Why would you want to start adding French Country style to your home? Trend forecasts are pointing to French Country being popular again and it just so happens to be a very cozy, charming, comfortable style that sure works great mingled with other contrasting looks (and goes surprisingly well with Scandinavian styles).
Donna Stockton-Hicks is an Austin-based interior designer specializing in residential interiors and has completed projects across the United States. She's also co-owner of Austin's largest fabric and furniture wholesale design showroom, Stockton Hicks Laffey, a tenant of Back Door To The Trade. She shared some ideas to put into practice if you've been thinking about adding a little French Country to your home's mix:
- Keep woods in the interior spaces raw to channel the style
- Use slipcovers on sofas and chairs; linen fabrics work really well
- Change out your modern or outdated lamps for Parisian flea market-looking ones
- Groupings of prints, especially ones of maps or botanicals, are a powerful tool of this style
- Take your existing throw pillows, grab a few more, and create a scatter back look on a sofa (as seen in the top photo)
- Lucite is a material that looks cool both in modern spaces and French Country
- Hang a chandelier in an interesting location (wooden, spindly ones work great!)
Images: Via Donna Stockton-Hicks from her showroom
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Actually I agree with the first post. I am not interested in french country decor at all - unless I were to have a manor in the french countryside perhaps. But, here, it looks great. Not sure I'll incorporate it into my space but it is refreshing to think about something besides mcm. Thanks for the article. Can you tell me where that marble coffee table is from btw?
Really enjoyed this post. I love mixing Victorian, modern and French Country together but with calming, soothing color palettes. I think the tip on adding in Lucite is dead on. I have elements of lucite, crystal and etched glass and it all mixes together beautifully. I totally appreciate mid-century modern but not my cup of tea. Nice to see more posts of different things.
I sometimes think that designers who do "French Country" have never been to France, let alone the countryside and I am not a fan of this fake (dare I say faux?) style. My experiences of the real "French Country" are rustic homes with a sometimes minimalist, always artistic/eclectic aesthetic, nothing more than is needed or loved, and yes many items are antique, been in the family house for years, but they're worn in a more "wabi sabi" way, not exactly crisp neatly arranged pillows and pintucks. An old piano that IS in tune and played regularly, linens that have seen world wars, paintings that you can see brush strokes, and of course the kitchen is well used. The one bit of formality seems to be the meals that are served, everyone at the table with their own place setting, and a bottle of wine, that is, unless a meal is served outside, next to laundry drying on the line...
Don't get me wrong, I'm all for mixing and matching styles, but I just wish that American versions of "French Country" would go away forever. </rant>
But thanks anyway for sharing this tip about adding variety to our homes!
No, thank you.
I like French Country, but not the Texas version.