Key Takeaways
- Deepest markdown this week: Country Living Decorating Style is down the most of the group, and it’s a broad starting point if you only want one book.
- Best seller of the bunch: Country Living Farmhouse Style sits at bestseller rank #214, the strongest sales signal in this pool.
- For a coffee table splurge: Country House Living from Rizzoli is half off, the kind of oversized photo book people actually leave out.
- Budget angle: 750 Great Ideas for Decorating on a Budget is built for renters and anyone redoing a room without gutting it.
July in West Virginia is porch season, which is a funny time to be thinking about the inside of your house. But that first stretch of real heat is exactly when a lot of us give up on the yard for the afternoon, come inside where the AC is, and start noticing the living room walls we’ve been ignoring since Christmas. Farmhouse decorating books are a summer-project purchase as much as a winter one, and this week’s WV Finds run is heavy on them.
What jumped out reviewing the week’s deals is how much of the discount pool is Country Living. Hearst has most of the imprint on sale at once, from the flagship Farmhouse Style down to the cottage and Irish country titles, and the markdowns run roughly 40 to 76 percent. When a whole publishing line goes on sale together like this, it usually means backlist inventory moving ahead of a Prime event, which is good news if you’ve had one of these on a wishlist.
I leaned the picks toward the decorating books people actually pull off the shelf, plus a couple of splurgier photo books for anyone who wants one showpiece. Prices verified July 1, 2026.
What are the best farmhouse style decorating books?
For true farmhouse style, the Country Living titles are the safest bets here, and Farmhouse Style is the one to start with. It has the best sales rank in the group and the clearest focus on the warm, rustic look most people mean when they say farmhouse.
Country Living Farmhouse Style
This is the book to grab first if farmhouse is the whole point. Bestseller rank #214 tells you it’s the most bought of anything in this roundup, and the Country Living Home imprint is consistent about big, well-lit room photos over dense text. Good for someone furnishing a first house or slowly warming up a builder-grade room, less useful if you already own three Country Living books.
- Warm, rustic farmhouse interiors
- Bestseller rank #214
- Country Living Home imprint
Country Living Decorating Style
Decorating Style is the broadest of the Country Living titles and it’s down the most this week, which makes it the value pick of the group. It covers general country decorating rather than one narrow look, so it works as a single reference if you don’t want a shelf full of these. If you’re building out a country library, the wider Country Living lineup we tracked pairs well with it.
- Broad country decorating reference
- Deepest markdown in this group
- Good single-book starting point
Country Living Country Chic
Country Chic is the modern-leaning entry, aimed at people who like the country feel but not the full antique-store look. Think cleaner lines and lighter palettes with country bones underneath. It’s a reasonable middle ground for a younger house or a mix of old and new furniture.
- Modern country style
- Lighter palettes, cleaner lines
- Mix of old and new furniture
Which cottage decorating books are worth it?
Cottage style overlaps farmhouse but runs softer, with more pattern, painted furniture, and cozy clutter. Three here cover that ground at different price points and levels of restraint.
Country Living Cottage Style
Country Living Cottage Style is the steady, mainstream take on the look, and its rank near #926 says it moves well. It’s the least fussy of the cottage titles, which I mean as a compliment. A solid choice if you want cottage warmth without your living room turning into a doily museum.
- Mainstream cottage look
- Bestseller rank near #926
- Warm, unfussy interiors
Easy Cottage Style
Easy Cottage Style from CICO Books is the non-Country-Living option in this section, and it’s worth a look for the different eye. It leans toward comfortable, lived-in interiors rather than staged perfection. If you’ve read the Country Living books already, this brings fresh rooms to the table. We also gathered more of these in a separate cottage style book roundup if you want to compare.
- CICO Books non-Country-Living take
- Comfortable, lived-in rooms
- Fresh perspective on cottage decor
A Bit of Velvet & a Dash of Lace
Country Living A Bit of Velvet & a Dash of Lace: The Fabulous Interiors of Magnolia Pearl
A Bit of Velvet & a Dash of Lace covers the Magnolia Pearl interiors, and this one is a mood, not a how-to. It’s maximalist, textile-heavy, and romantic to the point of theatrical. Buy it for inspiration and eye candy, not for a step-by-step plan, and skip it if your taste runs clean and simple.
