This French country decorating guide will help you achieve the French country and French country farmhouse look in your home as well as create a casually elegant feel.
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It took me years to really find my decorating style, and still to this day I do not feel that I fit into just one style bracket. However, I do notice that I usually tend to lean toward the French country/ French farmhouse style when choosing furniture and decor for my home.
If you’ve been following my blog for awhile, you know that I like to create a home that is beautiful and elegant, yet one that also feels like you can come in and put your feet up.
I never want my guests nor my family to feel like they can’t live in our home. I always try to balance casual touches with elegant ones.
I designed this ultimate French country decorating guide after years of fine tuning my home.
I came up with a strategy, if you will, about how to get that French country farmhouse look by considering three main points: color pallet, furniture choices, and decorative pieces.
COLOR PALLET OF FRENCH COUNTRY DECORATING
SOFT, MUTED TONES & WHITE TONES
Natural, neutral, gray, white, cream, and distressed tones may come to mind when you think about French country style. In general, to achieve a French country style in your home, opt for soft muted tones and various white tones.
Modern French country style usually incorporates black tones too, but if you’re going for a more classic French country style like me, opt for less black tones. If you want to incorporate some dark tones that align with French country style, opt for dark gray tones.
In my home, I do use some darker gray tones which allows some nice contrast without having to use black. Again though, if you’re looking for a more modern French country feel, then adding black touches in your home will help you achieve that look.
I do love a beautiful modern French country home with black tones, but since I started decorating my home with a more classic French country style, I try to be consistent and not use lots of black tones in my home.
If you’re unsure what colors to choose for your home, you can never go wrong with white shades for your home! I like to incorporate a lot of white tones in my home in the form of furniture pieces, walls, and wood furniture.
Let’s dig into the practicality of having lots of white tones in your home.
THE PRACTICALITY OF HAVING SO MUCH WHITE IN YOUR HOME
One question I get asked often is: is it hard to keep a clean home when there’s so much white in your home? It’s not as difficult as you might think to have a lot of white in my home. However, there are certain sacrifices we make to have certain white elements.
For example, we recently purchased off-white sofas in our living room. Since they are so light, we made the choice to ban food in our living room and we rarely bring drinks in unless it’s water.
We also do no allow our two dogs to get on our sofas, which has really helped keep them in great condition. Instead, we have two doggie beds in our living room so our pups can still be in the same room with us and relax comfortably.
In our kitchen, we have off-white cabinetry and a dark brown kitchen island. When we designed our kitchen, I didn’t necessarily think about designing it to be French country style because I designed it before I really figured out the decorating style that I lean toward.
There are definitely certain things in our kitchen I wish I could change, for practical reasons and so that it better reflects the French country decorating style that I love so much.
That being said, I’m still very happy with our kitchen as it is.
Our off-white kitchen cabinets actually hide way more dirt than our dark island cabinets. I rarely have to clean our light colored cabinets but I consistently have to clean our dark colored island so that you can’t see finger prints and dirt.
You might think that dark cabinets are easier to keep clean, but I find that light cabinets are much easier to keep clean. This is one of those times that having light colored tones in my home is easier than having dark colored tones.
WOOD TONES FOR FURNITURE
We also have some white-painted furniture in our home, which helps to achieve that French country decorating style. Both wood furniture pieces in my dining room were thrifted and I painted them white.
If I would’ve left those wood furniture pieces in their original brown wood tones, they would not have lent themselves very well to the French country style.
Considering the wood tones you choose to use in your home is vital.
When selecting wood furniture for your home, you want to either choose furniture that has soft gray/brown distressing or that is a light colored or white wood tones.
There are certain wood tones that lend themselves more to farmhouse style or boho style, like medium brown tones.
Selecting gray-brown distressed furniture is really the way to go for French country decorating. A great example of beautiful gray-brown distressed furniture is our coffee table.
Furniture can be expensive though, which is why I highly suggest painting thrifted wood furniture if you’re looking to save on costs. You can easily paint outdated wood furniture white and add new hardware to make it appear to have a French country look to it.
Painting wood furniture can be super cheap and still look great!
If you want to paint your furniture, I highly suggest using chalk paint. I painted two side tables in our living room with chalk paint and they are holding up great!
Here is a chalk paint tutorial I used to paint these two side tables.
WALL COLOR
When you consider wall color, as long as you stay neutral, you should be good to go. Choosing paint colors that are in white shades and soft gray shades will help you achieve a French country look.
Loud colors and too many colors will throw off the feel of the French country look, so be selective when choosing the color pallet in your home.
That being said, you can still throw in a pop of color here and there and have a French country style in your home. The best way to do this is through decor because you can easily switch it out. Keeping your color pallet and furniture neutral makes is very easy to add a pop of color to your home!
In fact, this is one thing I love about French country style. Since I have a neutral base in my home, I can easily add a pop of color that’s fitting for the season and it will blend seamlessly with my furniture and color pallet.
PAINT COLORS I USE IN MY HOME:
I highly suggest getting samples to see how they look in your home before going out and purchasing a gallon or two of paint. Paint colors look different in everyone’s home depending on how much natural light you have coming in as well as other factors.
