Painting the perfect lifestyle / Colour up your country lifestyle

From the Resene decorating blog

When your livelihood is tied to the land you live on, whether it’s a huge back country farm or a small city-fringe lifestyle block, turning your home into a sanctuary is even more important.

You need a line to cross, whether it’s physical or metaphorical that divides the part of your property that’s for work, and the part that’s for relaxation and family life. Otherwise, how do you feel like you’re ever getting a break?

Good design and decoration can play an important part in creating that separation, turning your home not just into a sanctuary but a fun place to spend down-time.

A lounge with a cosy and earthy country look

A cosy and earthy country look with walls in Resene Road Trip, floor in Resene Colorwood Bark stain, the fireplace in Resene King Tide, the magazine ladder, basket and picture frame in Resene Truffle and the coffee table in Resene Castaway over Resene FX Crackle Glaze. Styling by Vanessa Nouwens; image by Melanie Jenkins.

Create an office or office nook with storage

Create an office or office nook with storage and a pinboard, made from rolls of adhesive cork painted in Resene Flintstone for a dusky brown finish. The wall, bookshelf, desk top and shelf are painted in Resene Quarter Atmosphere and the floor is stained in Resene Colorwood Rock Salt. The small vase is in Resene Nero, the angular vase is Resene Road Trip and the plant pot is Resene Gumboot. Styling by Claudia Kozub; image by Melanie Jenkins.

Know your boundaries

Fences and gates are obviously crucial features of any rural property, but think about making the ones that mark out your personal space on the property a little more than purely functional.

If your budget allows, opt for wooden fences stained in colours that blend with the surrounding environment, then plant the boundary in trees, shrubs or flowering vines. Colours like Resene Woodsman Sheer Black allow the wood grain to show through while blending with your planting. Alternatively make the wood fence a feature in a bolder colour such as Resene Woodsman Totem Pole.

Then, as you might with a front and back door, think about painting the main entrance gate to your yard in a bright pop of colour such as Resene Havoc or Resene FOMO, or if your tastes tend toward the subtler try a weathered blue such as Resene Meditation or soft apple green such as Resene Aura, both of which will work nicely amongst lush greenery.

Tie that same contrasting colour in key spots throughout your home – on the main entrance doors, on pots dotted around the garden and even your mailbox out on the road. It’s a great way to make sure visitors can find your property.

Outdoor living

The advantage of a rural lifestyle is that it generally means you have a good amount of outdoor living space… as well as privacy and nice open green spaces to gaze upon. The key to make sure this doesn’t feel like ‘just another job’ on the property to keep it maintained is imposing some order on the space in the first place.

A home garden

Define your home garden with good fencing and paint it in black such as Resene Nero to blend into the shadows. Image by Juliet Nicholas.

Section areas off with planting, archways, pergolas and fences stained or painted in colours that complement your home exterior and boundary fencing. While muted greens, oxide reds, browns and soft blacks such as Resene Rivergum, Resene Half Pohutukawa, Resene Thunder Road and Resene All Black are often the go-to choice here, you could opt for something slightly different such as Resene Woodsman Jacaranda, or Resene Woodsman Pickled Bluewood for a subtly more colourful look that ties in with your planting.

Plan out areas such as an outdoor cooking and dining area, a sunny and secluded retreat spot, or perhaps even a secluded outdoor bath and shower area. You could paint or stain fences and partitions in variations of the same colour to give each area its own look, while still keeping them all connected.

Most rural properties will have enough section to also create a designated kids’ space in the garden near the house.

Think about adding a shed/playhouse, where the kids can go crazy painting the interior themselves in their favourite bright colours, or cover the walls in Resene Blackboard Paint so they can keep creating and changing their decoration. Near a sunny window in the playhouse add a painted or stained bench where the kids can grow their own seeds to be planted in their own vege garden outside.

You could also add brightly painted games such as giant Jenga or paint pavers and lay them out for hopscotch.

Leave the mud at the door

While we all love a bit of indoor-outdoor flow in our homes, that ends when it comes to mud being traipsed from one end of the house to the other. The answer is a mud room or boot room, crucial in rural homes.

Use a good hardwearing wall surface like plywood for a mud room or bathroom. This is finished in Resene Colorwood Whitewash, the floor is painted in Resene Eighth Stonewashed, the vanity is in Resene Colins Wicket and the ladder towel rail is in Resene Rice Cake. Styling by Gem Adams; image by Melanie Jenkins.

A welcoming and cheerful front door

Add a welcoming and cheerful front door in a classic country red, such as Resene Pohutukawa. Design by Aonui Architecture.

It can be a dedicated room, near the back door, if you have one, or it could be a small corner of the laundry or even a large freestanding cupboard on the back porch, beautifully painted to be a feature of your home, rather than just a junk spot.

Think about plenty of hooks for coats and jumpers, and a designated space for everybody’s boots so you’re not always rummaging through a pile to find your own.

If you have space you might also include a separate toilet and hand basin in or near the mudroom. And while it’s a functional space, there’s no reason it can’t still look good. Opt for natural colours such as Resene Parchment or a white like Resene Quarter Spanish White, that make the space feel light and airy, go for painted concrete on the floor or seal it with Resene Concrete Wax, and fill the space with shelving and other storage. It could double as a scullery where you can store produce and preserves. Fill it with plants or flowers from the garden and a very practical room suddenly becomes a place you’re happy to spend time in.

Office space

A designated office space is important in a rural home so you have somewhere to focus on the business and a place to keep the paperwork so it doesn’t creep through the entire house.

The key to a good home office is creating a space you want to spend time in, and key to that is colour and warmth. Choose a colour you love and work it through the entire room in different variations. For example if you like green, try a subtle shade of Resene Peace on the walls with perhaps a bold feature walls in Resene Mother Nature, shelves and furniture in Resene Rivergum all offset with off-white trim in Resene White Pointer.

Or go with a versatile neutral like Resene Half Tea and one wall in something bold like Resene Bi Hoki. You want to open the door to the office and have the colour scheme make you smile, instead of just thinking about all the work to be done.

If you don’t have a designated office room, create the illusion of one in a quiet corner of another room, like a bedroom or kitchen. Create the sense of a separate space by painting around the area in a contrasting colour, even including the floor and ceiling if you want. If you have a neutral dining room painted in something like Resene Quarter Spanish White, try painting your office area in Resene Artemis, a beautiful warm weathered blue. If you want to create a further sense of separation think about a move-able wooden screen that can be painted to suit your colour scheme.