Ideas on French Country Decorating

If you are passionate about the French culture and traditions then you'll be glad to know that French country decorating is the latest trend in rustic home style. French country decorating expresses the atmosphere found in a small village cottage, where nature is the inspiration for a detailed and voluptuous art, where lines are round and volumes are full and feminine.
 
The French country decorating means adopting simple, basic shapes, long and heavy curtains, rough wooden beams on the ceiling and added frills on the table cloths, manually crafted with serviettes. The terra cotta or natural brick floors are aged and lightly painted and the walls amplify even more the light. But the French style does not necessarily imply redecorating your entire house, but special artistic French items placed in the right places can change the look of your house into one of a 19th century French mansion.
 
Rusted metal, best represented by an antique iron on a small round table near a wooden pot with dry flowers is highly effective. If you want to bring the French country decorating outside your house, too, place a wrought iron bench on the porch, decorated with flat beige pillows; a brand new bench can easily be transformed into a French look-alike one, by spraying it with a spray-on rust treatment. The colors that represent this style the best are all iron derivates, like bright blacks and dull grays, fiery and burned rust, dark hunter green, cobalt blue and sharp brick orange.  Many antique items can set the French mood, such as iron teapots and silver engraved plates.

Wallpaper, especially striated one is a great idea for the French country decorating, as it gives the room a provincial and romantic look, just like the rough painted plaster walls. Also, adding lace curtains with many waves, or lace embroideries on covers, lace tissues on different furniture spots amplify the Bohemian look. The floors should be covered with wool or cotton rugs, smaller than the extent of the floor. The dinner table should be massive and round, with ceramic baskets on top and wooden chairs surrounding it.

The chateaux atmosphere, a must in the French country decorating, is also given by a representative smell, like the lavender; place these scented colored pouches between clothes and on book shelves or lavender pieces in large copper pots, which should be full with field flowers. The French country decorating motifs include roosters, olives, sunflowers, grapes and beetles, which can be sewed or painted anywhere.