8 Ranch Decorating Ideas: The Ultimate Guide to Designing Your Dream Ranch | United Country Real Estate

Building a dream home that provides the iconic feel of a ranch style and design can be challenging.  You can envision the elements as your main feature or incorporate some modern and sophisticated materials.

A country-style home design can include beautifully raw and natural materials like brick, stone, and wood.  

A more eclectic, contemporary, and modern touch would include other materials like marble, mixed metals, and bamboo.

So, whatever design or style you like for your ranch house, consider these ideas and find things that will suit the ranch house of your dreams.

Incorporate Stone and Wood Accents

The natural beauty and feel of wood and stone is a must for that country feel in a ranch house.  Authentic farmhouses have these materials for constructing walls, ceilings, accents, and furniture.  

This brings a warm and welcoming feeling that adds to coziness, even if your house is located in the city.  Consider adding a chic fireplace to modernize the look of your ranch house.

You can use wood as an accent for your marble counters, ceiling or floor. This creates a unique layout and brings that modern ranch twist.

Identify and Create Zones for Different Activities

You can make the most of your ranch style home by maximizing your outdoor space.  Create functional rooms in outdoor living spaces that will provide space for entertainment and relaxation. 

If you have one great space with no divisions, use rugs, bulky furniture, plants, and other fixtures to create zones or to distinguish areas like your living room, dining room, and kitchen.  

Modern ranch houses incorporate the use of hanging interesting light fixtures like industrial-style pendant lights.  Blend the beauty of antique and contemporary furniture and lighting features.

Enhance your ranch with unexpected styles such as mixing rustic style with something m

Create a Cohesive Look and Matched Style

Make your ranch house look up-to-date by creating a united look and distinguished style on the overall feel of your ranch house.  When someone enters your ranch house, there should be a feeling of belongingness, and you can achieve that when there is a cohesive design.

The matched style and cohesive look can be achieved by using similar color palettes in different rooms of the house.  Country-feel design usually uses a neutral palette that brings in a natural and aesthetic feeling.

Be consistent with design and decorating whilst applying innovation and creativity.  

Although you can be versatile and flexible when it comes to upgrading your design and decorations anytime and whenever you feel like doing so, remember to achieve a connection between the elements.

 Install Movable Walls and Cabinets

Most ranch houses are designed with an open-plan space.  This is because a ranch house is usually single-stories and low-slung, with low-pitched roofing, wide eaves, picture windows, and outdoor living spaces like a porch or a deck.

The wide open space of most ranch houses is void of divisions, but you can install movable walls and cabinets that can serve as divisions between areas in your ranch house.  

These fixtures make it easier to accommodate gatherings in your house if you plan to do so while providing privacy when you need it.

 Designer Kitchens

The kitchen is undoubtedly the heart of any home.  Even a ranch style home should have a kitchen that provides the basic and simple fixtures to achieve its purpose.  But, you can go beyond the simple and basic.

A ranch home can have a blend of contemporary and vintage furniture in the kitchen.  Modern lighting fixtures that are country-style can add to the perfect design for a ranch house kitchen.  

Consider adding personalized curation as you design your kitchen to serve the purpose you are building your kitchen for. You can also discuss this with your designer or architecture and present them an open layout of what your dream kitchen should be.

Consider Adding Smart Home Features

Ranch style homes are designed to be spacious and spread out over a considerably larger area of land.  You can add modern features to your ranch house that help you save energy and create a real country feel such as clean lines, sleek designs, and rustic textures.

Maximize the beauty of the country in your house with customized features like lighting, music, garages, external blinds, smart entertainment systems, automation for heating and cooling, and adjustable glass walls and ceilings.

Smart automation can make living in a ranch house more exciting and pleasurable.   Programmable lighting and heating can ensure safety and comfort.  

So if you have the extra budget for smart home features, there’s no harm in investing in sophistication or modernization for your ranch house.

Add a Kitchen Garden

Country living involves the consumption of fresh produce.  You can provide this in your ranch house with an additional outdoor living space in your ranch house that allows you to enjoy fresh produce from your own garden.

This is the main purpose of a kitchen garden or a “salad garden” which can be in the form of a patio or porch that is connected to your kitchen.  Plant herbs in the kitchen garden that you regularly use in cooking.  

This space can be built as close to your kitchen as possible since it serves as an extension to your kitchen and so that you can simply reach out the window for herbs or plants that you need for a dish you are already cooking.

Having a mini garden in unexpected areas of the house can add elegance to your ranch style house.

A Summer Kitchen

Kitchen ideas for a ranch house are a must since country living involves lots of home-style cooking. For this reason, another addition to a ranch house that is worth the investment is a summer kitchen.

Typically, a summer kitchen is built as a separate, small building that contains a stove, a wide worktop surface, and a storage room for equipment, utensils, and numerous large pots and pans. 

It can also be built attached to your ranch house for ease of transport of goods and accessibility.

When adding a summer kitchen, it is best to enclose it with screens to make it a versatile space for various activities such as canning, butchering, and soap-making.  

It can also be transformed into a bug-free summer living room where you can read and host rainy-day picnics. 

Make Your Ranch Style House as Cozy as Can Be

Overwhelmed by the things on the list? Start slow and remember, you don’t need to change your entire place. You can start with the bedrooms or start small with a garden.