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Europe has been the birth place of many well known decorating innovations; the French provincial style being one of the best known in the world. Being very aesthetic, it has evolved in to one of the most appealing decorating styles.

With roots in the sunnier hilly sides of rural France, this style is known to be very broad in nature and includes an appealing look that might fit cleanly in to a simpler farmhouse as well as a stately château. Return to Home Furniture Page

In general, this style is very rustic, very warm, deeply cozy and extremely appealing. One of the very original aspects of this rural style is the extensive usage of natural raw materials; whether in extensive wood details or chair seats or rough plaster walls or natural stone floors. Warm earthly and very bright colors make up a distinct part of any French provincial home. Hues of warm gold, earthly grass greens, brilliant cobalt blues, and passionate russet reds are more common though other bright colors like black, brilliant yellow and browns are often used.

French interior brings forth very vivid memories of a distinctive fire place, which is often considered as the heart of a French home. This may include a deeply embedded rustic beam for a mantle, lush stone or tile details and a natural hearth area. Heavy copper and pots, metal accessories and hanging herbal pots are more common and signify that very rural feeling. French provincial homes look very refreshing and traditional; more an amalgamation of rural feeling and modern amenities.

Designing a French provincial home requires more traditional ideas with a flavor of nature. Architectural features such as distressed ceiling beams, wooden details, rough stone walls and very coarse plastic walls invariably add to a French country theme. Furniture used are very rustic, new or old, often uses the look of aged wood. Hand carved panels and rustic patinas are too common. An original accessory is the presence of Armoire for holding linen and pottery.

Kitchen is very conservative with a large dining table with a waxed or low sheen finish. Chairs carry carved details often with a ladder back or woven rush seats. Flooring details are natural; materials being clay tile, brick or stone. Floors are very sturdy, natural and tough! Another noted feature of these homes is the use of contrasting light and dark shades in the room like dark wooden beams against very pale ceiling plasters or very intense window fabric against a very pale rush seats. French provincial windows and doors are very narrow with covering shutters. Shutters are very bright; stuccos are colored with green wines meandering through the windows and doors. French fabrics are very intense and sport very bright colors such as red, blue, green or yellow with multitude of patterns. These mix very well with checks, stripes and plains with contrasting colors.

Textiles styles are again bold with vines, sunflowers, olives and roosters arranged in geometric patterns and borders. A famed French fabric, Toile de Jouy is a cotton or linen fabric in white or beige grey with colored scenes in motif form all along the borders. Scenes include farm yards and landscape in hues of blue and red. Bright flowers are very common in French homes; with their arrangements in natural containers like rustic baskets or tin pitchers and old copper pots. The French theme is buttressed by green grass and wild flowers. Accessories are too French and the interiors are sprinkled with baskets, wrought iron, ceramics, crocks, and Chinoiserie pottery, wire baskets, copper pots, old oil paintings, carved wood, tile, and grasses such as rush and sisal. Dining tables are littered with colorful potteries with bright colors like red and yellow. Table linens are olive green or blue with themed borders.

French provincial homes are too conservative and filled with rural charm and natural flavors. The distinctive style is very remarkable in that, the guest is mesmerized by the warmth and hospitality of each corner of the home. French home are eternal and etched in the minds of all who draw inspiration from a rural living.


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