Decorating your home in a French country cottage style is very popular and while there are essential elements to achieving this style there is also plenty of scope to customise and personalise your home in the look of a French country cottage style.
French Country Cottage Style Decorating is Easy
Before we look at the essential elements of this style, let’s consider what the mountain chalets of Alsace, country homes of Normandy, coastal apartments of Cote d’Azur and family chateaux throughout France all have in common?
Well, they’re all someone’s home where they live, love, entertain and maybe work from, just the same as your home and mine. We fill our homes with the necessary, the precious and the sentimental to create our very own living space. Creating a home, even if following a particular style, should always be about what feels you with joy and works for your family’s needs. (Read more about my home in France)
Essential Elements of French Country Decor
The words ‘French country decor’ conjure up a picture of where life is simple. Maybe a style untouched by fashion and fads where you can unwind and leave the worries of the world at your doorstep. There are key elements that make up a french country style and when you use these elements, especially in the most important areas of your home, you will straight away be able to see the difference.
Natural Fibres
Natural fibres have long been the chosen fabric choice in country homes. Whether that’s a linen table cloth and napkins, linen sheets and pillowcases, feather throw cushions, cotton or linen sofas or soft woollen blankets, it’s all natural fibres.
Even floor coverings can be of natural fibres with coiled carpet or woollen rugs being the favoured options for a country home decor. As well as being long lasting and having natural stain resistancy these fibres feel great on bare feet.
Using woollen rugs allows you to refresh and change your look by simply moving rugs around. Rugs look best on solid coloured flooring whether matting, woollen carpet or polished boards.
Flowers and Fruit
A country house look is never complete without bunches of flowers. Rustic and with a ‘just arranged’ look is best if you want a genuine country feel about your home. Enamel jugs, vases and even teapots are great for your freshly plucked garden flowers.
If your garden does not have flowers, foliage works sell for a spot of freshness and don’t forget about fruit tree blossom and fruit itself. Bowls of fruit are easy to colour co-ordinate with rooms and spaces and of course if you don’t have fruiting trees, you have a good reason to visit your local fresh food market.
Herb Garden & Kitchen Table
Country kitchens often have terracotta pots of fresh herbs placed on the window sill or growing in window boxes. Easy to pick and use in your recipes, and keep watered these plants in their pots will definitely add country charm to your kitchen.
A kitchen table, often a scrubbed timber one, placed in the centre of the room with mismatched chairs or benches is typical of county family living. Warm hearty meals in winter and refreshing salads with cold drink pitchers in summer will bring family and guests together. The kitchen table at our house has also seen many hours of homework, shortbread cookie making and sewing.
Creating Comfort
Homes are about comfort and being a haven from the rest of the world so regardless of your decorating style, personalising your home and making it comfy is essential. Soft throw rugs scattered around your home invite a rest and add texture.
Plump feather cushions and bed coverlets will make you want to sleep in and footstools, candles and easy to reach coffee table books all invite you to rest, recharge and make the most of your own space.
Setting the table for dinner with large help-yourself serving dishes is typical of country life and also makes the job of feeding guests easier.
Crockery on Display
Open shelving is a classic way of displaying your crockery. While it does make for more regular dusting of your crockery, the open shelves with the exposed crockery give an opportunity for your colour theme to be enhanced. In country style kitchens, one of the most popular options are wall-mounted wooden dish racks.
But if installing wall-mounted storage isn’t an option, consider investing in an antique buffet for your dining room, or a portable kitchen trolley to keep items on display rather than hidden away. Keeping your displays interesting but not too cluttered is the best way to maintain a sense of overall harmony.
Mix and Match Patterns
Cottage homes really pull at our heart strings because they have a ‘lived in’ nostalgic feel. This can be achieved by combining a number of different patterns or textures in a room. Flowers, stripes and solid colours are often mixed together for interest, and if all these patterns are based on a single colour palette they will still harmonise and not be too eclectic. An interesting and lived in cosy look is the aim, not disharmony and chaos.
A slightly eclectic look is perfect as that has the look brought on by years of decorating and redecorating. Showcasing family and travel mementos or handmade items adds to the look, although go easy on this as too many items quickly looks cluttered.
Style with Blue and White
These days country homes can be everything from all white, to brimming with colour or even to Scandinavian inspired. But sticking to a classic blue and white colour scheme is a fool proof way to achieving a French country cottage aesthetic.
Search flea markets and brocante stores for vintage blue and white china, invest in a pair of ginger jars for your sitting room or consider buying a coverlet for your bed in a ticking pattern. A framed blue and white print hung on the wall or placed on a side table is another way to add a pop of blue. Blue and white can literally be introduced into any room of your house.
Useful and Attractive Storage
Sometimes storage can be an issue, particular with a larger family, so a great way to create an interesting visual space for those frequently used items is to place a set of hooks, a bench or hallway table in your home entrance. Keep boots, jackets, school bags and keys handy and in one place.
Storage in rattan, wicker and cane baskets will add instant charm to any interior while also being useful. These natural fibres are also kinder to the environment in the long term.
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