DIY Farmhouse Kitchen Decor

I move to a new apartment in just a few months and I've thought a lot about how I want the new place to look. Right now, I don't really have a theme, just a hodge podge of things.

However, I've taken a few design quizzes and looked at countless interior design pins on Pinterest and it seems like my home decor style is best described as somewhere between Boho and Rustic Farmhouse!

A few of the items I crafted, including a Dutch kaffe canister, a mason jar, and a ceramic pitcher.

I love plants and greenery, but I also like clean colors, lots of white and open space, and the "worn-in" look. I'm not a big fan of the modern, minimalist look, mostly because I have way too much clutter and knick knacks for that (also, cats), but also because houses that are decorated that way don't look "lived in." To me, they almost look like an upscale hotel, and I want my home to feel like a home!

Anyway, I've started looking into DIY projects for the new place, since I have a lot of vacation time coming up and need something to occupy myself.

One project that recently caught my eye was rustic farmhouse jars and containers for kitchen materials like spoons, utensils, flour, sugar, coffee, etc. My original idea was to do all white containers and stencil the labels or use letter stickers, like the pin you see below. But I visited a few stores and I couldn't find any font that I really liked so I scratched that idea and decided to not do labeling.

An rustic farmhouse kitchen decor example from Pinterest. Credit: https://www.pinterest.com/pin/705798572848489032/

My first visit was to Dollar Tree to pick up burlap ribbon, a few jars to paint or craft, and black and white paint. I wanted my jar/container collection to feel somewhat coordinated in color and craft but eclectic in sizing and shape, so next I went to Goodwill to see what they had. And this was the super fun part! I found a variety of containers that fit the bill, including a ceramic pitcher, an old sugar tin, an already painted black mason jar, and an old Dutch kaffe canister.

Once I got home and started setting up shop, I quickly realized that a lot of the ceramics don't take to paint very well. If you want to do this project yourself, I highly recommend looking over each item to decide if it is worth painting or if it will look better left alone. For example, the sugar tin accepted paint very well, but the ceramic pitcher needed to be left as is. Once items were painted, I applied rub on stickers of plant foliage that I also got at Dollar Tree.

My workstation, with some of the painted items.

Overall, I'm happy with how things turned out and glad that it was a fairly cheap project to do. Something I try to keep in mind is that, while my crafts almost never end up looking like they do on Pinterest, it's still worth doing if I enjoy the process and the end result.

If you'd like to follow me on Pinterest, I often share home decor/DIY ideas: https://www.pinterest.com/craftycay1/.