French country interior
25 Examples of French Country Decor
John Bessler
If you feel like there's a certain je ne sais quoi about French country decor, allow us to break it down for you. This style is all about natural materials, muted colors, toile fabrics, extravagant lighting, touches of gold, tapestries, and more—all with a rustic touch. We gathered 25 stylish examples of French country style, from modern interpretations and eclectic visions to classic renditions. Read through to get to know the characteristics of this style and get inspired to incorporate French country decor in every room in your house.
James Merrell
1 of 25
Cubism On Display
In the dining room of this Cape Cod estate, designer Kathryn M. Ireland chose a sea-grass rug to cover the floor and reupholstered the owners' Gustavian chairs to keep a traditional touch. And then there's that fun Cubist moment in the corner.
Hearst Magazines UK
2 of 25
Layered Linens
With layers of laidback linens in a variety of hues, this bedroom exudes warmth and timeless taste. The tall upholstered headboard brings in some bright, playful tones while sticking to the distressed character of French country design.
Romanek Design Studio
3 of 25
French Doors
Interior French doors are a bucket list item as far as chateau-inspired decor goes. In this grand living room by Romanek Design Studio, the pared-back design set against the backdrop of a classic, ornate architectural canvas represents a modern take on classic French country decorating.
Thomas Loof
4 of 25
Grand Lighting
The gorgeous, large-scale antique lighting in this foyer really sets the tone for the rest of the home. The exposed beams, stone tile floors, and understated console table introduce that French country rustic look.
John Bessler
5 of 25
Channel Marie Antoinette
Channel Marie Antoinette with cheerful pastels, layered prints, curvy lines, and fun details, like a fringed awning. Here, John Loecke and Jason Oliver Nixon painted a jaunty mint green and white diamond pattern to disguise the damaged parquet floors.
"That was more than seven years ago, and the paint has held up—proof that painted floors are practical and full of pizzazz," they say, adding, "dining chairs move around so much easier on a wood surface than on carpet."
Douglas Friedman
6 of 25
Vintage Scores
In the dining room of this Manhattan duplex, designed by Garrow Kedigian, is a circa-1900 mahogany table that's surrounded by antique chairs that were purchased at a Paris flea market and re-covered in a Schumacher velvet.
Corey Damne Jenkins
7 of 25
Slim Profiles
Another common characteristic in French Country design is furniture with slim profiles. Read: Ditch your bulkier items. Looking for a way to put a more modern spin on it? Designer Corey Damen Jenkins mixes colorful abstract art and modern photography with more classic elements, like the antique desk and accessories while the lucite chair provides some contemporary flair.
PHOTO: Alexandra Ribar: DESIGN: Leanne Ford Interiors
8 of 25
Copper Cookware
White painted bricks and stone tile floors set the country chic scene in this kitchen.
And with that wrought-iron hardware and hanging copper cookware, we can almost smell the French food from here.
Laura Resen
9 of 25
Robust Gallery Walls
A full gallery wall complete with antique gilt frames and classic portraits is a great way to introduce dimension in the living room. And of course, a Louise XV-style settee is always a good touch.
Annie Schlechter
10 of 25
Exposed Beams
Exposed ceiling beams, distressed wood floors, colorful textiles, and antique paintings and trays on display create a truly charming dining nook.
Studio Razavi
11 of 25
Modern Twists
Studio Razavi gave this historic home in Lyon, France, some modern updates while still honoring the integrity of the space. The floating shelves and bright emerald green accents and blond flooring anchor the living room in the modern era while the raw materials of the mantel and exposed beams stay true to its history.
William Abranowicz
12 of 25
And Trusses!
Designer Daryll Carter added wood beams and trusses to this 1980s living room for a storied French country feel.
Laura Ressen
13 of 25
Natural Materials
To mimic the rustic look of French country decor in a more modern way, opt for a jute rug in the living room. Then upholster a classic Louis XVI-style seat in a fun, contemporary fabric and adorn your walls with abstract art.
