Country house style & chalet: light for parlour, wood and loden

What is country house style?

Country house style is an interior style inspired by farmhouses and rural homes: lots of wood, handcrafted furniture, natural fabrics and a warm, down-to-earth atmosphere. In the Alps it appears as a parlour (Stube) with a corner bench and tiled stove, as a chalet with wood-panelled walls, or as a farmhouse with limewashed walls and old beams. The modern country house style keeps these materials but combines them with calmer colours, cleaner shapes and less decoration. That way the room feels rural without looking like a folk museum.

How do you recognise country house and chalet style?

Country house and chalet style are recognisable by real wood in many forms and by fabrics that look handcrafted and alpine.

• Materials: spruce, larch, Swiss pine and oak, often with visible knots; linen, wool, loden and sheepskin; ceramics and natural stone.
• Colours: white and lime white, warm wood tones, fir green, grey and muted red.
• Architecture: wooden beams, wall panelling, deep window reveals, tiled or wood-burning stove, wide floorboards.
• Furniture: corner bench, solid dining table, old chests and farmhouse cabinets, wooden beds, simple benches in the entrance.
• Details: checked fabrics, wild flowers in a jug, logs by the stove, a loden jacket on the coat rack.

Chalet style is the alpine variant: walls and ceilings are often entirely wood and the view goes to the mountains. Country house style in the wider sense is brighter and also includes limewashed walls and farmhouse furniture.

The right light for country house style

Country house lighting is warm, rather low and tied to the places where people sit: at the parlour table, by the stove, by the bed. Because wooden walls and ceilings reflect less light than white walls, rooms with lots of wood need several light sources rather than one strong ceiling light.

Choose warm white light

Bulbs with 2,200 to 2,700 kelvin make spruce and Swiss pine glow golden and match the light of a tiled or wood stove. Cold white light turns wood grey and limewashed walls bluish. Dimmable bulbs help to soften the light over the parlour table after dinner.

Materials from the room, not against it

In country house style, the lamp can continue the materials of the room. Alpine hay shades are made of real hay and flowers from mountain meadows and glow warmly; loden is the woollen fabric already found in cushions and jackets; and Swiss pine is the wood of many alpine parlours. This makes the lamp look as if it belongs to the house. The only thing that matters is balance: if the room is already full of pattern and carving, a calm, single-coloured shade is the better choice.

Layers of light instead of ceiling light

Plan three to four light sources per room: a pendant above the table, a floor lamp by the sofa or stove, a table lamp by the bed and a wall lamp for the entrance or a reading bench. In low parlours with beamed ceilings, a flat ceiling lamp replaces the pendant.

Country house style room by room

Parlour

Above the table with a corner bench, the pendant is the centre of the parlour. Discus, 55 cm in diameter with a shade of alpine hay, suits spruce, a tiled stove and wild flowers; its shade is around 20 cm tall and gives warm light on the table. The lower edge hangs 60 to 70 cm above the table top. Important: the lamp belongs above the centre of the table, not the centre of the room. Because a table with a corner bench usually sits in the corner, the ceiling outlet often has to be moved. For small parlour tables, the 35 cm Discus is enough. For low ceilings, Discus is also available as a ceiling lamp.

Living room

Next to the sofa or stove, a floor lamp creates a warm reading spot. Ligno stands on a tripod of oak, walnut or Swiss pine and carries a shade of alpine hay, leaves or loden. In green loden with Swiss pine legs, it picks up the colours of loden cushions, wooden beams and the meadows outside the window. Ideally it stands to the side and slightly behind the seat, so the light falls on the book from behind without dazzling.

Bedroom

In a chalet bedroom with wooden walls, calm and subdued light by the bed is enough. The Pura table lamp is 33 cm tall, has a shade 28 cm in diameter and a solid wooden base of oak, Swiss pine or walnut. With an alpine hay shade and a Swiss pine base, it suits a pine or spruce bedside table. With a double bed, place one lamp on each side so both have their own reading light.

Entrance

In the entrance, light should welcome you without dazzling. The Cortex wall lamp with a half shade of Swiss pine veneer hangs above an old bench or coat rack and casts soft light onto the limewashed wall. If there is no power connection on the wall, the Cubus wall lamp in reclaimed wood, rustic oak or Swiss pine is also available battery-powered.

Common country house lighting mistakes

• Cold white light: above 3,000 kelvin, wood looks grey and the parlour uninviting.
• Only one ceiling light: in wood-panelled rooms, the corners stay dark without further light sources.
• Too much rustic: if furniture, fabrics and decoration are already strong, a calm lamp balances the room better than another ornate piece.
• Imitations instead of real materials: plastic with a wood look or printed shades stand out immediately next to real wood and loden.
• Pendant hung too high: if the lamp hangs too high above the parlour table, it dazzles and the table loses its centre.

Country house lamps by Leuchtnatur

Leuchtnatur is a manufactory in Übersee on Lake Chiemsee, in the Bavarian alpine foothills. Many of its materials come from the same world as country house style: alpine hay with flowers from mountain meadows, Swiss pine and oak, loden in grey, green, red and anthracite. For bright country house rooms, the veneer floor lamps also work well, such as Lucerna in Swiss pine, whose grain glows when lit. The veneer comes from FSC-certified wood, and Leuchtnatur offers a 5-year guarantee. Find more in pendant lamps, ceiling lamps, floor lamps, table lamps and wall lamps.