French countryside interior design

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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.

5 French interior codes • Interior+Design

Scandinavian design is the French favorite of the year. Lagome, hygge and sisu captivated Parisians with their practicality and honest simplicity. At the same time, the Parisian style does not go out of fashion among Norwegians and Swedes. And not only them. For everyone who loves art, beautiful detail, complex coloring - i.e. the decor itself.

Shahan Minassyan. The apartment of an antique dealer and decorator in Paris.

French decorators, aesthetes by birth and mixologists by training, organically mix things from different styles, times and cultures. Their choice is eclectic. A genre in which you can endlessly search for original rhymes, train knowledge of history and a sense of balance. nine0003

Designer Didier Gomez's apartment and garden in the heart of Paris.

“Everyone combines, everyone experiments. Either classic furniture goes with art of the 20th century, or chandeliers of the 70s go with Art Nouveau objects,” says Pierre Frey, Maison Pierre Frey. - The main thing that everyone agrees on is the high quality of the things themselves. This is the most important condition of the mix.”

Francois Champsor. Bronze bench, diz. E. Schmitt, on it is a sculpture by A. Basbus (Agial Art Gallery, Beirut). White sofa, diz. C. Liaigre. armchairs, diz. F. Albini, Cassina. nine0003

The French are squeamish about pretentious luxury and do not like the nouveau riche. They prefer the original to an expensive imitation. Without fake patina and excessive shine.

“The French are very controversial. They want everything new, then they themselves reject this new. Our self-critical approach is the engine of progress, it generates ideas, we are always both for and against.” Vincent Darre, decorator

Damien Langlois-Merinne. The Corian table was designed by D. Langlois-Merinne. Italian vintage mahogany chairs 1950s bought in New York. The fronts of the kitchen are finished in spruce, the texture of the wood is revealed by sandblasting.

So, if you're thinking about creating a "French style" interior, it's good to remember the five Parisian "codes":

Ottoman style

Apartment in an Ottoman house designed by Studio KO. Armchairs by Brazilian modernist Jorge Zalzupin. Bay window sofa and carpet - according to the sketches of architects.

Charles Zana. Project with objects by Ettore Sottsass.

Parisians, who were lucky enough to become owners of Haussmann apartments, got five-, seven-story bourgeois houses, decorated with cornices, attics, enfilades and floor-to-ceiling windows. An indispensable attribute of such apartments is stucco molding, high ceilings, hinged doors, parquet and marble fireplaces with large fireplace mirrors. The disadvantage is a modest kitchen, separated from the front half by a corridor and the lack of central heating. nine0003

Bobo

Nadia Kande, Private Choice. Apartment exhibition Art & Design. Bedroom. On the wall is the work of the Indian artist J.-S. Mache, Galerie Herve Pedriolle. Textiles on the Private Choice bed.

"Bobo" (short for bourgeois-bohème - "bourgeois bohemia") - a lifestyle that prevailed among the wealthy French of the 70s: they preferred to talk about the liberal culture of the hippies, be friends with hippies, love hippies, but stay in comfortable bourgeois apartments . Artistic bobo style has permeated interiors with meli-melo, a casual mix of wicker chairs, climbing plants, low furniture, cheap accessories, antiques from flea markets and works by unknown artists. Today, such bohemian decor is in demand along with 70s fashion, craft, botany and floral print. nine0003

Parisian living room designed by Bismut & Bismut Architects.

Savoir faire

Charlotte Mako-Perelmann. Apartment in Paris. @Tripod Agency

Design, according to the French, can enhance any space, no matter the address. The designer will equip an apartment eight meters away, master barges, lofts, workshops, basements and attic rooms: French ingenuity can overcome any obstacles. In order to increase the height of the premises, zealous Parisians expose "putras" - ceiling beams, adding a difficult but very effective element of decor to the interior. High prices for apartments have long forced them to live in the miniliving trend: a Parisian architect is always a virtuoso of redevelopment, every centimeter is verified in him, furniture is built in, storage is optimized, and it seems twice as many meters. nine0003

A small apartment can become a design masterpiece. Young authors from Batiik Studio placed everything you need on an area of ​​11 square meters. meters.

