The Secret Ingredient To French Provincial Decorating

Cunningham Rustic Iron Reclaimed Wood Console

How do you do this?

Consider slowly exchanging out furniture which doesn’t work.

Trade up.  Sell your old with pieces that are more “you” .

You can find antique finds at garage sales, ebay, craigslist and local thrift stores.

I know for myself, I would buy furniture cheap at thrift stores, auctions and so forth, and sell them for a profit on our local craigslist, and the money I gained from the sale I would invest in new furnishings.   I would sell our previous furniture for a profit, and exchange it out when I came across that was better and more of my period style.

Rustic French Provence Decorating Ideas From Atelier de Campagne

The power of editing.

I was attracted to a particular style for years, and finally I figured out what period it belonged to, and researched the various elements of that style and ran with it.  The various layers of choosing the right furniture, to the right wall finishes, to the right flooring and textiles, it really has been a fun process for me.  I don’t have a perfect home, but subtle changes with your furniture and the decor can make a big difference.

Getting rid of decor that just doesn’t go with your period style can be freeing.

A girlfriend of mine had a huge garage sale in which she just got rid of all of her rose floral arrangements and colors that she wasn’t decorating around anymore.  It made an impact in her home, and the only reason she hung on to the items is because she spent a lot of money on them.  Isn’t that what happens?  Selling the items you don’t need anymore, can free up money to spend it where you want.

Sometimes LESS is more in a home, and the right appropriate elements can make all the difference in presenting a style, and I guarantee you, it will make all the difference in the world.

Iron is seen a lot in old world French decorating.

One thing I have learned with Provence French Decorating, in compared to Swedish decorating, is that country side French decorating is based around stone and iron, where as Swedish is all based around wood.

With old Swedish styles, you would see wood plank walls, often painted, and all wood floors painted.  Wood was greatly available in this area of the world, so the style is basically dominated by wood.

Compare that to French decorating, and stone is a very common theme.  Stone floors, plaster walls, iron wall decor.

If you are wanting the Provence look, consider adding more stone elements in your home.  Consider a tiled floor.  Consider Plaster Wall finishes that replicate the look of stone in some way.  Consider keeping distressed wood furniture, but work with a lot of iron decor.  Put more effort into the architectural elements, and the little furniture that you do have that is French will POP.

Everyone has a concrete basement in America.  Why not look into getting the concrete polished and stained?  Use throw rugs instead of carpet in your basement.   I am sure this idea would cost a lot less than carpet, or even hardwood floors.

If you have a patio, slowly try to collect furniture that has an iron or metal base.

Think out of the box when it comes to this style.  Everyone has seen these vintage sewing machine tables in their local classifieds.  These sort of tables do come up quite frequent and they are listed at bargain prices.  Some even for $20 dollars, depending on the style.  Consider getting a new top made for them, or even take off the existing table top and use the iron to make a long bench for an outdoor table.

Southern Portico’s photostream shows a table that is obviously vintage, but it would transfer extremely well in the countryside French look.

Avescape’s photostream shows a rectangular table that could be used inside or out.  Instead of a glass top, consider re-creating a weathered top made from wood.   Your local home hardware store sells stripes of wood which you can fit and fit with a regular laser beam circular saw for straight cuts or a for rounded tables a jig saw.  All you need to do is some natural distressing, and a rustic wood stain.

Check out This bleached wood furniture on my Swedish Site.

If you do stain your wood, I would highly suggest looking at Behr’s wood stain line in Semi transparent colors.  The color to the left are solid stains, while the right provide a semi transparent look which I highly recommend.  Wood is beautiful to look at, and staining it in a transparent look, allows you to get the natural wood, while having the wood a shade of the color of your choice.