Decorating French Country Kitchens

French country kitchens don’t really require a lot of remodeling they just require a lot of color and fabric. This is the perfect budget friendly way to decorate. Here are a few of the more unusual ideas around.

Patterned fabric is really a must for this design style. You want to go with lots of pleating. You might be able to find different corbels that you can use to hold curtain rods. Another popular design style is just to have decorative window treatments. This is important because more and more kitchens are incorporating French doors or sliding glass doors. You might want to stay with functional vertical blinds but this really isn’t all in keeping with this design. Instead, you’re going to want to go with faux window treatments on either side of your window which will also make your window seem bigger. This is an easy trick to fool the eye. Oftentimes you will find these hung from reproduction doorknobs.

Mismatched patterns are a hallmark of this design style and typically this is something that we see with a lot of fabric. However, if you still want a clean kitchen then maybe fabric isn’t the way to go. Instead, you can try this mismatched look on your chairs. You could even try painting each one in a different pattern or just a different color. You could also just try going with a lot of colorful china by mixing together a lot of patterns which also allows you to use a lot of what is on sale.

Another interesting area where you can use this principle is going to be on your cabinetry. You don’t want to go overboard with this design style. However, we are seeing a big trend in having a few cabinets painted in an entirely different color especially if it’s mixed with wood tones. Painting your upper cabinets only allows you to mix and match paint and wood tones.

French Kitchen Décor

French kitchen decor is going to be slightly more formal than your typical country French look. Instead of going with a lot of patterns this is going to focus on opulent materials. You may want to try out this design style if you already have tons of sculpted ceramic tile or glazed cabinetry which is going to take care of the more casual side of this look.

One option is to consider rococo decor. This is going to be one of your more expensive feeling French looks and probably one of the more opulent decorating styles that you can really find. At times it can be difficult to translate this into a kitchen without making it seem smaller. In this case you can bring in several gilded accents. You could try handpainting some gold details on your doors or even distressing your cabinets with this tone. Use it over black to keep it looking sleek. Stay away from ornate gold knobs and instead go with iron versions both to save money and so that the focus is also on your color palette.

As far as your cabinets go the more ornate, the better. You’re going to want to add in as much molding and wood appliqués as possible. You really can’t go too over the top with this design style. Any kind of glaze that makes it look aged is also going to be key. You can go for either painted versions or rich wood tones. Stay away from lighter oaks and pines.

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Another hallmark of this design style is going to be a lot of wall coverings. This isn’t necessarily trendy or even practical for kitchen use. You might want to instead try going with a mural backsplash which can be really inexpensive. Instead of trying to mimic tile really embrace a lot of fleur-de-lis designs. Then you could even center this over a kitchen sink if you don’t want to paint an entire mural which really isn’t necessary. You also might want to add a paneled effect to your breakfast nook just for a slightly more casual design that’s still keeping within all of the molding that is popular traditionally.