How To Create A French Style Home

By Author: Carolyn Clayton
Total Articles: 130
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If you are looking to create a traditional French style home you will need to think about redecorating, replacing some of your ultra modern furniture and purchasing some new items that are in keeping with the French style. Whitewashed wooden furniture is becoming quite popular for modern homemakers trying to create a traditional French look and feel and these can be purchased quite cheaply. Alternatively you can purchase some old colonial furniture which you can restore yourself; there are some great old oak and pine kitchen tables around that look great restored. With a genuine Provencal tablecloth your kitchen is on its way to acquiring a traditional French flavor.

Transforming your home to reflect a Provence style charm requires a few rustic accessories to offset all the modern electrical devices you probably have around the home. Purchase some old style pieces of glassware, basket ware for the kitchen, tablecloths for your tables and some old enamelware or modern reproductions for flowers, to use as a fruit bowl, or for a wash basin. Set on top of some rustic timber furniture, enamelware produces that rustic French ...
... feel of Provence.

There are some lovely French bedspreads available which look great on a rustic wooden or wrought iron bed and even transform an ensemble into a traditional looking feature. Raw wooden bedside tables and cupboards will give the room a rustic old style character. An old enamelware wash basin on a traditional old washstand is also a great bedroom feature to create atmosphere.

Framed watercolor prints of country landscapes are also in keeping with that rustic French style and can be purchased as individual prints and framed using rough wooden frames which you can pick up second hand and refurnish. Ready framed prints are also available from suppliers of French traditional interior decoration accessories if you prefer to buy them ready made. If you are thinking of redecorating, then paint the walls in very light pastels, bordering on white. Any timber that is in the house surrounding doorways, skirting boards and beams should be left natural timber and sanded back if it is painted, as this is in keeping with country cottages in Provence. Any old timber furniture that you have can be restored easily and will be better than modern pieces for creating the traditional country feel.

For those of you that are redecorating or renovating the flooring can also be easily made to resemble that of a Provencal French home. Traditional Provencal floors are made from colored mosaic tiles in warm reds, oranges and browns. The intricate patterns are quite distinctive and specific patterns have been used for hundreds of years. They are formed from hexagonal tomettes of different colors joined together, forming intricate patterns. Cement tiles are also popular in Provence and have also been around for several hundred years as well. Both are extremely long lasting and durable and are easy to clean as well as stain resistant. Laying terracotta mosaic tiles or cement tiles, will immediately create a Provencal feel to your home and suitable tiles are available from tile suppliers.
Boutique Provencale offer a huge range of French tablecloths style home accessories including Dishes Pottery which will give any home that French country feel.