The interior design micro trend Country Charm has been around for a few years now, and the interest for it is not abating. It had a resurgence in 2020 during the Covid pandemic, when people wanted to enjoy exterior spaces and fresh air so some who had the option to move to the probinsiya did so. The main drivers were healthy surroundings and food self-sufficiency. Rural Escapism gave rise to the micro trends Countrycore, Cottagecore, or Farmcore.
The Country Charm Palette
The Country Charm interior style exudes a rustic and serene ambience.
The color palette veers away from the browns that used to be the primary colors found in the traditional Filipino homes like the bahay kubo or bahay na bato. Bright colors have been added to give the home a modern twist. These additional colors echo those found in the lovely bucolic setting, which can help you enjoy even more the pastoral lifestyle offered by country life.
Although micro trends supposedly have short lifespans, the Country Charm interior style may have a longer appeal to many Filipinos who want the steadiness and comfort of the familiar.
You can even make it more sustainable by decorating your home with traditional materials that are available locally, using vintage or heirloom furniture and other home decor, or recycling building materials like timber, colored glass, or capiz windows from old houses that are being torn down.
Vernacular Architecture
If you’re building a new place in a farm or rural area, consider vernacular architecture with its pitched roof and extended eaves. A pitched roof’s main advantage would be ventilation. When temperatures hover around 40 degrees Celsius, like it has in the last months, a pitched roof gives space for hot air to rise, and helps cool the air inside the home.
Extended eaves provide not only a way to regulate the temperature in the house, but it also becomes an additional living space. You can enjoy the outdoors while still being protected from the elements.
It would be good to get an architect who is able to design your home that beats with a Filipino soul. Find someone who practices critical regionalism. Architect Edwin Uy defined it—
In this approach to architectural design, the components of the environment and the natural landscape or of one’s local culture are integrated into the architecture of a building, instead of utilizing the typical global elements of one type of architecture.
Many, if not all, of us long to have a home we can call our own. This may be a Pollyanna-ish thing to say but if you don’t own a home yet, just keep on dreaming, especially today when we are celebrating Independence Day. Looking at the ongoing armed conflicts around the world, we are blessed that we still have the capacity for self-determination and the freedom to live our lives in peace.
Happy Independence Day, Philippines!