Annie Schlechter
14 of 25
Antique Decor
Though this sink area boasts a decidedly modern aesthetic, there are many French country-inspired details throughout the space. For example, the antique trays, water cans, and glass vases.
Peter Murdock
15 of 25
Subtle Contrasts
This cheerful study is bursting with charm, thanks to the bright green walls and personal items on display. The traditional upholstered chair juxtaposes the rustic vase, a contrast often found in French country interiors.
Miki Duisterhof
16 of 25
Easy Patterns
Designer Ramsay Gourd let the exposed wooden beams in this Vermont farmhouse serve as the focal point on the room, but a green couch and upholstered Louis XV-style chairs take a close second place.
Bjorn Wallander
17 of 25
Eclectic Pieces
The linen skirted chair and tablecloth along with the rustic wood dining table bring in that French country ease while the coral paint and curtains, ornate lighting, and gilt decor assert a more formal and spirited personality in this dining room.
Luke White
18 of 25
Rustic Details
Designer Marshall Watson uses a traditional plate rack to showcase everyday dishes as wall art in this Swedish home. Meanwhile, a vintage table and chairs with a blue gingham seat covering add a touch of rustic charm.
Douglas Friedman
19 of 25
Antique Mirrors
Super elaborate, antique pieces mixed with more understated and casual items is a French country decorating staple. This black and gilt-framed antique mirror opens up the entryway by Ann Pyne.
Thomas Loof
20 of 25
Gold Accents
Dramatic drapes, plenty of gold, and ornate lighting make this master bedroom a French dream.
Thomas Loof
21 of 25
Extravagant Materials
Pink marble? Sign us up. Though French country style is known for being more rustic and earthy, there are plenty of examples that feature much more extravagance. Ornate and intricate details like these are prominent in classic French design.
Luke White
22 of 25
Detailed Window Treatments
Designer Marshall Watson opted for traditional French country motifs on the window treatments in the dining room of this Swedish home.
Annie Schlechter
23 of 25
Toile Accents
Graceful prints and a muted palette create a cozy bedroom in this North Carolina mountain getaway designed by Jane Hawkins Hoke. The walls and valances feature Brunschwig & Fils hound-dog toile.
Simon Watson
24 of 25
High And Low Mixes
The mixture of high-end (the chandelier) and antique (the chair) in this Long Island, New York dining room, designed by Ellen Niven, makes it feel like everything was sourced from a flea market in Provence.
Douglas Friedman
25 of 25
Statement Fireplace
Designer Garrow Kedigan played up the classic architecture in this Manhattan duplex's living room by incorporating a symmetrical furniture layout around the room's stone mantel.
What Is French Country Style?
By
Pamela Cole Harris
Pamela Cole Harris
Pamela Cole Harris is a budget decorating expert and writer with over four decades of experience specializing in upcycling furniture and decor. She's a recycling enthusiast with a passion for repurposing discarded items and turning them into stylish decor. Pamela has also published a book on creative DIY coffee tables.
Learn more about The Spruce's Editorial Process
Updated on 02/01/22
Fact checked by
Jillian Dara
Fact checked by Jillian Dara
Jillian is a freelance journalist with 10 years of editorial experience in the lifestyle genre.
She is a writer and fact checker for TripSavvy, as well as a fact-checker for The Spruce.
Learn more about The Spruce's Editorial Process
French country style is defined as a mix of rustic and refined decor inspired by the homes in the French countryside. It's a popular style worldwide because of its comfortable and casual elegance that's never ostentatious. Three distinct characteristics make up the style:
- Softly patterned fabrics in muted colors
- Distressed, painted, and vintage furnishings and accessories
- Lots of wood and other natural materials
You may also hear this type of decor called provincial style. Provincial style is recognized as a slightly more formal, refined look. Some of its elements, such as its rich colors, bold patterns, and gold accents, can be incorporated into the French country style.
Colors, Prints, and Materials
Colors of this style can be found on the warm side of the color wheel with hues that have medium to low intensity.
