How to Mix Country With Primitives in a Master Bedroom

Establish a neutral, natural palette on the walls, floor and major furnishings. Starting with a neutral palette will allow you to mix country style and primitives with joyful abandon without having to worry about taking the room over the top. Natural textures and colors will complement both country and primitive items. For example, start with wood floors and taupe natural-clay walls. Consider painting subtle primitive figures, like cave paintings, on the walls as a decorative homage to primitive art.

Select furniture made from natural materials that can veer toward country or primitive, depending on their surroundings. For example, install a rough-stone fireplace facade if you have a fireplace in your bedroom, or bring the outdoors in with a stone fountain. Bring in a bed frame made of stripped, notched-together logs. Place an antique cane stool in the corner. Set a hide-covered trunk at the foot of the bed.

Furnish the room with mostly "rough," natural textures, spiced with country-style materials and patterns. For example, layer the bed with plaid flannel sheets and plain wool blankets. Use burlap for curtains. Skip the high-gloss painted dresser in favor of a plain wood dresser left unpainted to show the patterns in the wood.

Add a judicious mixture of country and primitive accents to give the room decorative depth. Choose your items carefully and err on the side of less, rather than more, to avoid careening over the line into country kitsch. Put these accents together rather than segregating primitives away from country items. For example, drop a big pillow made from a vintage flour sack on the bed next to a pillow printed with reproductions of cave paintings. Display a primitive sculpture on a windowsill — flanked by a pair of glass milk bottles.