Living room: Cotten grey by Behr Paint (at Home Depot)
I am obsessed with this color! We originally had the paint color Park Avenue by Behr Paint in our living room, but I recently swapped out that darker shade with this lighter shade.
Cotten grey by Behr Paint is a beautiful gray/beige tone that isn’t too dark but provides contrast against a white wall, which was what we were trying to achieve.
Dining room: Park Avenue by Behr Paint (Home Depot)
This is a gray/beige shade as well but shows much darker than the paint color Cotten Grey that’s in the above photo.
Here’s how Park Avenue looks in our dining room.
We have tons of natural light in our dining room as well as white and light colored furniture. That’s why it worked well in this room. If we didn’t have white furniture against the wall, I’d probably opt for a lighter paint color.
Office: Intellectual by Behr Paint (Home Depot)
This is a dark gray that I use as an accent wall color throughout our home.
We also have this color in our mudroom. Notice how different the color looks in these two photos, yet it is the same. This is why you should always get a sample of the paint before you use it! It looks different depending on the light, other colors in the room, the location of the wall you paint in your home etc.
FURNITURE CHOICES FOR FRENCH COUNTRY DECORATING
When I think of French country decorating, certain furniture styles always come to mind. Usually, those styles of furniture tend to be expensive, but if you do what I do and accumulate quality furniture over the years, it doesn’t have to break the bank.
There are also plenty of DIY projects you can do to keep furniture costs at a minimum.
As I mentioned above when discussing color pallet, selecting the right tones of furniture is important for achieving a French country decorating look. You can opt for gray/brown distressed tones or off-white/white furniture.
Some other wood tones can be blended in to a French country home, but the easiest rule to thumb to go with is the tones I mention above.
LIVING ROOM FURNITURE
Couches in your living room are the first large investment piece that can make or break your French country style.
When choosing a couch, I suggest opting for a fabric one that has low, rolled arms, like our couches.
French country accent chairs are also a great addition to a living room to really give it a French country look.
An example of a French country chair is the chair I have in my mudroom that really gives this space a French feel. This would look nice in a living room as well.
When you search for a coffee table, side table or sofa table, try to find one that has baluster-style table legs, like our coffee table. Baluster style legs always tend to give that French country decorating feel.
Just make sure that you first consider the color of the furniture piece. There are plenty of baluster-style furniture pieces that are not the right color for a classic French country home.
DINING ROOM FURNITURE
Choosing a dining table that has baluster-style table legs will be a great choice to help you achieve the French country decorating style. I have the Restoration Hardware 17th C. Monastery rectangular dining table.
Not only does it have the most beautiful table legs, it’s also the perfect grey wood tone for French country design. It’s definitely an investment piece, but I think it’s definitely worth it!
Tip: Shop at a Restoration Hardware outlet to get a better price! If they don’t have the item you want when you go, you can usually sign up to be on a waitlist and they’ll notify you when they have one at the outlet.
French dining room chairs can be equally as expensive. I prefer the round back upholstered chairs that have light colored fabric and gray distressed wood.
It’s typically difficult to find these type of dining room chairs under $100. I purchased one at Home Goods for $100, which I use as my makeup chair. I also purchased two from a Facebook Marketplace seller for super cheap! Keep your eye out for deals like this!
The two I found on Marketplace I use as ends on my dining room table:
Another option is to wait until there’s a big sale going on online and then purchase them then. I’ve seen beautiful options on Wayfair (like these) and on Joss & Main.
Our dining room chairs are actually vintage ones that Jason and I bought second hand and completely redid. We reupholstered them and white waxed them to give them a completely new look!
We bought 8 chairs for $500, which looking back wasn’t the best price considering all the work we had to put in to make them beautiful. But, we both love how they turned out so we’re calling it a win!
As I mentioned above, my hutch and buffet were thrifted furniture pieces that I painted white! They were each under $100. I switched out the hardware on both pieces, and I added legs to the buffet to give it a bit of an updated look.
A chandelier is the last furniture item I’d recommend finding to create a French country decorating style in your dining room.
I found ours at Habitat for Humanity for super cheap! I highly recommend checking out thrift shops for chandys!
BEDROOM FURNITURE
Our bedroom furniture isn’t the most French country style bedroom you’ve ever seen, but it definitely feels partially French country because of our furniture choices.
We have this bedroom set – including the king bed, two end tables and the dresser. We absolutely love this set because it balances the masculine and feminine styles.
I’ll never forget years ago when we were picking out a bedroom set that Jason really wanted a bed with a wood headboard and I really wanted a bed with a fabric head board.
We saw this bed and decided that it was the perfect compromise because it included both wood and fabric. It is also a lightish wood tone which makes me happy!
We also added a vintage buffet that we bought already re-painted. It was actually supposed to be for our master bathroom renovation but it didn’t fit properly so we decided to use it in our master bedroom.
I love the French vintage feel it gives to our bedroom.
If you have enough room in your bedroom, add a French armchair or two! We had this chair in our bedroom for awhile until we moved it downstairs into our mudroom.
