June 19, 2011. Paul Hixon
The French country design style is going to be a little bit more feminine than your basic country living room. However, it’s not going to be as girly as the shabby chic design style.
It also has a few elegant influences so it can work with almost any kind of architecture that you have in your space.
The focal point of this kind of room is really going to be on your color palette. Even if you just have basic white or taupe walls you can bring in a lot of yellow and blue furniture. You will want to make sure that you have an over the top window treatment with a lot of valances that combine both of these tones together.
French country furniture has subtle curves to it instead of the straight lines of the country kind of design style. This is something that you can even find on a lot of stone fireplaces. It’s also important to bring in a few elegant pieces. This could be with fleur-de-lis finials on your curtain rods. You could also just bring in topiaries on top of your fireplace mantle.
You can also really change up the color palette if you wanted it to be a little bit more masculine or if you need to match wallpaper borders or fitted wardrobes. Fabric can even work in this design style. In fact it can match a lot of the white and neutrals. A great way to really get this across is going to be with a toile kind of print and mix it in with florals as well. This is one of the few ways to get a red living room that isn’t going to be too overwhelming. It’s also a really great option if you just went with a bright red couch but you don’t want it to stick out like a sore thumb.
Updated June 19, 2011. Published February 8, 2011. Paul Hixon
