French Country Decor on a Budget — an Affordable Way to Create a Beautiful Home

French country decor has always been a popular style in North America. It calls to mind the feel and ambiance of a rural French cottage, and brings a romantic, old world environment to your home.  But filling your home with French furniture and accessories just isn’t in the cards for most of us! Luckily, there are simple, affordable ways to bring the charm of Provence into your home without breaking the bank to do it.

The basics of French country decor are pretty simple, and you can browse online to look at pictures of real French cottages to see how it’s done. What’s important is the overall feel more so that having genuine French items in yo room. Basically, the style is rustic and uses a lot of rough woods, wrought iron and plaster wall finishes. Often, the ceilings or walls sport exposed wooden beams and the floors are aged and covered with stone tile or old wood. Colors are evocative of what you would see walking through the countryside, and include a lot of warm butter yellows, light and bright blues and greens, and neutral earth tones in the backdrop.

To bring French country decor into your home on a dime, here are a few things you can do.

Choose wall colors such as cornflower blue, mustard yellow or celadon for bedrooms and use warm, lighter tones of rooms like the kitchen and living room. If you can, do a plaster or aged wall treatment to add the texture and history of an old French farmhouse.

Put a chair rail in your dining room, and wallpaper the top half of the wall with a classic French motif. Black and white toile is a classic choice, and brings an air of formality and romance to the dining area.

Look for iron occasional furniture and accessories, and age them with spray-on rust treatments found at most home improvement stores. Use iron planters or towel racks in the bathroom, and place a wrought iron bench in the hallway with colorful pillows. An iron chandelier adds a definitive French country decor feel to a dining room or bedroom.

Paint your existing furniture. Old ladderback chairs are very French when done in a whitewash. Paint your kitchen cabinets in a cream, then rag on a brown glaze overtop to create an aged look. You can also use a crackle treatment to age a piece.

These are just a few simple ways to get French country decor without spending a ton of money to do it. Through color, texture and aging, you can make any room look like it belongs in the countryside of Provence.Country French Desk at The Raleigh Furniture Gallery

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