Rustic Luxe Is The Living Room Decor Trend That Combines All Your Favorite Things

You know those living rooms that feel at once inviting, cozy, and warm, but wonderfully refined and elegant? If you find yourself attracted to traditional furniture and subtle antique touches, all with a high-end sensibility, rustic luxe might just be the aesthetic you've been trying to pin down. Rustic luxe might sound like a bit of a contradiction, but it's all about mixing the old with the new, the relaxed with the refined, and the shabby with the chic. 

This style is particularly well suited to common areas like the living room, because it perfectly balances aesthetics with comfort. But because of all of the nuances of this style, it can be difficult to determine how to do it in your home. We'll walk you through how to embrace rustic luxe decor in your home by using a mixture of traditional-style furnishings with contemporary sensibilities, as well as how to incorporate elements of industrial, natural, and vintage décor for a skillfully designed living room. 

The rustic luxe look is really defined by its use of materials. You'll see lots of exposed wood, brushed metals like brass and iron, as well as stainless steel and leather. For coffee tables, we love the one shown here, which uses a tree trunk as the support and a simple glass topper. This creates a striking contrast between the gnarled, knotted tree and the thin, modern pane of glass. You can find a similar model from Wayfair for under $700.

Traditional-style leather arm chairs and sofas bring a ton of warmth to the living room, but can be balanced out with bright white slipcover couches to nail the old money quiet luxury trend. This keeps the space from feeling too dark or leaning too far into a campy log cabin look. The retailer Restoration Hardware also offers lots of unique furniture items for a rustic-inspired home. 

Don't feel limited to matching wood tones or furniture sets. Part of what makes this style feel fundamentally rustic is the contrast of different wood types, grains, colors, and textures, almost as though you went out to the forest, chopped the wood, and made the furniture yourself. For a more contemporary edge, look for ash and blonde woods. These will look great on beams, display cabinets, and media centers. Ultimately, look for furniture pieces that are comfortable and stylish, and remember that rustic does not mean unsophisticated, and luxe doesn't mean stuffy.

Rustic luxe is a great jumping off point when you're getting started on a home vision board and picking out the main furniture pieces for your living room, but there's a good chance you'll want to put your own unique spin on the style as well. Rustic luxe pairs well with many other design aesthetics, such as industrial and farmhouse, so there are still plenty of ways to imbue the living room with your own unique style, especially through accent décor. There are many different rugs that would look gorgeous with this design style — go for a textured shag carpet or faux fur pelts, or something more like an Indigenous American-inspired wool rug to add warmer colors to the space. 

Brass candlesticks, glazed pottery, and cloth-covered books also add character to the space. In addition to traditional furniture retailers, you should also make good use of your local thrift shops and antique malls for the rustic luxe look. These are wonderful treasures to be found, and buying vintage and antique pieces lends a refined authenticity to the style. And often, you can find decorative items and furniture pieces at steep discounts compared to newer reproductions.