I don't know if mine is considered Country French but it's what I am aiming for:

Yvette, mais oui, c'est Francais.

Merci -

yvette,

Your dining room is really adorable! I love your hutch, chandelier and the oil paintings. Very nice!!

I am building a new home with a French Country feel to it. So I am very interested in seeing how others decorate with a French Country flair. Do you have photos of any other rooms in your home, Yvette ??

For my dining room, I plan on putting wooden stained beams on the ceiling to try to make it feel less formal. My DR table and chairs are very formal looking mahogany with lots of carving, etc. I might cover the backs of the chairs with a fabric cover to bring down the formality.

I still plan on lots of nice painted trimwork for the windows and archways, but I want to paint them a tannish color vs white. So I will be mixing painted and stained trim work in my "formal" rooms. Also, I plan on putting a iron chandelier of some sort over the DR table, vs. our current fancy crystal chandelier. I might use it in our master bathroom.

Nami,

I hope my ideas help you with your plans. If anyone has ideas or photos related to this topic, please share them!

Thanks,

Ginny

Thanks, Ginny,
Here's my version of a FC LR:

Yvette, good eye, great rooms! By golly, I think you've got it!

Thanks, Patricia, for your kind words. I also love French music and can't understand one word of it! LOL

yvette!!!! Another FC lover with saltillo floors! I have them and love them. I love your style. Just beautiful.

My DIL is the same way; she loves French music. One of my sons, one DIL and I studied French, one extensively and attended Sorbonne and I love hearing her talk. The rest of us are totally smitten at what a great French accent comes from that Southern smile and hospitality.

Hey Reno, I have always admired your homes and all you have done to them.
And Pat, I love your home too!
Maybe, I was a French girl in another life during the twenties - another passion of mine. (the clothes are to die for)

Yvette, Your rugs are very pretty. Thanks to you and Patricia, for turning me on to the needlepoints re: my thread. Gorgeous!

"French Country" is really an American concept. I've spent a lot of time in Provence and Paris and have never seen one home decorated in what we call "French Country." In fact, I would call Yvette's living room "Old World Parisian," and her dining room "American-French Country." Both are lovely. :)

nami: Here's a book which might interest you. :)

Here is a link that might be useful: Really Rural: Authentic French Country Interiors

Try looking at Pierre Deux online for some great ideas.

Here is a link that might be useful: Pierre Deux online

yvette,

Your home is beautiful!! Thanks for posting those gorgeous photos!

organic_smallhome, I took your book link and have been looking at French country books for about an hour now. There are tons of great photo books on the subject. I am overwhelmed. Thanks for the idea.

Ginny

Yvette, I just love your rooms. They are both beautiful and you did a wonderful job in creating rooms that are cozy and gorgeous at the same time. Thanks for sharing.

Organic Small Home, Malmaison était la maison de pays de Josephine et Napolean, ne l'est pas?

Patricia: Je n'ai aucune idée. :)

Yes, great job, Yvette! You've really captured the European/French country feel -- not American FC (beautiful as that is :)

Thank you, Gopack, Lynn and Squirrel. Like I said this is "my version" of Country French. Classify it "Old world Parisian or American Country French" it is ok with me. I decorate from the heart and I choose pieces that make me smile every time I see them. My home is my refuge and my sanctuary. I am here 24 hrs a day because I work from home so I try to make it as special as I possibly can.

yvette: When I referred to your decor as "old world Parisian" and "American Country French," that was not a criticism. I was merely trying to answer your OP, where you requested opinions on elements of what makes "French Country."

No offense taken, organic. I understand what you were saying. Besides, I like the term "old world Parisian."

Yvette, pretty rooms. Looks French to me!!

Yvette, wonderful choices! Parisian salon was what popped into my head when I saw your living room pics. I would die for the sofa by the window and chair by the fireplace. All of your pieces are lovely and you've decorated in my favorite style...personal. I can tell that you LOVE your things and that's why you chose them to live with you.

yvette: Oh good. In fact, your living room reminds me of a living room I once saw in Paris--in a very fancy house in a very fancy district. :)

Nami: You see a lot of natural cherry furniture finishes with the french country style, which has a medium tone, btw. Pierre Deux fabrics would be a good choice for a less formal french country dining room, but it is expensive. Of course toile de jouy is used a lot these days, even in casual settings.

I was off today and scanned you some pics from some books I have. Dining rooms tend to be formal, even in homes decorated in french country, but I did find a few pics that I thought might be inspiring to you. Let me know what you think! Note the Quimper plates on the wall in the fifth picture - they are often seen in french country dining rooms. Also wheat sheathes, lavender bouquets, baskets, french pottery and colors that remind one of the sun-drenched south of France. Oh, and anything pewter.

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I have a beautiful table which is the right shape for french country. However the color is a cordovan - dark cherry and it has suede chairs with it - that cannot be replaced.
If I were to paint that table a antique white finish - wouldnt the suede clash?
What do I do?

I would NEVER, NEVER, NEVER paint real cherry. NEVER!

Patricia the table is not genuine cherry it is stained to look like burgundy colored cherry.

I decorate my home in French Country but now I call it American French Country because of what I've read by oragnic smallhome and others like her who have been to Provence and made comments about this being our ideal of what we think French Country is. If this is our fantasy then so be it, I love the look we've come up with!

I have a neighbor only a couple doors down who is from France, Paris actually. I'm afraid to invite her over to my house now for fear she'll bust out laughing at my attempts to decorate French country style. I know she doesn't decorate in this style, like many Europeans they prefer contemporary. I just don't want to hear her say, "this isn't how we decorate in France"...hopefully she isn't that snobby and would keep that opinion to herself. I like my interpretation, considering I had a California ranch to work with and not an authentic french farmhouse.

I remember years ago on Trading Spaces a family wanted to design a room in French Country. Genevieve Gorder was their designer and she told them that most people in America who think they are decorating French country are really just doing traditional.
That really stuck with me because for years my mom has talked about her French country decorating - and it so isn't.

Nami, I would probably just try to work with the table as is and influence it's appearance with linens and accessories, a nice white runner, or something done with provencal fabrics. My dining room will eventually be somewhat of french country meets New Mexico. I have a new table and chairs on the way (because the current one is going kaput). My buffet and china cabinet are actually probably German (they are massive, no doubt). The walls are painted a deep red. I do have an iron chandelier and an Italian tea cart. I am planning to add drapes made out of french fabric. I will try to post a link below. Maybe the style would be best described as a mishmash, LOL.

Yevette, No matter what you call it, I would love to sit down to dinner in that lovely room.

Here is a link that might be useful: Provence fabric

The curvy lines of the furniture give it French influence regardless of what John or Joe says. The Louis periods gave us the French influence and regardless of what any decorator says, if they have not seen Josephine's Malmaison home, then how can they say what we are doing is not French Country influence?