A while back, on a cold wintery morning, I drove from southern Maine through increasingly rural back roads to Canterbury, New Hampshire, then up the crest of a hill where the Canterbury Shaker Village sits, surrounded by fields and paths. Here at Remodelista, we’ve taken inspiration from the Shakers for a long time: We’ve seen Shaker-inspired cabinetry emerge from companies such as Plain English and deVol; extolled the benefits of Shaker peg rails in our book, The Organized Home; and named Shaker style as a the trend to watch. But walking around the quiet, 200-year-old village, I was still taken by the cleverness of the Shakers: a broom hung in the nook of a stairwell; a clothes-drying rack, hung in an attic window to catch the sun; painted stacks of drawers. And more than that: the simplicity, symmetry, muted color palettes, and winter light in every room. Here are 16 design lessons from the Shakers.
Photography by Erin Little for Remodelista.
![the village in winter. 17](https://media.remodelista.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/canterbury-shaker-village-erin-little-exterior-3-733x489.jpg)
1. Make the most of small spaces.
![in the dwelling house (the communal building where the shakers slept), a small 18](https://media.remodelista.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/canterbury-shaker-village-erin-little-flour-pantry-733x1100.jpg)
2. Use furniture in the kitchen.
![not just for clothes: in the baker\2\17;s kitchen, a chest of drawers ad 19](https://media.remodelista.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/canterbury-shaker-village-erin-little-bakers-kitchen-drawers-733x489.jpg)
3. Find unexpected kitchen solutions.
4. Build in collapsible prep areas.
![a small space idea: cut down on cutting boards and counter space by building th 22](https://media.remodelista.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/canterbury-shaker-village-erin-little-kitchen-cabinet-733x1100.jpg)
![a folding table makes use of a few feet of otherwise unused wall space. 23](https://media.remodelista.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/canterbury-shaker-village-erin-little-fold-down-table-733x489.jpg)
5. Bigger is not always better.
![the shakers, i was told, designed chairs with short backs that could fit under 24](https://media.remodelista.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/canterbury-shaker-village-erin-little-dining-room-table-cropped-733x904.jpg)
6. Make the most of cabinets.
![a china cabinet separating two dining rooms (one communal, one for the elders) 25](https://media.remodelista.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/canterbury-shaker-village-erin-little-dining-room-cabinets-2-733x1100.jpg)
7. Add a sink in the dining room.
![we\2\17;ve written about installing a second, small sink in the kitchen, 26](https://media.remodelista.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/canterbury-shaker-village-erin-little-small-dining-room-733x1100.jpg)
![a simple place setting. 27](https://media.remodelista.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/canterbury-shaker-village-erin-little-dining-table-detail-733x489.jpg)
8. Take advantage of light.
![a hallway on the top floor of the dwelling house, leading to the bedrooms. 28](https://media.remodelista.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/canterbury-shaker-village-erin-little-hallway-bedrooms-733x1100.jpg)
![when it comes to laundry, follow the light: here, a shaker clothes drying rack 29](https://media.remodelista.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/canterbury-shaker-village-erin-little-drying-rack-in-window-733x489.jpg)
9. Rethink linoleum.
![a quiet upstairs bedroom. perhaps surprisingly, the shakers used oil cloth and, 30](https://media.remodelista.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/canterbury-shaker-village-erin-little-dwelling-house-bedroom-733x489.jpg)
10. Adopt a muted color palette.
![throughout, with the exception of the occasional sunny yellow (more on that lat 31](https://media.remodelista.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/canterbury-shaker-village-erin-little-bedroom-2-733x489.jpg)
11. Hang mirrors at an angle.
![in one bedroom, a built in cabinet with a lid conceals a washbasin. a high mirr 32](https://media.remodelista.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/canterbury-shaker-village-erin-little-bedroom-washbasin-733x1100.jpg)
12. Resist adornment.
![the shaker bedrooms are spare, without clutter: white bed linens, clean lines, 33](https://media.remodelista.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/canterbury-shaker-village-erin-little-bedroom-4-733x489.jpg)
13. Paint it yellow.
![a clever paint hack, courtesy of the shakers: paint furniture (or built ins, fl 34](https://media.remodelista.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/canterbury-shaker-village-erin-little-bedroom-storage-733x1100.jpg)
14. Max out closet space.
15. Label everything.
![the shakers were obsessive labelers. shown here: a room size closet on the top 37](https://media.remodelista.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/canterbury-shaker-village-erin-little-clothes-storage-733x1100.jpg)
![when in doubt, label. in the building at the village dedicated to laundry (wash 38](https://media.remodelista.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/canterbury-shaker-village-erin-little-cabinetry-733x489.jpg)
![also in the laundry, a segmented chest is labeled for easy sorting—an ea 39](https://media.remodelista.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/canterbury-shaker-village-erin-little-laundry-separation-733x489.jpg)
![baskets for laundry, ironing, and mending, labeled accordingly. 40](https://media.remodelista.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/canterbury-shaker-village-erin-little-laundry-baskets-labeled-733x489.jpg)
16. There’s nothing a Shaker peg rail can’t do.
![if there\2\17;s one lesson to be learned from the shakers, its their ing 41](https://media.remodelista.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/canterbury-shaker-village-erin-little-chairs-on-peg-rail-733x1100.jpg)
![simple bentwood and string clothes hangers hang from a stretch of peg rail, a q 42](https://media.remodelista.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/canterbury-shaker-village-erin-little-hangers-733x489.jpg)
![brooms hang at the ready—and look artful—in nearly every room. 43](https://media.remodelista.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/canterbury-shaker-village-erin-little-brooms-on-peg-rail-733x1100.jpg)
![a shaker bedroom in evening. 44](https://media.remodelista.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/canterbury-shaker-village-erin-little-bedroom-light-733x1100.jpg)
More in Shaker design:
- Object Lessons: Shaker Storage
- Remodeling 101: How Shaker Peg Rails Saved My Summer Sanity
- Remodeling 101: Shaker-Style Kitchen Cabinets
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