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Furniture & Decor For Your French Country-Style Home!
French Country-style décor is comfortable, inviting
and meant to be lived in—no plastic furniture covers or “good”
pieces of furniture that no one’s allowed to sit on. Like all
country home
decorating styles, French Country furniture is eclectic and
celebrates family, relaxation, and fun. Overstuffed sofas covered in
traditional fabrics mingle with satin-finished pine tables. Glossy
marble-topped consoles with gracefully curved cabriole legs blend
naturally with antique armoires. An elegant antique chandelier
enhances any furniture style.
One of the most important elements in any French Country home is its
kitchen and dining area furniture. A large rectangular or round
wooden table that seats the whole family is a must. Choose
wooden chairs with gracefully carved backs that complement one
another but aren’t identical—there’s nothing fussy or formal about
French Country furniture; the casual mix-and-match attitude
is part of its charm. A simple iron baker’s rack or wood sideboard
completes the look and gives you plenty of storage and display space
for tableware, decorative accessories, and, of course,
bottles of good French wine.
French Country walls are usually covered in wallpaper, particularly
toiles. Traditional toile wallpapers feature repeating patterns in a
single colour, usually blue, red, green, or black, on an off-white
background. The fleur-de-lis, a stylized iris flower often used to
represent royalty, is especially popular. It’s essential to keep
your French furniture simple and unassuming if you choose to hang
patterned wallpaper. If you prefer to paint your walls, use nature
as your palette. A bright, sunny yellow or Mediterranean blue will
bring the outdoors in, complement rustic furniture, and keep your
home feeling warm and cheerful all year long.
To decorate the windows in your French Country home, stay away from
dark, heavy drapes that block out the light. Opt instead for cotton
or linen sheers or simple lace curtains hanging from a
wrought iron rod with a graceful finial. Letting natural sunlight
filter in through your windows makes your furniture look warm and
inviting. In your kitchen, leave the windows bare, if you can, or
compromise by hanging short café curtains that block any unwanted
views but still allow light in. If you’ve chosen painted walls over
wallpaper, you could use toile for your café curtains, to keep
that vintage French Country feel.
Ideally, the floors in your French Country home should be natural
hardwood. If your wall-to-wall carpeting is covering up wood
flooring, rip out the carpet, no matter what condition the wood is
in. Sanding and refinishing can be a lot of hard work, but the
results are definitely worth it. If it’s simply not possible to do
away with the carpeting, or if you have vinyl flooring, choose faded
Oriental-style area rugs or textured cotton throw rugs to disguise
the flooring without detracting from the natural beauty of your
French Country furniture.
Don’t forget the outside of your home when you’re creating your
French Country getaway. Plant a fragrant herb garden, place some
rosemary topiaries on either side of your front door, and fill
window boxes or hanging baskets with vibrant trailing geraniums to
create an air of old-world European elegance. If you have a sunny
garden bed, stock it with aromatic French lavender. Add
some rustic patio furniture—a bent willow armchair, an old wooden
rocker with a distressed finish, and some tile-topped patio tables.
You’ll create a cosy outdoor living area for casual
entertaining or simply relaxing at the end of the day.
Author: Sam Ness
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