Inside Our Latest Design Project: Blending Classic and Contemporary Country Style

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: I love that we get to play with all of the design styles here at TLC Interiors. And in our recently completed Lilydale project I was beyond thrilled to get my hands on the contemporary country style. It’s been a long time coming!

We’ve showed you inside the modern country design style on the blog before, but this was my first chance to execute it in a home for real-world clients. And call me cocky, but I’m in love with my own handiwork.

Scroll on as I show you some before and afters from this project, tell you how it all came together, and share where to get some of the products from for your own place. Enjoy!

Let’s Start with the Contemporary Country Style Living Room

As you can see from the before photo, the room was a great size, and had potential for grandeur, but it just wasn’t there yet. The floors were an orange colour, the shelving wasn’t loved by the client, and the furniture had seen better days.

The approach was to lean into the country style that was already present in a few areas of the home, but to give it a contemporary facelift. So the floors were stained in a darker walnut tone, the shelving was reimagined into a gorgeous curved version, and the furniture was updated.

Fresh paint throughout the whole home helped lift the look. The home felt too warm before, and now it feels cooler, calmer and more serene. We thankfully didn’t need to touch the fireplace or the plantation shutters in the room. They were already working wonders.

The Ached Shelves Really Elevated the Space

This project was a collaboration with our sister studio, MCID, who designed the shelves and also worked their magic on the kitchen, bathroom, laundry and ensuite in the home.

The arched shelves in the living room are a fave moment of mine from this transformation. The client felt the shelves before felt quite basic, a little ‘off the rack’. And so Martine worked her magic on delivering an area to showcase memories and keepsakes, but in a whole new way.

I styled up the shelves with some of the client’s existing pieces, and worked in a few new homewares that tapped into the contemporary country style. Both the new and the old blended together so well here, with a mix of real and fake plants showcased as well as our go-to coffee table design books.

The Kitchen and Dining Blended the New and the Old

There were many traditional details in this home that we wanted to be sympathetic to. That meant that the introduction of new elements had to be carefully considered. We needed the updated versions of classic pieces, rather than super-modern items that’d feel out of place.

In the kitchen, Martine worked plenty of magic with new stone for the countertops, splashback tiles, cabinetry handles, sinks and tapware, and more. The cabinet fronts remained the same, which was a money saver, and many of the appliances were already there too.

Team TLC sourced the fab high-back bar stools that sit at the kitchen island. They’re the Cline Counter Stools from Pottery Barn and are absolutely gorgeous. And we also hunted out those three dreamy pendant lights for over the island, from Montauk Lighting.

The Dining Room Only Needed Small Updates to Resolve It

Our clients had a beautiful dining table already and were keen to keep it. I was very much on-board with this idea because the table worked so well with the design direction we were taking the home in. And so only a few new pieces were needed to pull it all together.

Grounding the space with the Regency Rug from The Rug Collection was the first step, because the table is rather big and heavy and needed some softening. It also helped acoustically in absorbing noise in this zone.

To further soften the room, eight fabric dining chairs were introduced in a tone that perfectly complemented the table and rug. Then, we installed new curtains and styled the tabletop. The feature light was existing and didn’t need to be changed.

PS if you need help with lighting, here’s how to choose the right feature light for a room.

The Main Bedroom Got a Contemporary Country Makeover Too

It must be said; a simple layout tweak can be a game changer. And in the main bedroom, before we even got to the furnishing or foundational changes, I knew we needed to rework the layout.

Turning the bed and putting it on the adjacent wall allowed for a much grander moment as you walk into the space. Rather than seeing the side of the bed, you now see the front of it. It helps that I decked it out in oodles of soft furnishings, but I don’t want to sell the layout change short because moving the bed did make a big difference.

Layout changes aside, I also wanted to introduce simplicity and calm into this room. I decided to install a textured wallpaper to soften the space. Martine specified some amazing carpet and paint changes. The whole shell became more welcoming with those tweaks, and then it came time to furnish…

Decreasing the Noise, Increasing the Scale

The main bedroom makeover was all about introducing calm. So besides the change in paint and carpet, and the installation of wallpaper, it was crucial to get the furnishing right. And the approach we took is a less-is-more one.

In that approach, we had less items in the space but increased their size and scale. You’ll see what I mean when you look at the wide shots of the room. The headboard is tall, the bedside tables are large, and we took them pretty wide in the room so the furniture ran wall-to-wall.

We also didn’t over-art the walls. It was about ensuring your eye doesn’t dart around the room when you’re in it. Instead, it travels slowly without too many visual highs to stimulate it.

The Retreat Was an Unused Room Before

The room you see above I ended up naming the retreat. To be fair, it was a bit of an overflow room that didn’t get used much. The clients weren’t sure what to do with it functionally and couldn’t figure out how to make it look welcoming.

A layout change happened in this room too, with a sofa turning to face the door as you walk in, rather than having you walk into the back of it as you enter the space. We used one of the existing brown leather sofas and then added some new furniture, a rug, artwork, a lamp etc.

The fresh paint, flooring change and new wall sconces either side of the window really made this zone feel good as new. And I’m happy to report that the clients now use it all the time.

We installed a flat screen TV on the wall with some custom joinery just out of shot, across from the sofa, which certainly helped give this room a more distinct purpose.

The Power of Foundational Changes

I can’t stress enough how investing in big changes has a big payoff. I’m so thankful the clients had the budget and willingness to run with our idea of repainting walls, restaining the floorboards, replacing the old carpet and updating window treatments where needed.

This contemporary country style makeover would not have been the same if those foundational elements were not transformed. Obviously there were tonnes of furniture and decor additions, but they would not have looked anywhere near as good if the old shell was still there. So I beg of you, if you can invest in those changes, please do!

The photos of this makeover, shot by Dylan James, are just some of the images from this home. See all the photos inside each room in our portfolio here.