You are ready to redo your kitchen, and you are very inspired by a farmhouse or rustic vacation home that you recently spent time in. Fair enough! In this day of hi-tech gadgets and synthetic material that surround us, we have all felt that ache for a simpler time, of wood and stone, of charming rural homes from another era.

The first and central idea to bear in mind while recreating a rustic look for your kitchen is all-natural material.

You can upcycle pallets into cheap and easy open shelves in the kitchen. Use these for small items like spice jars, or even to display an antique kettle. Cross-sectioned tree trunks make beautiful side-tables, while thinner steak-style slices can make up an entire backsplash.

Think about making cabinet doors made of wooden pallets an old re-purposed fence will do wonderfully. Do not remove all of the old paint, leave some on to accent the distressed wood look. Find old brass or copper knobs for the cabinets, and if they are tarnished, that can actually be a look. Also, twine can be wound around regular door knobs and cabinet door handles to cover some of the metal, and create a pretty accent that is warm to hold in cold months.

Make sure your copper pots are properly displayed perhaps you can hang them from retro copper pipes from the roof, just over the island. Countertops must be wood or stone, with a wide, beautiful farmhouse sink for that authentic touch. Depending upon the look of your kitchen, choose stone, fireclay or copper for your farmhouse sink, and finish the look with a charming old-world faucet over the sink.

Get rid of all plastic jars, because plastic has no place in a rustic theme. Use glass jars for storage, and do bring in a hint of the kitchen garden by planting herbs in a bunch of repurposed mason jars on the window sill. Display fruit and vegetable prominently, in wooden bowls or beautiful white wicker baskets.

A rustic theme doesn’t require a big budget or major remodeling. You could take a year’s time to make each element by hand, and install it yourself. After all, DIY and handmade articles are at the very heart of a rustic home, where people invariable built things by themselves!