Think of soft yellows, warm pinks, baby blues, and creams for your rooms. Provincial-style fabrics are known for having more saturated colors, such as sunbaked ochre and deep brick red that bring to mind the pigments found in the region's natural clay earth.
Toile de Jouy, best known as toile, is a traditional pattern printed on cotton or linen fabrics used for upholstery, drapery, tablecloths, and wallpaper in French country rooms. Toile de Jouy is also known as the "fabric of Jouy" because the 18th-century factory of Jouy-en-Josas located near Versailles became famous for printing the fabric.
The toile pattern is characterized by its designs of landscapes and figures of one color printed on a white or cream background. The beauty of toile is that it can be paired with many other patterned fabrics, such as stripes, plaids, checks, ginghams, sunflowers, and small florals. Other patterns used on French country fabrics include roosters, damasks, and the borders that characterize bolder-colored provincial-style fabrics.
Furniture
The key to French country-style furniture is comfort and style. Upholstered seating and chairs always incorporate soft and cozy cushions. Other furnishings, such as tables and chests, are typically graceful, simple wood pieces that often incorporate some type of carvings that emphasize the furniture's curves. The furniture is also characterized by distressed, painted, and often whitewashed finishes. You can use milk or chalk paint to distress furniture to get this style.
French provincial furniture is a touch more formal with added embellishments than French country style, and its history explains why. French provincial furniture was created in the 18th century for wealthy families living in the French provinces as more affordable adaptations of the luxurious Rococo-style pieces made for the monarchy.
Tip
Wrought iron or rusted metal accents and accessories are often paired with distressed French country furnishings.
Architecture
The style's architecture is taken straight from the French provincial countryside.
Here are the style's most popular interior architectural elements:
- Exposed wooden ceiling beams
- Natural stone, wood, or brick floors
- Weathered appearance
French country homes incorporate stone, wood, and muted colors into their exterior architecture, as well.
Kitchens
A kitchen in this style is both comfortable and sophisticated. Cabinetry may look like regular furniture with molding and carvings. Casual kitchens of this style feature shabby chic and vintage touches, including pretty old jars and bottles that hold pantry items, quaint signage for wall decor, wrought iron pot racks, and plenty of copper pots. Modern French country kitchens are known for their signature, decorative range hoods.
Dining Rooms
A rustic chandelier of distressed wood or metal with candelabra bulbs is a must in a traditional French country dining room. A lighter-toned wooden dining table surrounded by whitewashed, vintage, or mismatched chairs brings in a casual and welcoming look.
For a casual feel, hang gingham curtains to the floor with a little puddling. Lightweight silk draperies puddled on the floor add a bit more formality.
Living Rooms
Airy, whitewashed, and sun-kissed describe the style of French country living rooms. There should not be any heavy, dark fabrics or furniture in the room. This style living room beckons guests with an uplifting and pretty mix of patterned fabrics and painted furniture. Use sheer lace curtains to allow light to stream in while still providing privacy. For a quaint and whimsical touch, place a wrought iron garden bench with pillows under the front window for the look of a casual window seat.
Bedrooms
A French country bedroom is feminine and soft with a mix of cottage shabby chic and comforting vintage elements. Add in a small crystal chandelier somewhere in the room, layers of soft and lacy white bedding with a toile comforter and curtains, and a headboard made of distressed wood or an old iron gate, and you have the makings of a beautiful bedroom.
Use an old metal garden bench at the end of the bed as a sitting area. A bedroom is the perfect place for painted and distressed dressers and armoires.
Bathrooms
Just as a bedroom in this style will have a feminine flair, so does a bathroom with the same decor. Toile wallpaper, a small crystal chandelier, candlestick-style wall sconces, a mirror framed in gold with a bit of carving, and a vintage clawfoot tub combine to create the perfect French country bathroom. For a casual feel, use a wrought iron towel rack or stand for linens.
Tip
A distressed or painted bureau transformed into a bathroom vanity and topped with a vessel sink is a beautiful French country touch.
