Giving Your Bedroom a French Country Style Feel
Choosing a decor theme when you want to redecorate a room gives you a useful starting point. Deciding what you want to do can be difficult otherwise, and a theme helps you to narrow things down. The French country look is an excellent choice for bedrooms, helping to create a cosy and comfortable feel that you won’t be able to resist at the end of the day. You might think that the style could limit you in your choices, but you can still adjust it to your liking to create the perfect bedroom.
For a charming French country bedroom, try out some of the following suggestions to create a design you love.
Look for Shabby Chic
The French country look definitely has a strong correlation with shabby chic style. While you can also go for a smarter overall design, having some slightly roughened, vintage-looking elements helps to add charm and warmth to your bedroom. You can look for genuine vintage or second-hand items that have been well-loved, or you can buy new furniture that has been designed to give you an authentic shabby chic image. Try distressed paint on wooden furniture or even natural wood, as well as tarnished metal and anything else that looks a little rough around the edges.
Consider Some French Country Colour Schemes
If you choose to design a French country bedroom, don’t feel like you have to limit your choice of colour schemes. While you’ll find that a lot of the inspiration available uses similar colours, particularly creams combined with yellows, dark reds and neutral shades, there are lots of options you can consider to get the right hues for you. For example, blue is a great choice for a French country bedroom.
Pale blue looks great mixed with some more traditional colours.
Another option is to pick a single colour to use for accents, then have everything else white or cream.
Combine Pastels with Brighter Accents
Pastel shades help to give your French country bedroom the soft and cosy look that you want. But you don’t have to stick to the light and airy colours if you want to mix things up a bit. You can also choose to put in some brighter accent colours so that there are areas of your room that pop. Start with a palette of natural and neutral hues that give the room an earthy feel. Then you can choose some bright accents to add for texture and detail so that the neutral colours don’t just all blend into each other.
Make It Cosy with Textiles
Plenty of cosy textiles are a must for any bedroom, but a French country style, in particular, should have an abundance of fabrics. You don’t have to overdo it if you don’t want curtains, blankets and cushions all over the place, but you can create a plush and welcoming room by carefully choosing your items. You can look at bedding, rugs, curtains, and even upholstered beds, headboards and chairs. Build up your fabrics in layers to make your bedroom look comfortable and inviting. Experiment with different textures, patterns and colours to get variety into your decor.
Build Up a Plush Bed
One place to focus your fabrics is the bed.
But before you get to the bedding, start off with the bed itself.
The right choice of bed frame and even mattress can make a difference to the overall look. You might want to start by thinking about an upholstered headboard or perhaps just consider a striking bed frame. Both wood and metal could be good choices for frames. A white bed frame or base is a popular choice, or perhaps a natural wood could work too. To start building up a plush bed, get a memory foam base for a mattress that both looks and feels comfortable. Once you’ve chosen the right mattress, start layering up your bedding. Sheets, blankets, throws and runners, along with cushions, can all add texture and make your bed welcoming.
Bring In a Variety of Patterns
Another way to bring different colours and textures into your French country bedroom is to look for various patterns you can use. You might use patterned wallpaper or just select fabrics and furniture with different patterns. There are some traditional patterns and motifs you might notice, but you definitely don’t have to stick to anything in particular. You have a huge range of possibilities to explore, so just consider what works for your theme. Mix and match different patterns so that they play off each other. If you don’t want to do too much, you can keep it to just a couple of patterns that complement each other.
Vintage vs Modern
French country decor lends itself to a vintage look, but you don’t have to choose a more traditional style. You can update the theme and try something more contemporary if that’s more suited to your tastes. For a modern look, you can take some of the traditional elements of the French country style but combine them with updated ideas. For example, you might want to have an iron bed frame and some shabby chic side tables, but perhaps avoiding too many patterns and textures will help everything look cleaner. You can create a slightly more sophisticated look and avoid anything that looks too old-fashioned.
Quirky Vintage Finds
Adding some personality to your bedroom is important too.
One of the great ways you can do it is to search for some interesting vintage items that will give your room character.
They don’t have to be genuine vintage, of course, but it can help to lend something more to your room. You could choose anything that you think reflects your personality and helps to turn your bedroom into somewhere you want to be. Try looking in charity shops, auctions, antique shops and other places where you might be able to find some quirky items that you wouldn’t get elsewhere.
Photo by NeONBRAND on Unsplash
Mirrors
Mirrors are fantastic items to add to your French country decor. They can help to emphasise the natural light in the room, and mirror frames are a great option for a shabby chic look too. If you’re thinking about where to put a mirror, hanging one over your bed could be a good idea. Another possible place to put one is on a vanity table or bedside table. Choose frames that look vintage or antique (even if they’re really brand new) and consider some different shapes and textures. Oval or round mirrors are likely to work best, but you can consider a few options to find mirrors that work for your theme.
Lighting
Getting the lighting and the light fixtures right in your French country bedroom can be tricky. You don’t want it to be too bright, partly because it wouldn’t go with the theme but also because it’s a bedroom. Soft lighting is preferable to anything too bright, especially when you’re getting ready for a good night’s sleep. If you want to choose a standout feature, a chandelier lighting fixture can look amazing and suit the look you’re going for. But if you want something a bit more subtle that still makes an impact, you might want to consider some vintage table lamps or perhaps some wall lights.
Somewhere to Sit
Not everyone has a lot of space in their bedroom, but if you have room for something other than a bed and some storage, giving yourself somewhere to sit down is a good idea. You could have a desk or vanity table, but you could also just add some chairs or even a sofa to create a cosy corner of the room to sit in. Have a look at vintage-style chairs, such as those inspired by the French kings – in particular, Louis XV and XVI style chairs could look great in your bedroom.
Even if you don’t have a lot of space, a single chair could add extra character to your room.
Artwork
Mirrors give you one option of something to hang on the wall, but you can also consider some artwork to hang too. It could be paintings or prints, or perhaps some photos. Think about both the artwork and the frame you choose to hang it in. You might want to choose some pastoral landscapes, but maybe without making the room too twee or old-fashioned. When you choose frames, they could be wooden or perhaps have a white-washed look.
Natural Motifs
The French country look takes a lot of inspiration from nature. If you want to create an authentic bedroom, you can take a look at some different ways to use natural motifs. Floral patterns are often present in French country decor, but you can also have some natural or artificial flowers in vases or perhaps some potted plants. These natural elements help to brighten up the room and give it a fresh and pleasant look.
Your French country bedroom doesn’t have to be outdated. You can bring it up to date and create a timeless room that you can love for years.
Comments
One day I will have a bedroom like this. I have always liked the idea of a four poster bed