French Country Living Room With 10 Simple Tips

You can create a simple but beautiful French Country living room in no time. Keep in mind airiness, soft coziness, comfortably casual, aged wood, and a splash of elegance fashioned into your living space. Follow these 10 tips to get the look of Provence in your own front room.

• Use quality white sheets and textured white or neutral fabrics to tuck in and around chairs and couches. Add fluffy pillows and some burlap accent.
• Add white washed, distressed, or painted wood to your room. You can add this through chairs, dressers, or other pieces of furniture.
• Toile and checks fabric, to your room.
• Add lamps with wreaths attached to the lamp shade.
• Pottery, wood bowls, wood vases, ceramic pitchers, and baskets for decor.
• Add dried lavender to displays or vases.
• Decorate with candlesticks, candelabras.
• Vintage or aged light fixture.
• Hang a quilt or wall hanging on the wall.
• Shutters with decorative wreaths hanging on them.

When we bought our home, I knew I wanted to decorate in French Country in my living room. I recently did a makeover of sorts but kept the French Country look. While I have some pieces of French Country furniture and decor sprinkled throughout my home, I did an easy makeover with things I had around my home to make my front room look quaint, inviting, cozy and cute French Country.

1. Whites And Neutrals

I love a design challenge. French Country really draws me in. So I set out to make a bold statement in my living room. Casual elegance and comfortable in design I wanted to make it stand out in French Country style.. I was limited to what I had which really doesn’t limit me it just means I have to be more creative. You can surprise yourself if you shop your home and move things around from time to time. To achieve the airy, cozy inviting look of a French countryside cottage, I started with my couch(es) and chairs. I have a red and forest green plaid couch. A couple of light baby blue chairs. I wanted to mute the color of my couch and chairs. French country is soft and warm colors well as whites and neutral colors in presentation. I made over my furniture very simply using a white color palette. Here is how.

• To cover a chair, take a white sheet and evenly space it over and around the chair. Tuck it in and smooth it out. If you need to sew parts of the sheet to fit your chair better. I just tucked and smoothed until the sheet hung the way I wanted it to. You could also tie a burlap ribbon around the chair to keep the sheet in place. Chair covers might make the process of covering your couch and chairs easier but I like to use what I can find in my linen closet.

• Add a pillow made of burlap. Stencil “Bonjour” (hello in french) on the front.
• Take a chenille blanket or white textured fabric like matlesse and put it over the top and back of the couch. Tuck it in tightly. Let it fall over the back of the couch. Now take another white (or cream) textured or quilted bedspread such as matlesse or chenille as mentioned blanket or bedspread (white fabric could work too) and tuck it in and over the cushions and let it fall down the front of your couch to the floor. Either tuck it under the bottom of your couch or just let it gently sit on the floor if the edge looks nice. For the cushions and the front of my couch, I actually used a white matlesse shower curtain I had bought a few years back.
• I added large white pillows to my couch. I had two white euro shams with some cotton lace and euro size pillows inside. Originally these pillows were on my bed in the master bedroom but I moved them to my living room couch. I made three white fabric pillows stuffed the same size as the euro pillows. I have to walk by my living room fast because those pillows are just so inviting. They call to me and make me want to sit and relax and enjoy the softness. Big or small your pillows can really pour on the charm in a room decorated in French Country.

One little side note watch out that you don’t clutter your room with too much. My living room is fairly large but I still wanted to keep decor at a minimum so when you walk in, you feel that the room is bigger and more airy as I already mentioned.

2. Adding Wood Finishes

Distressed, painted, and white washed woods add that French Country touch to your room.

Distressed

My sofa table shown above was an orangish brown before I painted and distressed it. I distressed it to give it an older look. I was fortunate because my table was a French Provincial look with the thin curved legs and the engraved detail under the tabletop and the scalloped looking front on the table. No worries if you don’t have the luxury of having French furniture. Distress your table white. (There are a couple of ways to do this.) I painted my table white. Once dry, I painted it with a brown paint wash and promptly wiped the brown off leaving it here and there. Then I sanded the edge of the table, the top of my table in strategic places, and the legs at random places. Add some French looking accents on the table to complete your French Country look.

Painted Wood

This dresser sat in my entryway for quite a while. It was painted black when I got it. I painted it a dark gray…not what I wanted at all. Then I decided to try a French blue color. Still had to go lighter with it for it to be the color I had in mind. Bingo! Tickets in the front row haha! I added distressed metal cows and French looking handles to my dresser. (I need to finish attaching hardware to the front.) I arranged my dresser against a painted red wall and hung a mint green quilt behind the dresser that my mother in law made for my husband and I when we got married. The dresser adds a pastel soft color French Country as does the quilt. The wall in my front room was painted red when we moved in. My husband likes the red wall, me not so much. So to soften it I added the dresser and hung the quilt on the wall.

White Wash

I wanted to soften the look of my cedar chest that sits in my front living room. I used chalk paint and painted a light white washed paint look on the front and sides. White washing a piece of furniture is watering down the paint so you still see the original color of your furniture piece underneath. I got the thumbs up approval on my white wash look from my daughter in law who builds furniture so I guess my attempt at white wash was successful. This paint technique wasn’t hard and took very little time.

These three paint finishes are embraced by the French Country look. It doesn’t take much to create these wood looks. If you really can’t shop your home and you need a sofa table, a dresser, or other pieces of furniture for your living room, go on a shopping scavenger hunt at your local thrift store. Or look on your local facebook marketplace for what you might be looking for. If you don’t want to tackle painting big pieces of furniture, try using one of these techniques on a wooden tray, small stepping stool or an old crate that you can use for decor in your room. Decorative ladders are popular too. Try painting one of those and set it against a wall for an accent piece.