Country house: French style in the interior
Socialite Béatrice Ogier entered the profession of decorator at an age when others retire. But she got down to business with youthful enthusiasm! Here is her project - a former orphanage in Normandy, turned into a country residence.
In order for this spacious living room to appear in the house, Beatrice had to combine four rooms. The walls are painted beige, Farrow & Ball. The sofa, Caravane, is upholstered in gray velvet. The low pouffe is used as a coffee table.
- Photo
- Pierre Laurent Hahn
In her "past" existence, Beatrice worked in the press services of Yves Saint Laurent, Cartier and even the Paris-Dakar rally, was the director of a consulting company. “I worked a lot and had a lot of fun,” she recalls. - I traveled, explored the world, always tried to look refined and elegant. And suddenly I realized that all this is not that!
Floor-to-ceiling glazed cabinets act as a partition, separating the dining room from the kitchen.
- Photo
- Pierre Laurent Hahn
The floorboards and ceramic tiles were bought from vintage builders.
- Photo
- Pierre Laurent Hahn
Now Beatrice paints flowers and decorates interiors. And, as her decorated house in Beaumont shows, in her new profession she is not an amateur at all. The building, stylized as Norman farms of the 19th century, was once intended for an orphanage.
The facade of the house is covered with Japanese grapes.
- Photo
- Pierre Laurent Hahn
All kitchen furniture, except for the antique oak table, is painted white. The working surface with a sink is adjacent to the window, so that the hostess can admire the landscape “on the job”. On hot days, the windows are covered with roller blinds, Silent Gliss. The floor is paved with antique concrete tiles.
Faucets, Dornbracht.
- Photo
- Pierre Laurent Hahn
The new owners asked Beatrice to make the interior brighter and more modern, while maintaining a rustic feel. She approached the task with great tact. The house has a lot of antique furniture - but in trendy bright upholstery.
Chess tables, Moissonier, go well with antique chairs of the Napoleon III era, the seats of which are upholstered with velvet of different colors
- Photo deglazing, to match the window frames of the house. In the kitchen, the sink is located in front of a window overlooking the garden - a concern for the spiritual comfort of the cook, unthinkable in the old days. Comments are unnecessary!
A half glazed partition separates the guest bedroom from the bathroom. The starting point for the design of both rooms was an old bright red bedspread.
To match his tone, Beatrice picked up the fabric for the upholstery of the headboard and for the curtains on the bathroom window.
- Photo
- Pierre Laurent Hahn
I worked a lot and had a lot of fun, I tried to always look elegant ... but one fine day I realized that all this is not it!The sinks in the bathroom were left over from the time the house was built - the hostess wanted to keep them at all costs. Washbasin cabinets designed by Beatrice. She enclosed the Delphes bathtub by Jacob Delafon in a wooden "case" similar to them. Retro faucets, THG.
- Photos
- Pierre Laurent Hahn
Tags
- country house
- bright
- traditional
- Europe
How to give the interior of a country house a truly French style
home
Magazine
Country house in the style of France
- How to give the interior of a country house a truly French style
- How to give the interior of a country house a truly French style
- How to give the interior of a country house a truly French style
- How to give the interior of a country house a truly French style
- How to give the interior of a country house a truly French style
- How to give the interior of a country house a truly French style
- How to give the interior of a country house a truly French style
- How to give the interior of a country house a truly French style
- How to give the interior of a country house a truly French style
- How to give the interior of a country house a truly French style
- How to give the interior of a country house a truly French style
- How to give the interior of a country house a truly French style
- How to give the interior of a country house a truly French style
- How to give the interior of a country house a truly French style
- How to give the interior of a country house a truly French style
- How to give the interior of a country house a truly French style
- How to give the interior of a country house a truly French style
- How to give the interior of a country house a truly French style
- How to give the interior of a country house a truly French style
- How to give the interior of a country house a truly French style
- How to give the interior of a country house a truly French style
- How to give the interior of a country house a truly French style
- How to give the interior of a country house a truly French style
- How to give the interior of a country house a truly French style
With all the variety of proposals of modern architecture, many future homeowners choose to design their future home in the French style.
