Homespun interiors are having a moment. It’s an aesthetic that has never felt more in tune with today’s appetite for all things handmade and rustic. Welcome to prairie-core.
Following the Ingalls family as they build a home, work the land, and embrace a simple way of life in the small pioneer town of Walnut Grove in the late 1800s, Little House on the Prairie is the original tradwife story.
It champions all the hallmarks of the all-American homestead, from higgledy-piggledy furniture to open stoves and hand-stitched quilts, bedding, curtains and cushions.
Check this bedding out.
From running through wheaten fields to shopping for peppermint sticks at Henderson General Store, the Ingalls girls’ dresses featured prints such as stripes, plaids, polka dots, and florals, which translate well into wallpapers and bedding.
This frontier-friendly, eight-piece set includes a red stripe and a gingham frill duvet cover and pillowcase set with fitted sheets.
A super king size costs about €123, excluding delivery from UK-based Made.com.
Bedding down
English in origin, when the Ingalls moved to the big woods of Pepin, Wisconsin, they had to transport every stick of furniture with them.
This space-saving Leamington flat pack metal bed frame comes in pewter grey and is a functional solution.
A sprung slatted base provides firmer support and allows air to circulate beneath the mattress.
Engineered for comfort, the bed is designed to fit all standard mattress sizes.
Currently available in double, €616, or king-size, €749, from Next, it’s the type of heirloom piece that can pass down the generations.
Cookware for all conditions
Frontier-era goods had to perform in all weathers and conditions.
There was no built-in obsolescence, which is why durable cast iron cookware featured so prominently.
Called a Dutch oven in the US, on account of the use of sand moulds to cast metal pots in the Netherlands, when enamelled, the casserole dish is known as a cocotte in France and popularised by Le Creuset.
Pictured is Brazilian brand Tramontina’s pre-seasoned cast iron dish, 28 cm wide, €117, at Brown Thomas.
Home-made accent pieces
Prairie style is about investing in classic pieces that showcase high-quality craftsmanship. Offaly-based carpenter Donal Cleary believes in using “tried and tested methods of construction that make for a piece that will last physically but not look dated in the future."
Made of Irish hardwood with a waney edge and waxed finish, this five-ped coatrack is on point and can be home to coats, dog leashes, scarves and other accoutrements.
Price €80 at The Irish Design Shop.
A stitch in time
There’s an enduring quality to the pieces featured.
They are built, furnished, and decorated with honest materials and celebrate the American craft tradition. Everything is made to last.
Think handmade eiderdowns, blankets, and cushions. Crafted from quality wool and natural jute, this cushion features a striking geometric design in vibrant red against a soft cream base.
With stripes on the flip side, it brings both colour and inviting texture to any living space, price €56, down from €70, at Oriana B.
Rock on
Inspired by the Windsor chair, Fredericia’s J16 is a rocker designed by Hans J. Wegner in 1944.
Characterised by curved lines and spindles, with a corded-by-hand seat from natural paper yarn, it was originally designed for FDB, the Danish Consumers’ Co-operative Society, which laid the basis for the whole concept of Danish Modern.
FDB’s furniture production started in the 1940s, and their main idea was functionalist and democratic design for the people. It costs about €2,988, ex-delivery from Finnish Design Shop.
On the side
Furniture of this era was handmade, rustic and often signed by the maker with what was known as a maker’s mark.
It could be a name, or for those that couldn’t write, they used an X to make their mark.
Channel that rustic approach with this distressed oriental sideboard that could have been made from Asian barn doors. It costs €1,795 from Flanagan Kerins.
Space-saving trundle bed
Many cabins had trundle beds, a place to accommodate an extra overnight guest or for siblings to use when the main bed got too overcrowded.
UK firm Posie and Penn has taken this idea and prettied it up in various giant gingham prints in soft pink, blue, green, grey and the red pictured, which costs €833.95, excluding two standard single mattresses that can also be ordered through the site.
