Live Like A French Queen (without Ending Up At The Guillotine) With French Bedroom Furniture

By Author: Daniel Crow
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One furniture trend that is timeless enough to never go out of fashion, however, is the classic French style as adopted by the country's royalty in the 1600s up to the late 1700s.

France has long been one of the most influential countries in terms of style and its furniture is just one significant part of its long and illustrious design history. The chaise longue, for example, was popularised by the French, who made it a must-have piece for the bedroom, despite it first appearing in ancient civilisations. What are the buzzwords that immediately come to mind when we think of French style? Elegance? Luxury? Glamour? That's a good start. You'd be hard-pushed to find a piece of French furniture, especially when it comes to the bedroom, that doesn't express elegance, luxury and glamour and even more besides.

The word "boudoir" comes from the French, where it was the term for a lady's dressing room, sitting room or bedroom. Now, it is used to describe any bedroom with ornate, stylish fittings and furniture pieces, and what better way to create your own boudoir than with French bedroom furniture ...
... pieces fit to grace any of the original boudoirs of the eighteenth-century queens and ladies in Paris and Versailles?

If you want to create your own homage to French boudoirs, ideally your room will have a fair amount of space. While the bed is a major aspect of the room, a true boudoir would house pieces such as couches, armoires, dressing tables and so on, so you'll need as much space as you can possibly get.

When it comes to French beds, one of the main characteristics to look out for is a big headboard and an equally big footboard at each end of the bed, which give an impression of size even if the bed is just a bog-standard double rather than a king or queen-size. The head and footboards will be upholstered in some plush material or carved ornately out of wood, with lighter colours like pale pinks and creams favoured by the majority of designers. Once you've found the perfect frame, all you need to do is complete the effect with a mattress, duvet and a lot of pillows for a truly decadent sleeping-place.

Of course, this is only the first step in the boudoir creation process. Furniture can only take you so far, if the basics such as the walls and the floor aren't right then the overall effect won't look particularly good. The walls are often covered with embroidered wallpaper and plush rugs and carpets are usually thrown over the floor, and there is a great deal of inspiration in these areas available to peruse online. This can be quite an expensive process to embark upon, so if you can find any deals that might allow you to acquire some pieces relatively cheaply, they're certainly worth taking advantage of. With websites online that specifically concentrate on stocking boudoir-style furnishings, there's no shortage of places to start your French royalty design journey.