Trending design styles and the materials that help define them.
Do you keep seeing different styles of log or timber frame home that you love, but you are not sure what it’s called? We asked interior designers and an architect to define the popular styles homebuyers desire when building their forever log, timber frame, or hybrid home in 2025.
RUSTIC FARMHOUSE
Common rustic design elements include:
- Exposed ceiling beams
- Use of reclaimed wood
- Exposed stone walls both interior and exterior
- Wood flooring
- Distressed and handcrafted items
- Focus on a large hearth in the great room, either gas or wood-burning
- Prominent staircases
- Sliding Barn doors
“Farmhouse style has gained a lot of ground in the past 10 years, thanks to DIY shows and Chip and Joanna Gaines,” says Molly Cooper, lead interior design coordinator at Cooper & CO (Moss, Tennessee). “Adding in massive wooden timbers and logs will not only help the farmhouse look but even elevate it into something spectacular. Because a true ‘old timey’ farmhouse was built of timbers and logs milled from the properties they were built on. So to incorporate them in the design seems only natural.”
MODERN FARMHOUSE
Modern elements include:
- Timber Framing walls and roof trusses employed in great room, dining, and kitchen
- Steel or brushed aluminum custom appliances
- Custom tile backsplash in kitchen
- Blonde wide plank wood flooring
- High tech hearth in the great room
- Reclaimed beams
- Distressed wood designed elements
- Bleached raw wood for cabinetry
“The modern farmhouse style is still very popular, mixing painted shiplap with stained ceiling beams and farmhouse lighting,” says Cassandra Christianson, interior designer and project coordinator at Wisconsin Log Homes, Inc. and WLH Custom Homes, LLC (Green Bay, Wisconsin).
“Lighter wood floors are very popular with white walls and black hardware accents, keeping everything bright and crisp. There are also a lot of vintage design styles coming back, with deep blues, greens, and burgundy colors used in vintage rugs and throws. Antique gold lighting and plumbing are used to create that vintage style as well,” Cassandra says.
“Timber and log homes are still utilizing rustic elements of distressed floors and reclaimed beams as well as stone that has over grouted joints for a more ‘old-world feel’,” Cassandra says.
Molly says homebuyers seek sleek modern farmhouse designs with an attention to detail. “Folks seem to not be able to get away from the popular farmhouse style, but they are seeming to want less of the shabby chic end of it,” Molly says. “Instead, you see more clean lines, insert shiplap, and less all white now adding in shades of color like blues, grays, and greens. Adding in painted white cabinets was so popular 10 years ago, the trend has turned and a new bleached out raw wood look for cabinets has prevailed. Wide plank floors may never go out again, but the dark rich colors seem to have taken a downturn with light and airy tones topping the must-have charts.”
FULL RUSTIC
Rustic elements include:
- Milled or handcrafted log walls
- Timber frame trusses over the public areas of the home
- Sliding barn doors
- Wide plank wood floors
- Reclaimed timbers
- Reclaimed wood cabinets
- Wraparound porches
- Centrally positioned gas or wood-burning hearth
“Rustic design is still a strong contender in what folks are looking for, they want to take a break from the cities and get back to nature, what better way to do that than a log or timber home,” Molly says. “One of the most popular tourist towns here in Tennessee is Gatlinburg with a National Park right out the back door to thousands of log and timber frame vacation homes. So many folks want to make one their everyday home and the number of log and timber frame homes being built, even in this unstable economy with building expenses through the roof, is still rising with no end in sight. They see the rustic designed home as one they are safe in, they are comfortable in, and all the wood elements provide the feeling that the outdoors are also indoors.”
FUTURE PROOFING THEIR HOMES
Today’s homebuyers are planning for their future, by opting for designs that will allow them to age in place. These universal design strategies include:
- No step entries
- Door sills flush to the floor
- Wider doors, hallways to accommodate wheelchairs 36-42 inches wide
- Lever door handles and rocker light switches
- One-story living
- The ability to add an elevator for multiple story homes
“If you are set on building a home with multiple floors, especially if the lot you are building on somewhat requires it, adding in an elevator or at the very least a predetermined area for one to be added at a later date,” Molly says. “Be sure your designer stacks a nice size closet right on top of each other from the top floor down to the bottom. Keeping a ‘future’ elevator in mind as you design and decorate won’t end up being such a hassle nor a huge expense when the time comes to install it.”
“A new trend that has evolved the past few years is a ‘wet area tub-shower combo.’ So the shower is lipless and roll-in ready and the tub is all within the wet area and the drain is in the middle of the space for easy water drainage,” Molly says.
“We still have quite a bit of homeowners who like the rustic style home but we’ve definitely seen quite an increase in mountain modern designs,” says Architect Matthew Franklin at MTN Design, and PrecisionCraft Log & Timber Homes (Meridian, Idaho). “The clean lines, open floor plans, lighter colors, and walls of glass are very popular right now.”
The push and pull between costs and square footage can require creativity. “We are also seeing an increased desire to keep square footage, and therefore total cost of the home, down as much as possible,” Matthew says. “But many homebuyers aren’t willing to give up on what they want out of their home so we’re needing to get very creative with spaces and the ability to use them for multiple functions. For example, we recently completed a home that uses the laundry room as an office and a hallway upstairs as a very nice bunk room with sleeping for four.”
More homebuyers are also interested in larger garages, with three, four, or even more bays for recreational vehicles or an indoor pickleball court. “I would also say that we’re seeing an increase in demand for larger storage capability, and larger garages for toys,” Matthew says. “People still love all their ‘stuff,’ and we seem to have more of it than ever, and we don’t want to depart from it.”