The cool grey-and-white shiplap farmhouse look that peaked a decade ago is reading dated now. The “warm” qualifier is what’s actually rising, up 40% year over year, and it comes down to warm white instead of greige, honey wood instead of grey-wash. Start with that core swap, then the material choices that follow from it, ending with the specific dated details worth skipping entirely.
1. Choose warm white or cream over cool grey-white
A warm white or cream with a yellow undertone, rather than the cool, blue-grey “greige” that defined farmhouse style’s earlier decade, is the single biggest lever for updating the look. The cool grey-white farmhouse wall is specifically what’s reading dated now — it’s the most immediately dating choice in the entire style.
2. Choose warm honey or golden wood over grey-washed
Honey oak or golden pine furniture, rather than the grey-washed or whitewashed wood that dominated earlier farmhouse style, is the other half of the essential update. Grey-washed shiplap or furniture is as dating to farmhouse style as cool white walls — the second most dating material choice after item 1.
3. Skip shiplap; use board-and-batten or plaster texture instead
Board-and-batten paneling or a textured plaster wall finish delivers similar warmth and character to horizontal shiplap boards without the visual cliché. Shiplap is the single most saturated, most immediately dating farmhouse signature at this point — the most recognizable, most overused wall treatment of the past decade.
4. Choose linen or boucle upholstery in warm neutral tones
Linen or boucle in oatmeal or sand, rather than the classic slipcovered white cotton farmhouse sofa, reads more current than the flat white slipcover that defined the earlier decade. A white cotton slipcovered sofa now reads as dated as shiplap.
5. Add brass or aged bronze hardware, not oil-rubbed bronze
Brass or a genuinely aged bronze, rather than the flat black “oil-rubbed bronze” finish ubiquitous in earlier farmhouse hardware, reads current. Matte black oil-rubbed bronze throughout is as specifically dated a signal as shiplap and grey-wash from the style’s earlier peak.
6. Choose a vintage or antique piece over a mass-produced farmhouse SKU
One genuinely vintage or antique piece, sourced secondhand, gives a room real age and provenance that separates it from one furnished entirely off a single retailer’s farmhouse-labeled product line. An entire room furnished from one matching “farmhouse collection” reads like a showroom rather than a personally assembled home.
7. Use a jute or wool rug instead of a printed “farmhouse” pattern
A natural jute or wool rug in a warm neutral tone reads genuinely warm and current. A printed rug with an explicit farmhouse pattern — roosters, “gather” text, buffalo check — is the most dated, most novelty-adjacent version of the style, and reads more theme-park than considered design.
8. Add warm 2700K lighting throughout
2700K bulbs in every fixture, no cool white anywhere, are what make warm white walls and honey wood actually read warm. A cool 4000K bulb in even one fixture flattens the warmth every other material choice on this list is working to establish.
9. Choose one or two genuine farmhouse details, not every one available
Pick one or two genuine farmhouse signatures — an exposed beam, a farmhouse sink if it’s in the kitchen sightline — rather than layering every possible element into one room. Too many signifiers at once pushes a room from warm and characterful into themed. Exposed beams, board-and-batten, a barn door and a farmhouse table together overloads the style until it reads costume.
10. Keep the overall palette warm and layered, not stark
Every choice — walls, wood, fabric, metal — should stay warm-toned, avoiding any cool grey or stark white anywhere in the room. This is the single rule that separates warm farmhouse from the dated cool version. Introducing even one cool grey or stark white element reintroduces exactly the quality this whole approach argues against.
Common questions
Is farmhouse style dated now?
The specific cool-grey, shiplap, oil-rubbed-bronze version from a decade ago reads dated. The warm version this piece describes is a genuine, currently rising direction — up 40% year over year — and the “warm” qualifier is what’s actually moving.
Should I remove shiplap I already have?
Not necessarily. Painting existing shiplap in a warm white (item 1) and pairing it with warm wood and metal tones can update the look without removing the architectural feature itself.
What farmhouse details should I avoid?
Shiplap, oil-rubbed bronze and novelty printed patterns (items 3, 5 and 7) are the three most specifically dated signatures from the style’s earlier peak.
Where to start
Repaint the walls in a warm white from item 1 before any other change. It’s the single decision that does the most to shift the room from the dated cool farmhouse look toward the warmer, current version this whole piece describes.
For a more historically specific rustic style, see Primitive Living Room Ideas, or browse the full Living Room collection.