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.

DIY French Kitchen Decor

French kitchen decor is a theme that you can cut costs on by making it yourself. This also ensures that your room isn’t too thematic and you can work with a lot of your existing countertops, and even flooring.

Eiffel Tower Décor

Eiffel towers are going to be your more sleek or modern kind of look. You may want to use restraint in this. You might be able to find porcelain knobs. Usually handpainting is outdated but when you skip the floral prints and go with this sort of architecture it really updates it quite a lot.

Another area where you can create this is to use it on a dishtowel. You could also apply it to canvas for homemade kitchen art. Another option would be to just be inspired by this by bringing in a lot of black metal baskets and for bringing in accessories and lighting.

The other thing that you’ll need for a traditional French kitchen is going to be copper. Usually this would be copper cookware. This can be quite expensive and difficult to care for. Instead, you might want to try to paint anaglyptia wallpaper that you can use on your ceiling. This adds warmth to a room that would otherwise feel very cold and sterile.

We also see a lot of scrollwork in the French kind of design style and you can even bring this in on your sculpted tile accents. This is a way that you can spruce up plain white ceramic tile. Just adding in a few of these accents is going to drive up the cost a little bit but it also makes it much more elegant and designer feeling.

French Country Kitchen Décor

This design style is going to be your more casual French style so it’s perfect for families. In all different styles it’s very popular to have painted cabinets. This style is more likely to use a glaze over this. You want to go with a lot of worn colors. These should be muted. This includes neutral taupes and grays. However, if you also want to combine the look of farmhouse kitchens then bring in sage or blue. Black and white are more evocative of classic kitchens. There will be some subtle black accents in your space but you don’t want it to be too jarring.

Toile is really a must for this design and there are lots of new ways that you can use this. You could try just sprucing up your existing table with French country dinnerware in this pattern. It’s going to be slightly trendier and less formal than floral print china. If you are really committed to this design style you can get stencils so you could paint a toile pattern on top of a French country dining table.

You can also change up the color palette of this typical fabric. Usually it’s going to have a white background with subtle outlines. However, since you are in control of the paint you could even bring in a second accent color like pink.

The use of fabric is also very imperative for this design style. You might want to use it underneath your sink or as a skirt around your kitchen island to hide storage space. Of course anytime you use fabric in a kitchen you need to take safety precautions and make sure that it’s not hanging near open flames. You could also use this to frame out your entryway. This is important because oftentimes frames and archways are very popular in this style kitchen but you just might not be able to afford these architectural details. Framing it out with fabric gives you the same effect.

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Of course, rooster kitchen decor is really the iconic kind of look in the French country style. You can do this just by skipping it on a lot of your fabric choices and dishtowels. You don’t need to have all of the cutesy accessories. Then try collecting sculpted metal roosters and then display them in a hutch along with your favorite dinnerware. It only takes one of these to make a big impact if you’re short on space.