Toads, bedrooms and snags

Joseph Diran. Parisian apartment. By the fireplace is a sculpture by François-Xavier Lalanne.

When it comes to French design, everyone remembers its playful, ironic nature. One example is furniture with details in the form of animals: toads, monkeys, lions, hippos, herons, etc. In the 40s, Diego Giacometti, and later the sculptor duo Lalanne, continued the fantasy art nouveau themes by offering bronze bestiaries to wealthy collectors. . Another “horse” of French interiors is snags trompe-l'œil both picturesque and architectural. One of the tricks is a fake door. Unlike Americans, Europeans believe that rooms and doors illusory increase meters, which in the old capitals are never many. And, of course, a French house can always be distinguished from a Russian one by how exquisitely decorated the entrance hall and ... the bedroom. The bedroom should be comfortable and as beautiful as the front living room.

Sensual palettes

The French don't have the aversion to rich, bold colors that the Hong Kongers do. On the contrary, a complex color is the difference between the French interior. It has been worked out for centuries, it is for the eye, which is accustomed to "tasty" painting: the canvases of the Fauvists, Impressionists and Abstractionists. Textbooks have been written about the romantic French palette, where there is always a place for halftones and “cooler fingers”. However, the most "French" colors in the interior are white and gray: cream, ivory, antique, etc. Such shades are a win-win background for works of art, and it is the main wealth of even the most modest French house. nine0003

French style in the interior - 22 photos

French style in the interior is a real magic of charm and negligence. This is a stunning mix of different styles and times, in which antique luxury looks organically next to modern solutions.

Due to the huge number of different trends, it is difficult to separate the aesthetics of style into a single formula - the whole history and geography of France is collected in a French house - from Parisian chic to the comfort of Provence. Still, let's try to highlight the main thing. nine0082

Let's start with history.

The origin of French interior design

The history of French chic goes way back. Modern versions of interiors are based on the historical heritage of France - one of the strongest European powers and an important trendsetter.

At one time France was touched by: pomposity and majesty of classicism, luxury and elegance of baroque, strict geometry of art deco, modern minimalist styles. Part of European styles was born in France: playful charming Rococo, monumental imperial Empire, fabulous symbolic Art Nouveau and, of course, rustic Provence, which brought a love of space and simplicity, natural materials and light, warm shades. nine0003

Features of the French style in the interior

All this mixture of styles led us to the following features:

antiquity. Vintage and antique items are highly valued in this part of Europe. The same applies to old houses and apartments.

A mix of old and new shows the dynamics of time in the interior. Accept contradictions - the most interesting French-style interiors calmly mix styles, materials, colors.

Like fashion, there is an unspoken rule in French interiors: you can't try too hard. Keep it simple, combine the incongruous, let the interior express your individuality.

Many pre-war houses remain in Paris, retaining the French aesthetic with their high ceilings, cornices, parquet floors and boiserie panels on the walls. If you are lucky and got such a house - enjoy, you are lucky! In Russia, such apartments can only be found in old Stalinist houses. nine0003

The French understand the value of minimalism and are not afraid of empty space on walls or floors. Art objects are important in the room - paintings and sculptures, they can be massive, but better in a single copy. Furniture should also “breathe”.

The gap between modern and vintage pieces helps overcome the French favorite color in interiors - white. It is very important to choose the right white shade of the walls, at the same time not blue-cold, not too yellow. Proper white is right in the middle: creamy white with a slight pinkish tinge. nine0003

The rest of the palette is muted, it allows beautiful interior details and decor to attract more attention. Parisians are big fans of monochrome interiors with warm shades - gray, warm brown, linen.