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A French Country Decorating Theme In The Kitchen by Bonnie P. Carrier
Take a trip to the French country side, stop in to any home walk into the kitchen and immediately feel the warmth. Vibrant colors give the spirit a lift, you also begin to feel a bit of romance in the air. 
What elements make up French Country decorating? Colors in Sunny Yellow - Gold - Red - Green and Blue, any of these either in light or dark shades makes for a good base to start building on.
The use of natural materials such as; walls that are rough stained or painted plaster, beamed ceilings, floors make of stone or brick, stone fireplaces and wooden shutters on the windows.
Furniture would consist of rustic wood pieces. Large rectangle or round dining tables. Ladder back chairs with cane or fabric seats.
Seat cushions in a blue and yellow check with an old rusty looking bucket filled with bright sunflowers sitting in the middle of the table turn an ordinary looking oak dining set into instant French Country.
Another element of French Country Design is plastered walls. If you don’t happen to have rough plaster walls naturally it is possible to create the look yourself.
The DIY Network has a Rough Plaster Walls instruction page that will help with this process. Or you could try using a Glazing Technique such as Color Washing or Sponging.
Another wall treatment which is a little simpler is with the use of wallpaper or wallpaper borders. Border patterns that include roosters, floral or rustic kitchenware would be perfect. Wallpaper that has yellows, blues, greens or red in a check or striped pattern would also work well.
Give your floor a French Country look with the use of area rugs. Rectangle, Round or Square - The shape will depend on your style table. Look for colorful prints with a rooster, floral or fruit motif.
Keep window treatments simple with light lace panels, cafe curtains or a valance combined with wooden shutters. Fabric combinations can include: Checks - large & small, Stripes - two or more colors, Small Patterns - Flowers or Roosters.
A common French Country fabric is Toile. This traditional fabric most commonly has a white, cream or yellow background. A single design in contrasting colors of black, blue, red or green include farm animals and country scenes.
The last area to cover is Accessories.
This is where you can really have fun with this style of decorating. Accessories can include the following.
- Copper items, such as canisters or pots
- Colorful ceramics, used for flowers or dinnerware
- Iron items, such as candle holders, chandeliers, hooks for the wall, trivets even furniture like benches or bakers racks.
- Hang colorful fun artwork on the walls featuring flowers, herbs and of course roosters.
- Table linens in colorful patterns
- Flowers and Herbs including live plants, silk or dried
Using just accessories is also an easy way of bringing touches of French Country to your kitchen without doing any of the other ideas mentioned above.
About The Author: Bonnie P. Carrier is the creator of Savvy Home Decorating - The Information Center. She is the mother to two grown daughters and a very spoiled Blue Merle Sheltie named Toby. www.savvy-home-decorating.com
This article is shareware. Give this article away for free on your site, or include it as part of any paid package as long as the entire article and author’s bio. is left intact including this notice. Copyright © 2008 bonnie carrier.
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