French Country Decorating

FRENCH COUNTRY

French country is a great style to interject in small quantities. You don’t have to go all out and be exclusively french. It blends very well with traditional rooms and is a great edge to modern rooms.
A home filled with genuine French furnishings and accessories would be beautiful, but incompatible with modest household budgets. Instead, here a few ways to make your home a little more French on a budget:
• Place an inexpensive, wrought iron bench in the foyer decorated with romantic throw pillows depicting roosters, florals or fleur de leis.
• Add lace panel curtains on windows where absolute cover for privacy is not required. Go with the attitude here that a little goes a long way and maybe in the bath or bedroom.
• Paint with French hues like mustard, celadon, salmon pink or cornflower blue.
• Add inexpensive accessories, such as a black iron wall planter in the bathroom to hold hand towels.
• Whitewash old ladder-back chairs, sand the edges just a little to convey age.
• Paint white cabinets and rag over them with a glaze. This works nicely with a base coat of cream paint, brushed over lightly with a mocha-brown glaze.
• Suspend a pot rack from the kitchen ceiling to hang pots and pans, especially if they're copper. But these will need dusting regularly so perhaps hang with things you will use often.
Read more at Suite101: French Country Home Decorating on a Budget http://www.suite101.com/article.cfm/budget_decorating/74091#ixzz0ja7vdmar
When I was buying for my store I was always on the lookout for anything with a french flair to it. Those items always sold well and I was once complemented on my quantity of french inspired merchandise. Garden shops and gift stores abound with decorating accessories, just use your imaginations or ask the sales clerks. They can be a big help with ideas.
Here are some great fabric choices from Antex Designs, a fabric company which I represent.





For a great site to visit for inspiration go to: www.euroantiquemarket.blogspot.com