3. Toile And Checks

I discussed already about the warm colors of French Country. These include reds, soft yellows, greens, blues, whites, and neutrals. When we first moved into our home, I pictured a living room which I call the “front room” in a French Country design. I made curtains using toile and red checked fabric. I already had these on hand. So you may have to deviate from shopping your home on this point. Add a few checks and toile through pillows or curtains, or cover a fun foot stool.

My dresser and hanging quilt are colors I pulled out of my toile curtains. With my couch and chairs dressed in white set against the backdrop of my living room and complimented by some playful color at the window, it makes the right combination for French Country. Use toile and checks in your pillows, curtains, or a fun covered foot stool.

4. Step It Up With Lamp Decor

Sometimes all it takes is just a sweet little accent to help get the look you want. Matching lamps look nice sitting on a dresser but you can step it up a notch if you add a twig wreath. It gives your lamp that “savoir faire” like you know what you are doing in this room.

5. French Country Accents

You have a lot of options here when it comes to French Country decor accents. You see the candle stick holder pictured above, I bought two of these last summer while thrifting. I painted them an easy and unique way to make them look older and like they had stucco on them. Mix white paint and baking soda. I know right! Very unusual but I love the way they look. I was going to put nicely tailored candles in my candle holders but on a whim, (I get lots of those) I set a couple of used candles I had on top of the candlestick holders. Loved how they looked!

Here are some great ideas for using decor that will add to your French Country styled home.

• Wooden bowls
• Ceramic vases (with faux flowers)
• Wood or ceramic trays
• Terra cotta planters
• Topiaries faux or real
• Wreaths
• White or old looking colored small, medium, or large plates
• Take covers off of old books and stack on top of each other
• Tarnished silver pitcher or tray
• Large clock
• Weathered items
• Rusted items (in the picture with my lamps you’ll never guess what the tray is standing behind my ceramic pitcher with flowers…an old rusted grate from a fireplace. It makes the perfect backdrop behind my floral arrangement.
• Candlestick holders
• Small painted landscape pictures or other simple painted pictures hung on a wall
• Ornate picture frames laid on a table or hung on the wall.
• Ornate mirror
• Faux or real bird nests styled on a piano or table. On my table I have a bird nest sitting in two ornate small planters I bought years ago. They are some of my fav planters. On my piano, I put a bird nest standing up against an old window I can’t part with but has bit of old French Country flavor to it.
• Old window with or without window pane
• Baskets

There are many more items I could add to this list. If you need more inspo ( such a cute word), look online or in home style magazines. This will help spark an idea of something you may have or something you can look for at your local thrift store.

6. Love Me Some Lavender

Nothing says French like lavender. I have a few plants outside that I harvest bunches of lavender from. I air dry it and it makes the loveliest little bouquets. In the picture above, I set a small bunch in a basket sitting on a cute little footstool. I also filled an old silver pitcher with some lavender I dried. All it takes is a little to remind you of a field of lavender growing in the French countryside. Wrap a white or cream ribbon around it to hang down from the basket and you have added another little touch of class. Notice the cute star shaped tin with the star candle. It adds some “curb appeal” to a French Country living room.

7. Simply Add Candles

You see the candle stick holder pictured above, I bought two of these last summer while thrifting. They were glossy ceramic with gold finish until da da da da….I painted them an easy and unique way to make them look aged and gave them a stucco look. Mix white paint and baking soda. I know right! Very unusual but I love the way they look. I was going to put nicely tailored candles in my candle holders but on a whim, (I get lots of those) I set a couple of used candles I had on top of the candlestick holders. Loved how they look! It seems like the perfect addition to my table top decor. There is something timeless and ageless about candles. Scented or unscented that give the room a certain French ambience.

I also added rusty wall sconces I had. I placed them on each side of my quilt hanging. Notice the decorative frame sitting on the sconce. Adds a nice bit of French Country to the aged looking wall sconces.

8. Aged Light Fixture

This light came with our home when we purchased it. For a while, I wasn’t sure I liked it. However since I have settled in to the French Country look for our living room, this light fits perfectly the French decor mood. If your light fixture is on the more modern side, and you want it to look more French Country there are a few things you can do to give it an aged look. Try aging the metal, or painting it. Change out your glass covers to frilly glass light bulb covers. Find a light cover that you like. It is a pretty easy fix.

9. Wall Hanging

I like the color green. Mint green is so soft looking. When my husband and I got married, my mother in law (bless her heart because as I have become a quilter I realize what a big job she took on!) Made us a beautiful quilt and quilted among the scrolls and flowers the place where we got married. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints Jordan River Temple. This quilt is a favorite of mine but over the years has shown wear and tear. I didn’t want to leave it in the linen closet just wasting away and then the light bulb clicked on. Why not hang it on my red wall. It helps tone down the bright red in the room and it adds a French Country mood. I pulled this color out of my toile curtains so it matches.

This is another look at my quilt hanging in my living room. Find or make a quilt or wall hanging that will make your French Country room unique and interesting to look at. Make sure it goes with the overall look and colors of the room.

Shutter Decor

I had some shutter doors that were attached to the front of a small closet upstairs. I had grander ideas for those shutter doors. Can you just see the creative wheels turning in my mind? I took the shutter closet doors apart and attached them to the sides of my French Country living room entrance. My entrance is big enough for French doors but my pocketbook right now won’t allow that so I used shutters instead to frame my room. I also add a quaint wreath to each shutter so they matched. Such a cute addition to my French Country room. If you don’t have closet doors available to you, you can use smaller decor shutters. Attach a wreath to a shutter and hang it on your living room wall.

As they say in French, “Voila! C’est ci bon!” That’s good!

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