GENERAL FURNITURE CONSIDERATIONS
In general, when you’re choosing furniture for your home, try to find furniture with these aesthetics:
- baluster style furniture
- soft gray/brown wood tones
- painted beige or white wood tones (this is where you and save tons of money! Buy furniture at second hand shops and paint the wood!)
- fabric furniture with French style detail, like sloped/rolled arms on chairs and sofas
DECOR IDEAS FOR FRENCH COUNTRY DECORATING
Now let’s chat about which types of decor to choose for French country and French country farmhouse style.
MIRRORS
Mirrors are one of my favorite decorative pieces to add to my home. I have tons of mirrors throughout my home. I specifically love vintage mirrors with ornate frames. They really set the tone for French country decorating.
You can easily paint a vintage mirror frame if it’s not the color you want. I love gold frames but I don’t have any gold in my home so whenever I get a vintage gold framed mirror, I usually like to paint the frame.
Here are a couple vintage mirrors in my home that I’ve painted. I’m obsessed with this vintage mirror, and I move it around quite often! It was gold but I painted it a taupe color using spray paint.
If you want to spray paint a mirror, just grab some old newspaper and tape it over the mirror section. Then spray paint away!
The mirror below was also gold and we painted it white to match our room better. I love the beautiful ornate frame! It definitely says French country decorating to me, though it leans vintage French country!
A great place to search for vintage frames is on Facebook marketplace. I see them oftentimes selling for around $30, which is a steal!
There are other great options for new mirrors, like this all-time favorite French country mirror of mine that I currently have in my dining room.
I also love these smaller mirrors I have above my nightstands. They are super affordable and very lightweight.
Arched mirrors are also a perfect wall accessory for French country style. I have four arched mirrors in my home, all of which I’ve found at Home Goods/TJ Maxx.
I also have this beautiful mirror in my entryway! I bought the console table at Home Goods awhile ago and then saw this mirror listed for sale on Facebook Marketplace. I could tell that the wood was a match on the two items, and the size of the mirror was perfect so I made a 30 minute trip for the mirror.
I’m so glad I did because the seller said it was also from Home Goods. They were a match meant to be!
WHITE LINENS & DRAPES
White or light colored linens, curtains, blankets, pillows and towels are both sophisticated and beautiful.
I have white curtains in my living room and dining room, and they add an extra layer of elegance to both rooms.
I have lots of white throw pillows and blankets that I use as accents (and for functional purposes) all throughout my home. This white textured pillow is a favorite of mine.
This pom pom throw blanket is one that I often get questions about, and it’s surprisingly affordable!
PLANTERS & VASES
Urn planters and vases are such a beautiful addition to your decor if you want French country decor.
These two urns in my office were super cheap ones that I found at Bed, Bath and Beyond!
Urn style planters aren’t necessary though! They definitely give off a French feel, but having flowers in your home is really a great touch despite what vessel they’re in!
If you want to incorporate more farmhouse style, add some mason jars full of flowers.
If you want to add lots of faux flowers, I suggest using opaque vases, like this one on my coffee table.
I typically like to buy my faux flowers from Michael’s and Walmart! You may be surprised to know that I get all my faux eucalyptus stems, like the ones in the vase below, from Walmart!
CANDLESTICKS
I can never have enough candlesticks! I typically look for a two types: thick, chunky wood ones or elegant, skinny silver ones.
Both types can work well for French country style. If you like a bit of French country farmhouse style, the thick, chunky ones work great!
These two on my buffet are really tall! I found them at Home Goods, and they have that perfect distressed tone that works well for French country decorating.
If you like a more elegant style, these silver ones are beautiful and come in two sizes. They are perfect for tables settings, on fireplace mantels, on side tables, or on console or buffet tables. These are definitely a great staple item for French country decorating.
SILVER/WHITE/CRYSTAL COLLECTIONS
If you have a silver collection, like me, put it on display! These items are perfect for French country decorating. I simply placed all my silver plates upright and that was it! Super easy!
Large displays of glassware are also super elegant and great to put on bookshelves! Don’t feel like you have to store all your beautiful vases and glassware inside your cabinets. They make for easy decor that you probably already own.
You can also find these types of decor super cheap at second hand shops. I am a firm believe that decorating beautifully doesn’t have to be expensive.
GREENERY
Can we talk about greenery?! I am obsessed with lots and lots of greenery (and flowers, real and faux) in my home.
Adding greenery to your home can make for beautiful French country decor.
I actually have two planters like the one below and they are real plants! They’ve been going strong for years. I originally bought them as hanging plants at Home Depot and eventually transferred them in these pots that I spray painted white.
Plants are great to have in your home and help with air quality as well as looking beautiful. I especially love that these cascade down my planter, giving an elegant vibe.
I hope you enjoyed this guide to French country decorating! I love having this style in my home and find that I truly feel relaxed in my home. This style doesn’t have to be hard to achieve, though it can take some time to accumulate these types of decor around your home.
Remember, there are plenty of decorating items you can buy second hand so that you don’t have to spend a ton of money. And, remember too that paint is your best friend if you want to keep costs low.
I Love your French Country Home. All of the Beautiful pictures of special pieces. Thank you for giving your professional design ideas to share. Just Love them all.