French country, read properly
The reputation is largely American, largely from the 1980s, and largely wrong. Sunflowers, roosters, toile on every surface — a decorating style about France rather than the way French rural houses actually look. The real thing is quieter, and easier to live in.
French country has a reputation problem, and the reputation is largely American, largely from the 1980s, and largely wrong. Sunflowers, roosters, saturated Provençal yellow and blue, toile on every available surface. It is a real decorating style. It is a decorating style about France rather than the way French rural houses actually look.
The real thing is quieter than its reputation, and considerably easier to live in.
What it actually is
Limewashed or plastered walls, usually a cool off-white. Stone or terracotta underfoot. Furniture in unpainted oak, or in chalky paint worn through at the edges. Linen, undyed or nearly so. Very little pattern. A great deal of daylight, and rooms arranged around where the light falls rather than around a television.
It is restrained, and it is cool — which is the main thing separating it from farmhouse. Both use wood and white. Farmhouse leans warm, casual and sturdy; French country leans cool, formal and light. Put a cream wall in a French country room and the whole thing quietly collapses into something else.
Five moves
1. Cool the whites. Chalk, oyster, bone, a faint grey-green. Not cream, not magnolia. If the white has yellow in it, you are heading for farmhouse.
2. One curve per room. A cabriole leg, a bowed drawer front, an arched mirror, a single round-backed chair. The elegance in this style comes almost entirely from one curve set against a great many straight lines. Two curves is a scheme. Four is a period drama.
3. Linen, washed and unironed. Curtains that hang slightly heavy. Cloth that creases and stays creased. Crispness is the enemy here — the style depends on things looking used.
4. Unglazed or half-glazed clay. Terracotta, stoneware, anything with a matte or partly matte surface. High-gloss ceramic reads modern and will fight everything around it.
5. Restrict pattern to one item. A single toile cushion in an otherwise plain room reads unmistakably French. Six read as fancy dress. This is the rule people break first, and it is the one that does the most damage.
On metal
Brass, aged, sparing, and never polished — a little tarnish is the point. Chrome and brushed nickel belong to a different room entirely, and stainless steel in any quantity will pull the whole scheme towards a modern kitchen no matter what else you do.
The idea underneath
French country is not about looking rustic. It is about looking unbothered: expensive materials treated casually, and cheap materials treated with respect. Stone floors with nothing on them. Good linen left creased. A plain room with one beautiful curve in it.
Get the whites cool and the pattern restricted, and most of the rest follows on its own.