- Magnolia Pearl interiors
- Maximalist, textile-heavy
- Inspiration over how-to
How do you decorate a farmhouse on a budget?
The cheapest way into farmhouse style is repurposing what you already own and shopping secondhand, and two books here are built around exactly that. Both are practical rather than glossy.
Restore. Recycle. Repurpose.
Restore. Recycle. Repurpose. is the project book of the bunch, focused on giving old and salvaged pieces a second life. That’s the real backbone of farmhouse style anyway, so it fits the theme better than its plain title suggests. Good for anyone who hits estate sales and flea markets and needs ideas for what to do with the haul.
- Salvage and secondhand projects
- Second life for old pieces
- Practical, project-focused
750 Great Ideas for Decorating on a Budget
Country Living 750 Great Ideas for Decorating on a Budget: Transform Your Home Inside & Out
750 Great Ideas for Decorating on a Budget is exactly what it says, a big grab-bag of small, cheap changes. It’s aimed at renters and anyone redoing a room without a renovation. The sales rank is softer here, but for the price it’s a lot of ideas per dollar, and it slots in nicely with the simple living books we rounded up for a cozy-on-a-budget approach.
- Small, low-cost changes
- Renter friendly
- High ideas-per-dollar
Looking beyond the farmhouse look
If you want country warmth with a little more polish, these two step outside the American farmhouse box. They’re pricier and heavier on photography, closer to coffee table books than manuals.
Provence Style
Provence Style is French country rather than West Virginia farmhouse, and the difference is worth understanding before you buy. It’s sun-washed, elegant, and more formal than a typical farmhouse book, sitting at a strong bestseller rank near #11. Great for someone drawn to the rustic-but-refined end of the spectrum, not the right call if you want practical American country rooms.
- French country decorating
- Sun-washed, refined look
- Bestseller rank near #11
Country House Living
Country House Living from Rizzoli is the splurge, half off but still the priciest pick here. Rizzoli makes oversized, beautifully printed photo books, and this is the one you leave out on the coffee table rather than tuck on a shelf. Buy it for the photography and the escapism, and pair it with a working how-to book from earlier in this list.
- Rizzoli oversized photo book
- Half off this week
- Coffee table quality printing
Frequently asked questions
Are farmhouse and country decorating books the same thing?
They overlap heavily but aren’t identical. Farmhouse style is a subset of country decorating that leans rustic, warm, and salvage-friendly. Most Country Living titles cover both, so a general country book like Decorating Style will still get you plenty of farmhouse ideas.
Which farmhouse decorating book is best for beginners?
Country Living Farmhouse Style is the easiest starting point. It has the strongest sales rank in this group and leans on big room photos over dense instructions, so it’s approachable if you’re new to decorating. Country Living Decorating Style is the broader alternative if you only want one book total.
Do these books work for small homes or apartments?
Yes, especially 750 Great Ideas for Decorating on a Budget and Restore. Recycle. Repurpose., which focus on small changes and reused pieces. Farmhouse and cottage style both scale down well since they rely on texture and warmth rather than lots of square footage.
Is July a good time to buy decorating books?
It’s one of the better windows. Publishers often move backlist inventory ahead of the July Prime event, which is why so much of the Country Living line is discounted together right now. If a title you want is marked down 50 percent or more, that’s a fair price to jump on rather than wait.
This was a strong week for anyone shopping the country and farmhouse category. Discounts ran from about 40 percent on the newer Rizzoli and Provence photo books up to 76 percent on Country Living Decorating Style, and the original prices looked honest rather than inflated. Having the whole Country Living imprint on sale at once is unusual, and it’s the main reason this roundup came together so easily.
My standout is Farmhouse Style. It’s the best-selling book here for a reason, it’s the most on-topic, and the price is low enough that it’s an easy add if you’ve been circling it. If I were spending more, Country House Living is the one photo book I’d leave out for guests to flip through. The one I’d think twice about is A Bit of Velvet & a Dash of Lace, which is gorgeous but so specific that it only lands for a certain taste. For practical rooms on a budget, 750 Great Ideas earns its spot.
Watch the back half of July for Prime pricing. If this whole imprint is discounted now, a few of these could dip a little further during the event, so the cheaper titles under ten dollars are safe to grab today while the pricier photo books might be worth a short wait. If you want to keep building the shelf, the cottage decorating titles and our full running list of book deals are where I’d look next.
