To really carry it off you need to use some fabrics that don't match.

I'm sorry, but the drapery fabric does not read English country look to me with the feather theme, and your colors are not, well, colorful. I'm very fond of the English country house look which is less casual than English country, which is more cottage, but layering is one of the similarities and it involves much more than just fabrics. I'm showing my living room which is my personal take and so just meant as an example, but it does include paintings, porcelain and colors that might be used.

Winter look, with red drapes

Summer look with light patterned drapes and different pillows and area rug

You mean fabrics that don't coordinate at all?

I guess I should clarify, I do love classic English country style but I'm not going for dark, heavy or highly accessorized. It's just not practical for my space or lifestyle. I've got two young kids plus I'd like to keep the look light and airy. By keeping the walls light and patterns in shades of white/cream/tan/light brown/blue to hope to keep the feel light.

So the look I'm going for more along these lines

I do want maybe more mixed patterns than any of these inspirations photos have. And Upholstery needs to not be too light as again, my kids and dog.

The other consideration is I'm trying to avoid a matronly look. I have off white lace cafe curtains which are staying.

I would head more toward this...

Notice the plaid/check acts as a neutral background as a rule. You have chosen to have a plaid with something else going on. I don't know where that decision leads aside form looking for some plain fabric. Penny's tweed could works with your plaid and feathers.

I Googled 'English Country Decor' and there may be some images here that will help you - HERE.

Googling English Country Fabrics got me this - HERE.

I'll admit that I can't personally see it with your lace cafe curtains, due to the strong design in them. One of the pics in the first link above shows a window with lace panels underneath, but they are very simple, and may just be sheers -

I got a large sample of that fabric years ago to make a pillow - which I haven't made yet - but mine is in the 'Leather' colorway below, while yours is the 'Birch'. It's a very rich looking fabric. Maybe I'll make mine soon, now that the weather is cooling down, it'll be perfect!

Reesepbuttercup, I've always liked layered rooms, and I like the personal vision of what you want yours to be as displayed by your fabrics so far.

I have noticed over a long time of admiring layered room that, with all the busy-ness and many contrasts of materials and so on, successful layered rooms tend to have most surfaces in the same general value range (i.e., light-dark), carefully starting with a harmonizing value scheme for the room overall, against which layers of contrasts in patterns, textures, items can be played off without chaos.

And you basically have that very necessary harmony with your medium range scheme. The picture posted by My3Dogs has it.

I think a lot of layered rooms generally tended to be rather dark because they could sort of absorb a lot of favorite paintings, accessories, fabrics, rugs with a lot of darkness in them that just settle back into dark walls, finishes, etc.

I've seen very few light layered rooms, perhaps simply because so many favorite darker items have to be edited out, only a few retained for contrast, and the rest replaced with a plethora of pastel paintings, decorative plates, tables, etc., that blend with layers of pale walls, draperies, upholstery, etc.

(Could most layerers of the eras when it was especially big have been men? Or did they mostly tend to reflect a desire to appear full of inherited items that happened to be dark?)

In any case, you should be able to have a lot of fun layering with a lot of medium-value items, only ranging light or dark in small amounts for a carefully unbusy degree of contrast. Everything else will be plenty busy and need the calming unity of value.

It would help you if you understood what English Country House look actually is, and it's not what you are choosing. It definitely is not lace cafe curtains.

Go buy a Colefax & Fowler book on eBay and educate yourself before you spend a lot of money. And, not to appear snobby, but Hobby Lobby is not where one finds appropriate fabrics for this look.

I love the fabric you chose for the draperies. Why not go in a little bit of a different direction that plays off of the feathers?

I agree, the fabrics and descriptions posted indicate very happily the kind of room wanted. I not only love the individuality that will be expressed but that it will not a typically unfortunate attempt to duplicate some hackneyed American notion of a real thing .

But while we're talking labels, and they have some use, Reesepbutter, some of your choices, including the desire for lightness I only now notice, suggest that you are actually leaning more toward French influences than English, which tends to be a heavier, less graceful (and often darker) look in general.

Okay, thanks for the comments and suggestions so far. I will continue to look for additional upholstery options when my fabric arrives.

@hamamelis I agree that keeping things in the right range will be necessary to pull of the look I desire. I do want to incorporate some leather and will have to be careful about how dark I go.

@my3dogs: once the new drapes are up I will evaluate the lace curtains. I'm sure not everyone's a fan of them (they are just polyester from JCP), but they do look nicer in real life and the pattern doesn't read quite as strong. They are essentially the same color as my walls and just kind of blend in. I love the English country rooms you posted the link to. Being realistic I'm not ever going to have anything that traditional or well furnished. Those rooms, while beautiful, have far too many accessories for my household. Also, my space is an open concept living/dining/kitchen which changes things I think.

@anglophilia: jeez. I'm not furnishing a museum requiring period pieces. I'm decorating my suburban, new construction home on a modest budget. Do forgive me for shopping at hobby lobby. I happen to admire what I would describe as English country and I'm trying to pull off a watered down version of it, something that leans more feminine and is overall light and airy. Maybe the term English cottage would be better, although I don't think it's really necessary.

Your top picture could also be Scandinavian country ---

Anyways, here are living rooms with buffalo check --- maybe some inspiration

I LOVE Buffalo check fabric, and toiles!

I don't want to break your heart, just in case you love the Braemore 'Ferguson' in the light blue above with the deer on it, but I have only been able to find it in 'Garnet' (dark red) and 'Heritage' (dark blue) for quite a while. Having grown up with a wonderful dad who loved to hunt, those fabrics bring back memories of him. The two colors that I mentioned are available here - https://www.fabricmill.com/ferguson-heritage.html

Oh my gosh, that braemore ferguson in light blue is amazing. Too bad it's not readily available. I think that garden toile is pretty as well though.

Ok, I think I found a source for the braemore ferguson in birch (which is the light blue). It should match the Braemore McDougal (the plaid with feathers) as it is in the birch colorway as well, right? And what should I use it for, pillows? Would it be too much on a wingback chair?

this is the chair I have to recover or slipcover

what I would describe as English country

Not trying to be difficult really, but I answered your post first, before you had posted any pictures, and really I was thinking you wanted something completely different from those pictures. That's why the first posts weren't so helpful...

The pictures of the rooms you posted are great, but if you call this English country people who know what English country is are not going to know what you really mean, so it won't be very helpful. I had a design colleague who was hired by a women who said she loved English antiques. He kept showing her things and she rejected one thing after another and finally said that she felt they were going to have to part ways because she wanted English antiques and he obviously had a different agenda. He said "Well Please show me what it is that you Like". And everything she picked out was French or Italian antiques, nothing English-- So it did matter what she wanted to call it, she really liked something completely different.

Rather than trying to put a two word label on the looks above I would call that "comfortable eclectic furniture in a white to pale neutral palette".

I was wondering about this one, too. (So difficult to tell with just a photo...thought you may want to keep it in mind)...

AFAIK, English country style is very...liberal..with what goes with what.

And/or bringing in a third color...seems a bit mad, but it's how I remember my relatives decorating. No, they didn't have bad taste...just a thatched roof cottage :)

Interesting thread.

"but if you call this English country people who know what English country is"

I myself am curious what this means to others, as I love what I "think" to be English country style. I have watched every episode of "Escape to the Country", that qualifies, right? :p I haven't ever thought it to have hard and fast rules, just a curated, cozy overall feel.

Could anyone with actual insight provide maybe a few examples of what people outside of England "think" English country is vs what it truly looks like? Also as previously posted, there is a difference in English country and English country "house"? Is one more formal than the other?