How to Use Elements of French Country Decor

France has a design heritage with furniture that is unsurpassed. The French court was bound up in luxury, and the nobility of the time created magnificent homes that served as the impetus for beautiful furniture design and production. During the rule of Louis XIII, in the early part of the seventeenth century, furniture resembled what was found in England and Holland. The heavily carved oak and walnut designs meant that scale was massive, heft pronounced. The design period which followed, Louis XV style, was more sophisticated because designs were symmetrically balanced under bold curves and excessively ornate motifs, used in counterpoint. Furniture was extremely elegant with gilding, intricate inlays, and painted decoration.

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Awareness of all things French

1. 

   For the smaller cities and surrounding countryside, French Provincial, a simpler furniture style, grew in popularity. Native woods such as oak, walnut, pine, beech, elm and wild cherry were used. Pieces were almost always in natural wood and the gilded details and elaborate ormolu—gold metal alloy designs—were dropped.
   
   The principal decoration was carving. Some of the most common pieces were armoires, chests of drawers, armchairs with rustic stretchers and exposed back slats and rush seats; fanciful clock cases, open cupboards and china cabinets with whimsical curves and carving. Provincial furniture was solid, sometimes even crude. French Provincial has influenced current decoration and design more than any other past style has because its design was imaginative and its charm is enormous. The country look so popular today usually means French Provincial.
   
   You don’t have to redo your home to create French Country living. Part of the look is simply related to period details and pieces indigenous to the area of Provence, in the south of France, up through to Dordogne and into Loire, cities typical of the French countryside.
   
   To get the style:
   Look for French harvesting baskets; they are wide at the top and taper to the bottom as a vase might. For centuries, French farmers have strapped these baskets to their backs for harvesting grapes or olives. In addition to being tapered they are flat in the back to accommodate the bearer’s torso. Hanging on a wall, filled with either bouquets or mail, they look terrific.

2. 

   Think about using Provençal pottery sur la table. In Engobe dinnerware, the background color is usually yellow ochre and the design relies on raised-relief festoons, garlands, and geometric borders, which are hand-painted in broad glazed bands. Over the table, place a chandelier with an openwork circlet design in rusted iron, decorated with oak vines and upturned with faux drip candle sleeves. Add colorful shades in bright yellow or sage green and your light will cast an authentic glow. Tablecloths and linens should reflect the French preference for bright colors and the mini design à la indienne, which are colorful sunflower-and-olive sprig design motifs, paisleys, and oak leaves.

3. 

   For storage, pick a large bibliothèque buffet. This piece can blur the lines between the kitchen, gathering room, and family room to accommodate books, china, or linen. (I have seen them used as office credenzas as well.) Choose one with chicken wire (grillage) panels in the doors for a true country look, and pick a finish in an antique, hand-rubbed creamy French Vanilla—in order to show the honey-stained wood beneath.

4. 

   Think about finding a bistro table with a solid cherry top of random-width planks and a cast iron trestle base. Sometimes these are made in smaller versions with marble tops that are great for small serving areas, or to use a place to roll pastry. Other tables and hutches can be made of rather crude, simple styling with either rough storage drawers or bins and featuring a weathered, painted finish—a beautiful colonial blue would be perfect.

5. 

   Fabrics most likely to evoke French ambience besides the tablecloths and colorful napkins are toiles. A toile is a document pattern dating from the 18th century and features scenes of the hunt (scènes de chasse) or the toile de Jouy. Small scenes that looked stamped are pressed against plain colored backgrounds, yellow is especially nice, and printed with a contrasting color like cayenne (red pepper) is terrific.

6. 

   These are just a few suggestions and we’ll have more ideas in the future. But, no matter what details you choose, a study in Country French makes for a livable, colorful, lovable environment.

Resources

• French furnishings vendor

[Karpathos]

on 8/22/2008 Bistro table? Harvesting basket? Sounds great. Count me in.