calico Wallpaper with his wife, Rachel. “Wallpaper has had certain connotations over the years. However, we are always focused on our mission to elevate wallpaper to high art.”

And today, paper is challenging paint’s long dominance. “In the late 1990s and early 2000s, everyone was painting and doing faux finishing,” says Sarah Merenda, founder of Merenda Wallpaper. But “there is currently a spotlight on wallpaper, and I find that people are interested in custom and large-scale designs. Printing digitally has been a game changer for the wallpaper world.”

Explore a variety of motifs and patterns in modern and vintage wallpaper options on 1stDibs today.