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French Country Decorating on a Budget

French Country Decorating - If you've flipped through a decorating magazine lately, or if you've watched some decorating shows on television in the past few months, no doubt you've heard about it. French Country is the latest decorating craze.

What exactly is French Country decorating? Imagine yourself walking into an adorable little cottage in rural France. What do you think you would see there? Chances are you might find a rooster motif somewhere inside, some wrought iron furnishings sporting elegant, even whimsical curves, and perhaps plastered-surface walls washed in butter-yellow paint. Rough, exposed beams would be on the ceiling, and the flooring would likely be aged terra cotta tiles or perhaps brick.

So, what makes French Country so hot in the U.S., right now? I think many people who have loved the look of American Country for a while are getting a bit antsy, seeking something a bit more elegant, but still warm and comfortable like their cherished Country style. It happened to me this way: as much as I love Americana, for instance, I started to yearn for something a little more romantic. The sleekness of my primitive farm table, for instance, needed softening up. A curvy, iron chandelier was just the thing. And so, my interest grew from there, and I began to sprinkle French accents around my existing Country/Cottage-decorated home, and I fell in the love with the results.

As much as I'd love to fill my home with real French furnishings and accessories, I have a pretty tight budget (like most of the people I know). I decided I'd have to improvise as much as possible, so I brainstormed and came up with a few ways to make my home a little more French without spending too much. Some of my ideas include:

• Placing an inexpensive, wrought iron bench in the foyer decorated with romance-inspired throw pillows. (If you want to age a new iron piece, you can purchase spray-on rust treatments as home improvement stores.)
• Wallpapering my dining room (from the chair rail up) with a classic, black and white toile design.
• Adding wispy, lace panel curtains on windows where I don't require absolute cover for privacy. 
• Painting in French hues like mustard, celadon, salmon pink or cornflower blue.
• Adding inexpensive, unexpected accessories, such as a black iron wall planter in my bathroom to hold hand towels. (And it cost just $5.)
• Whitewash old ladderback chairs picked up at a flea market.
• Painting cabinets and rag over them with a glaze. This works nicely with a base coat of cream paint, brushed over lightly with a mocha-brown glaze.
• Suspending a pot rack from the kitchen ceiling to hang pots and pans in plain sight, especially if they're copper.

If you're interested in learning more about French Country decorating, there are plenty of places here on the Web where you can begin.

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