The Ultimate Modern Farmhouse: Atlanta Homes and Lifestyle Magazine 2019 Showhouse at Serenbe

I have been just fawning over Scandinavian / Nordic farmhouse design ever since we took our trip to Iceland in 2015. I have been dreaming of having my very own scandinavin farmhouse here in Atlanta Georgia ever since. This summer we fell in love with a big historic farmhouse that was built in 1900. My husband and I looked at each other and just knew this was our future. So we sold everything and moved from the big city to a sleepy little farm town south of Atlanta. In the Chattahoochee Hills near our new home is the GORGEOUS wellness neighborhood / community called Serenbe. 

At Serenbe they have the most beautiful modern farmhouse homes and much of it is inspired by European / Scandinavian design. So when I had the chance to peek inside one of these incredible modern farmhouses here in Georgia, I said 100% yes.

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Serenbe host a designer’s showcase home every year in partnership with Atlanta Homes and Lifestyles magazine.  Let me say this.. if you’re a design fanatic then its SO worth coming down to see and drool and be inspired by all the amazing spaces. There is also a ton to do in Serenbe so its a perfect weekend or day-trip.

The showhouse is open from September 19th till October 13th, Thursday- Sunday 10am-5pm. You can purchase tickets here.

Okay okay, now down to business here are my favorite spaces and the top design tips I learned from visiting.

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Texture is KING

One of the biggest things I notice when touring professionally designed homes is that there is always such an interesting variety of textures that enhance the space from your everyday average look to a truly unique and cohesive space. One of my favorite ways to add texture in my home is by using plants and a variety of natural fibers. Think animal hides, stone, rattan, wicker, pampas grass, and PLANTS!

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Wallpaper is BACK.

In case you hadn’t heard, the modern revolution of wallpaper is back with a vengeance and here to stay. Gone are the overstated florals of the 90’s and here to stay are subtle, modern, or whimsical wallpaper patterns and textures that make your walls ( or ceilings) come to life!

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Open shelves are better than ever

I love an open shelving display of any kind. But I’m particularly loving the industrial kitchen open shelving as a choice to display the everyday kitchen goods stacked in a neat and organized way. It certainly helps to have pretty white dish-ware to show off too! I also am very into the styled living room shelves as a work of art. Not necessarily for a functional items, but thats what baskets are for! I love a styled shelf with a few baskets sprinkled in here and there in order to actually hold / hide the kids stuff.

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Gallery Walls + Minimal Walls

Balance your minimalist white space with strategically placed gallery walls. This home did not lack art, but yet it still felt so open and like there were plenty of minimal white walls. It was an amazing balance that I am hoping to recreate in my own home. I think it helped that the trim, ceilings and walls were all the same continuous color so that made everything seem bigger and brighter. Its little design tricks like this that make the modern farmhouse design so bright and airy. The art all around the home was also pretty bright / light as well. So it invited you in but at the same time provided enough white space for the eyes to rest. Not an easy task thats for sure. Well done to all these amazing Atlanta area Serenbe designers.

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Play with Scale

There were several oversized items in the home that really made a statement. Lighting. lines, and furniture can all be played with at either smaller or larger scale to provide an interesting twist or focal point of a design. I love large scale lights and I am IN LOVE with the one they had in the twin bedroom. I’ll make sure to include the links to all the items at the end of this post. I am excited about getting a few large lights for our home to bring that WOW factor to our high ceiling rooms.

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All in all it was an insanely inspiring home. There are so many new modern design trends in 2019 and finding the balance between classic design theory that will last throughout the years and the current trends is no easy feat. This group of designers did a beautiful job and their expertise and experience certainly shows through.

If you want to purchase tickets to see the showhouse for yourself ( there are tons of things I didn’t show you here ) then click here. All proceeds from the showhouse directly benefit the Art Farm at Serenbe. Learn more about the Art Farm and its programs here.

Also to find the full list of design partners click here to see the sources and pricing for each item, make sure to visit the showhouse and they will give you all the details.

Let me know in the comments what is your favorite photo from this post and I’ll be picking a winner to gift a set of tickets to the showhouse! You better act now because it’s only open till October 13th!

xo,

Katherine