Hey there Remodelaholic readers! Dawn here, from and I’m back this month with another reader question mockup to hopefully inspire some creative ideas for your space. If you’ve missed any of my previous reader question mockups, you can always .
If you follow Remodelaholic on , you’ve probably seen several of the reader questions that are submitted every month. Well each month here on Remodelaholic, I choose one reader submitted photo to offer my two cents on, and I create a Photoshop mock up of what I would do if I were in your shoes! (Pssssst— you can submit your reader questions by messaging Remodelaholic on Facebook!)
First though, my standard disclaimer: While I can recommend ideas that I think look nice, I have never seen this house in real life and don’t have accurate measurements. I am also not an architect or landscaper and do not know the planting recommendations for your area- I just like to make things look nice. I can’t guarantee that any of the items I put in my ‘virtual’ design will actually work in real life (or that they’ll fit your design style for that matter), and this is not intended to be a professional design consultation. So think of this as a just-for-fun rendering that hopefully gets your wheels turning and provides some inspiration!
On to the fun!
READER QUESTION from Karen —
We bought a new house, in the country, and it has a wood burning fireplace. The door of the fireplace opens so we can put logs in, clean it, etc. I’m wondering how I can update the brick and what to do with the room? We’re thinking modern meets country but are open to any and all suggestions. Right now in the photos it’s the current owners furniture and decor, we move in July. I would love to get opinions on what to do with the room, including furniture suggestions, etc. The window behind the couch is actually a sliding glass door, but we won’t be using it much, if at all. We will be using the room as our main family room with the tv above the fireplace.
A blank slate! I love it! I jumped at the chance to redecorate this lovely room. I mean… just look at those floors! Plus, modern country sounds like a fun design style to work with. To start with, I browsed around for some inspiration in a similar style to what I had in mind for Karen’s space. Here’s what I found:
Modern Country Style Inspiration
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Image Source: | Photo Credit: Serena & Lily
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I had a pretty good idea going in of how I wanted to style this room, but the inspiration photos really helped to cement my plans and I was ready to dive in. Here’s what I came up with for Karen’s new space:
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Tips for a Modern Country Style
To start with, I actually really love the brick fireplace, as it is! I’m certainly not one to shy away from painting brick, but in this case, and with this style, it really works and actually adds a lot of texture and color to the room. I’d leave the brick alone and focus on other elements to brighten up the space and help the brick fit right in. For example, the wall color. Because of the warm tone of the brick and the flooring, the brown wall and overall color scheme give the whole room a sort of bland, orangey glow that just isn’t flattering. The first thing I would do is give the whole space a brightening up with cooler colors overall. In my mockup, I used a fun blue and white patterned wallpaper on the fireplace wall, and added white shiplap to the adjacent wall. While the clean lines and bright colors/patterns look decidedly modern, the added texture brings in a country vibe as well. With just that change in wall coloring, the fireplace brick already looks more modern. To further update the look of the fireplace, I would beef up the mantel with a larger and more rustic looking beam.
From there, I fitted the room out with a nice combination of modern furniture and country decor. The real secret to a modern style is clean lines, so keeping the furniture sleek and low profile is key here. I went with a cool gray tone that blends well with any style. Throughout the rest of the furniture, I looked for pieces that had a similar clean design, but that also incorporated a bit of rustic texture to bring in the country style. The woven baskets in the clean white pieces flanking the fireplace, the rope texture of the low cube coffee table, and the wood and metal of the bookshelf all combine to give the space a decidedly country style, but with a modern flair.
The final touches are lots of plant life. I’m a big believer that plants make every room better, but in a room meant to evoke the feel of a country life, plants are a necessity for certain!
So what do you think? What would you do if this were your home?
As always, thank you to Cassity and the Remodelaholic team for having me back each month. If you like this post, and have a design dilemma you’d like me to mock up some ideas for, you can ask your questions by sending Remodelaholic , or checkout my mockup design services over on my site And be sure to follow me on , , or and say hello! Have a great day, friends!
-Dawn
More Real Life Room Inspiration
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