As a rule, these are stone mansions with two or three floors. Their appearance depends on the province they come from. Chateaus are typical for the environs of Paris, the Loire or Bordeaux, the south of France is decorated with country houses or Provence, in the north the rustic style, gravitating towards the German, dominates. Chalets are being built in the foothills of the Alps. According to the principle of matching styles, the interior of such houses should also be French. What common features characterize it?
When designing the premises, elements of baroque, rococo, empire and any combination of them are used. However, modern interior "stuffing" is not excluded, for example, in the fusion style. Antique furniture, vintage knick-knacks, collectible antique accessories, an abundance of flowers and a fireplace with a real fire are welcome. A variety of textiles with floral patterns or images in the spirit of chinoiserie are often used. The rooms are richly draped with airy silk fabrics.
Characteristic interiors and furniture
The French appreciate things with a touch of time, sometimes deliberately aging interior items and furniture. They are not embarrassed by the venerable age of the dwelling, which can be seen from the darkened wooden ceilings on the ceiling, mirrors a little blind from time to time, ancient fireplaces made of stone or marble. Even the restoration, which has to be resorted to from time to time, is of an exceptionally delicate nature.
Living room
Space and lighting are the two components of the interior of France in the living room. The room should be spacious and well lit. The characteristic colors of the finish are light pastel colors.
Be sure to have a set of upholstered furniture, a coffee table and a fireplace. You can not do without decorative pillows, as well as without lambrequins and draperies on the windows. An antique mirror between the windows and Sirena Small composition complete the impression.
Kitchen
The interior design of the kitchen is selected depending on its size.
- A large area is decorated in a palace style, using gilding and an abundance of decor. Serving table Versalille will clearly be appropriate. It is customary to decorate such a kitchen expensively.
- For a medium-sized kitchen, a design in the spirit of a French cafe with functional zoning of space using an impromptu bar counter is suitable.
- Provence style is perfect for small spaces. Characteristic of this original and natural interior is the white and lilac range, reminiscent of the blooming lavender in the fields of Provence. Mats on the floor and pottery - everything is simple and cute.
Children's
Simplicity and sophistication reign in the nursery - two characteristic features of French interiors. Warm and sunny decor of the room is created by soft pastel colors, natural fabrics and very simple hand-decorated furniture.
A combination of antique, vintage and modern elements is often used.
The floor in the nursery is usually made of wood. Additionally warm and soften it with numerous plush rugs. The crib is often decorated with a canopy, and the walls are decorated with paintings of roosters and flowers.
Bathroom
Particular attention is paid to the bathroom. Quite often it is made with window openings that occupy almost the entire surface of one of the walls, and even with a passage to the garden. Such windows give a feeling of soaring and proximity to nature, creating a romantic and sensual atmosphere not only in the whole house, but also between its inhabitants.
Furniture
The French interior is replete with decorative elements, but there is no sense of chaos, although artistic confusion does occur. Every thing has its place. For example, antique armchairs from the pre-revolutionary era can stand next to a stone wall, softening its brutality and, at the same time, losing their own excessive majesty.
Increasingly, handmade furniture is used to decorate living rooms. Bleached oak products are considered traditional. Patina, gilded forging, multi-colored glass inserts and carved elements of rare wood are used as decor. When choosing upholstered furniture for the living room, pay attention to Avalon Easy armchairs. Remember that the shade of the upholstery should match the decoration of the room.
French design elements
Wood or stone is the most commonly used floor covering in France. If the choice falls on wood, for example, for a nursery, a bedroom and a living room, then this is, as a rule, parquet in light colors. For the kitchen and bathroom, terracotta tiles or glossy porcelain tiles are more appropriate.
The French style originated in the 17th century, so it is not surprising that the walls in the interior can be finished with natural stone or wood. To cover the walls, use wallpaper with a discreet pattern or plain paint.
The best solution is whitewashing the ceiling.
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