French Country design is world famous for its elegance, sophistication, and classy touch in every details. Not only warm and welcoming, French Country Décor is a versatile approach that you can apply in a big house as well as in a small cottage. It is famous due to its casual elegance, warm and earthy colour and emphasis on natural or rustic accessories. French Country style has been a popular design in the United States for many years. French country furniture is one of the integral components of this opulent structure.
The style displays an overarching farm house inspiration. It began to emerge in the USA after the World War I when the returned soldiers started building homes being inspired by the cottages and manors of the French countryside. This style was rustic in its innate flavor and was marked by a chic ornamental wooden furnishing.
This style usually lays its focus to create a rustic-vintage interior. So, many French-Country inspired interior designs attempted to combine the sophisticated touch with a unique but casual fabric. French Country design includes wide collections of heavy lines and bed coverings.
Although casual, this style is opulent and is characterized with a warm and relaxed feel that fits into your home décor spontaneously. The design makes a comfortable blend of comfort, symmetry and convenience, and this versatile integrity makes the French Country interior design very popular. French Country design includes soft and warm shades of red, yellow, and different shades of gold. Fusion of natural materials like stone and brick are in random practice. French Country Furniture is also called Country Style Furniture.
Elements that Define French Country Style Precisely
01. Colours Used in French Country Style
The colours play a vital role as the use of lively colours help in natural decoration in the French Country style with its elegant opulence. All these elements create fantastic decorating styles like:
- Sunny yellow and soft gold
- Fiery red and bursting rust
- Bright grass green and dark hunter
- Cobalt blue and soft ocean hues
Bright black and dull grey punctuate those bright colours and passively define accessory pieces included in the decor. Rustic metal furniture, lighting fixtures, and furniture give warm colours. The colours used in this decor are warm and generally subtle. It also provides beautiful lines.
The French country aesthetic is almost opposite to ultra-modern style. It is all about creating a relaxed and welcoming atmosphere in the French style. The French Country interiors always have highlighted the pieces with contrasting texture and color. For example, it includes the pale plastered walls and ceilings, while it highlights dark wood beams.
02. Materials Used in French Country Style
Natural materials are the essential element used in French Country style. The aspects like rough-stained or painted plaster walls, hefty beamed ceilings, and walls, carved wood details and woven chairs were used to add texture and simplicity to the look. Wool or cotton rugs are used to cover the natural stone floors.
A stone fireplace is the crucial element of a classy French Country home. The décor is never complete without placing a decorative fireplace.
03. Architectural Features of This Style
The furniture design and the materials are mostly of eye-catching architectural features, which is a life line of the French country decor. Embellishments like stone walls and floors are in use to form the frame of a decorated home in the French style. The style also includes some artistic pieces like raw wood distressed ceiling beams, timbers and irregular plastered walls, etc. Stone, clay, or brick are used to complement the rustic style of flooring.
New French style furniture has the ambience of curved panels, hand-carved decorations, and raw wood. A large dining table, be it round or rectangular, mostly found with a dull waxed or low – sheen finish. Curved and carved details are the archetypal features of the dining and associated chairs. The chairs are either of ladder-back style or have vertical slats, often with rush seating. The focus is laid on creating the vintage and a charming appearance altogether.
Old wooden boards are quite popular in the French style. The growing vines encircle the windows and doorways quite commonly. There is always a relaxed harmony in home décor and furnishing.
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04. Prints in French Country Products
The beautiful colours of the French countryside are the inspiration for the French Country interiors. The traditional fabrics combine well with checks, colors and stripes in modern homes. It looks well with shades greens, lavenders, and bright orange. Conventional French country products and motifs include olives, sunflowers, grapes, lavender, and beetles to add a natural welcoming ambiance.
The design borders a large panel of the motifs on different scale but with a symmetry. At regular intervals, these motifs are found repetitively arranged. This design is typically common for textile products like tablecloths and curtain panels.
05. Décor
The main aim is to bring beautiful colours and textures of nature into the homely ambiance. This style of décor is lively and appropriate in both vintage country houses and elegant, old traditional French houses.
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There are a few elements that you can easily incorporate to bring these designs synchronized into your exisiting home decors:
(a) Toile – A Traditional Fabric
Toile is a traditional floral pattern, and it is a specialty of French country design. It is the traditional fabric of classical French decor. Adding toile fabrics gives an elegant look to space. Other elements include decorative candle stands, shaped mirrors, and large wall clocks to accentuate the French feel around.
French interiors have been a beacon for its simplistic elegance. It is embedded in its traditional flavor. The elements of this design are carried over from generation to generation. The French country design is no doubt decorative and contains element of opulence. They display a unique traditional look with a pastoral tinge of simplicity typically infused in its approach.
(b) Cushioning
Cushioning is another area in which French country looks different from other styles. Since comfort is the buzz word of this style genre, cozy cushions are quite commonly used as décor element. Be sure to include plenty of plush seating space in the décor plan.
(c) Furniture Finish Speaks a Lot
Unlike Contemporary furniture, the French Country Décor is expressed and arranged by using graceful and simple lines. It features lots of painted furniture. Buying old retro furniture is a perfect fit for emphasizing this style. It is not always about the wooden décor as there are metallic elements also. The nostalgic chic style includes wrought iron or rusted metal accents too to add a unique layer of endurance in the designer elements..
According to ‘Yu-Jung (Kelly) Wang’ (2013) (Published in Research of Modern furniture), ‘Usually people mix-up the two words “modern” and “contemporary”, but there is a fine line of difference between these two. The word “modern” refers to the styles influenced by the modern design movement whereas “contemporary” refers to the existing style present at the same time. Thus, contemporary furniture represents the style of the specific period like the 1920s, and hence, it must be made in the 20s, reflecting the time and style.’ But French country style is quite different from these two styles, i.e. modern style and contemporary styled furniture. It has its own typical flavor and aesthetics.
(d) Rococo Elements
The Rococo elements consist of its signature look, i.e. artistic display of curves. The skilled furniture makers of that era were known as “ebenistes”. They developed various methods to shape the wood panels. They used to trim wood into serpentine forms which are still famous today. You can use Rococo elements in our furnishing plan to bring French look around.
(e) Silk Furnishings
Silk fabric is the perfect linen or drapery to complete a French Country décor. France is well-known for its silk weaving. Also, French consumers were the primary users of this gorgeous and beautiful textile. The silk production accounts for one-third of the city’s population.
(f) Distressed Cabinetry
All the elements of the French Country design look royal and ethnic. The cabinetry or furniture as well as painted wood surfaces are really classy – French country design easily suits into the kitchen according to the owner’s choice and budget.
As said by ‘Yu-Jung (Kelly) Wang’ (2013) (Published in Research of Modern furniture), ‘Mid-century modern furniture was known for its minimalist design. This type of furniture usually had weird shapes, clean lines, bright colors, and was often made out of odd building materials.’ This exactly deciphers the French country style at its core even in the modern perspective with a creative unique approach.
In the end, I would say that French Country furniture is famous throughout the world because of its casual elegance and use of beautiful lively colors. It emphasizes on the use of natural or simple accessories. Warm and earthy colors, use of space and convenience mostly dominate this style. You can incorporate these designs easily in your home decor and help yourself in making your home a sweet relaxing abode.
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