I’m game! As far as starting off that is....because I think I just posted this photo in lavenderlass’ recent thread on large islands. I think this looks French country?

I don't have all the old pictures, but I still love this one. The one rebunky posted is wonderful, too. I'd probably combine the two. :)

ETA: I almost forgot the bunny tile!

Ah, yes, the bunny tile.

I put this one together this morning. I wanted some color in it, because my tendency with French Country is to go all natural linen and bleached wood. I wanted to play up the country in French Country, partly in defiance of the very upscale fantasy versions I see of French Country kitchens when I google inspiration pics. Having the brick was part of that. I'm not keen on brick as a kitchen backsplash because it's hard to clean, but for this design I viewed it as part of the history and architecture of the house. If I was really doing it, I'd probably use glazed brick or brick-look ceramic.

My problem with doing a French Country design is that I always feel like I'm falling into cliches, probably because my grasp of it is really nothing more than a string of cliches. Nonetheless, here is my attempt.

Oh, I couldn't find pendants I liked for over the island. Was thinking of doing something unexpected, like a modern black pendant, but didn't find any I though enhanced the design.

Oooh, I like that red hutch and old range in your color scheme!

Rebunky, nobody's done one of these until their first time. Your mood board definitely evokes France, which a lot of French Country kitchens fail to do. Makes me want to go back to Provence. And failing that, I want to cozy up next to the fireplace in your kitchen and eat your produce.

Bumping in hopes of more participation

I am not very good at this, but here is what I think of when I think French Country kitchen- from Mimi Thorisson's house:

Thanks for reviving Cawaps. I’m trying to get access to my old pics but old email addresses are obselete and passwords forgotten. I will keep looking and see if I can pull something together this weekend.

Looking forward to seeing something from you, Sochi.

I love the vintage look of those ranges, Rita.

I would love a vintage range:)

French Country in my mind overlaps with Romantic, Shabby Chic and ordinary Country. I've always liked the style because it wasn't afraid to be pretty and a little feminine. I love fabric, and it often uses fabrics - and my favorite fabrics which are florals.

When I wanted to refresh my kitchen, I definitely wanted a touch of French Country. I thought I had managed it when my sister in law, who is half French said that my house showed French Country influence. But, when I referred to it as French Country / Vintage on the Design Dilemma, a pro told me No on the French Country:(

Anyway, this board is based on my kitchen - florals, Antique china (some from France), plate rails and a hood - a few things that I think move my kitchen in a French Country direction.

There are two kinds of French country, jhmarie. The version people who do not live in France imagine and the version that French people live with. Your kitchen is a prettier version of authentic French country, imo (and I have a good deal of experience with the real thing.)

From Kristin Epinasse's blog- a Franco-American country kitchen countertop:

Thank you Rita:)

When I should be doing laundry or something equally productive, I sometimes look at homes for sale in the French countryside or smaller towns. Here are some French kitchens I pinned:

I would assume that homes for sale even in France would have kitchens of various vintages. I do get the feeling that they cook more but maybe care about kitchen fashion less.

French people are thrifty as a rule and would rather spend their money on fancy food than on the latest kitchen trend.

PS I love your hobby jhmarie :-) You should try Swiss and Northern Italian (Piedmont) houses too. They are quite charming.

I think that this is a tricky design around this because design ideas about "French provincial" seem kind of disconnected from actual kitchens in the french provinces, so it's not clear what to do without recourse to cliches (roosters, toile, etc.,). And it's even harder to think about French provincial kitchens in North America because most of our houses aren't equipped with kitchen fireplaces and massive timbers, things that seem to characterize "French Provincial Design".

If we step back from the cliches and don't take inspiration from chateaux then it seems to me that French provincial kitchen (like the ones posted by jhmarie) are spaces of production, so they probably aren't too formal or fussy. They include materials that can carry a patina and are usable even when worn. They contain useful objects, preferably objects that are useful and beautiful. And they seem to be cheerful and warm. Those are some generalizations that may well be wrong.

But I think that you might be able to follow this kind of French esprit, and adapt it to your local circumstances and get a kitchen that might not include the cliches, and might not look that french, but still have a french sensibility. I'm not sure how similar kitchens in Anjou look to kitchens in Perpignan or Alsace, so may looking "French Provincial" isn't something to aim for, as opposed to feeling french, if that makes sense.

Is French Provincial more connected to the many French provinces than Tuscan kitchens are to Tuscany?

I raise these questions not out of criticism for cawaps, whose salutatory attempt to get these going again I appreciate, but because it seems useful to investigate this: maybe french provincial is just a collection of cliches and that's ok.

I have always thought than when an American says French provincial he means from the south or Provence- not the provinces.

I think Rita and Patrick have hit on my ambivalence about this topic. Most of the info and inspiration pics I have for French Country are from the upscale Americanized idea of French Country, and not from actual French kitchens. I posted this based on Oldbat2be's prompt, and I'm not sure which version she had in mind. And I didn't have either direction in mind when I posted this.

The kitchen I posted definitely follows the cliches (toile!), because I know more (or at least was able to find out more) about the American idea of French country than about actual French kitchens.

My only actual experience with French country kitchens was in a vacation rental near Arles that had a tiny kitchen with a 2 burner range and apartment sized refrigerator. Tile counters. Perfectly functional but about as far from the American idea of French Country as you can get. Although our landlady kept bringing us cherries, apricots, and homemade strawberry jam, so there was that.

I live in the midwest and have lived in semi-rural areas and know that "farmhouse style" is not particularly rooted in reality either:)

I remember the time when French Country and Tuscan were very popular. I think the movie Under the Tuscan Sun was out about that time (2003) and people were charmed by the idea of simpler living, good friends and good wine. Farmhouse style has some of the same charm - evoking simpler times when there was time to actually use those mason jars for canning the harvest rather than part of a light fixture.

I do think that the different "styles" do help a person think about what will make them smile when they walk in their kitchen - whether it is a floral print or a wine poster or a wall of shiplap. I hope they smile because they love it and not because it is the popular style of the time.

Aw, cawaps, French cherries and apricots and homemade jam ... that would make up for any small inconvenience in my book.

jhmarie, you are so right about how to look at this disconnect between marketing and reality. It's all about a vocabulary for finding what is right for you. And the difference between Chip and Joanna's farmhouse and an authentic one is the difference between connotation and denotation. I get caught up in denotation pretty easily :-)

Rita - I do look at and follow some Swedish blogs. I think that is where I first saw a farm sink. A new member of our book club has family in Sweden and liked my plates - said my kitchen reminded her of of her grandmothers - I did not mind it reminding her of her grandmother's - she is sweet and young and said it as a compliment.

I will be up late tonight home searching in Northern Italy:)

Somehow my new "hobby" is painting signs for people. Go figure. Maybe I can make it a late in life profession.

Oh, I don't know that the small kitchen was an inconvenience. We got to talking about our overabundance of apricots and the discussion turned toward an "Iron Chef" or "Chopped" scenario of how we would make a three course meal featuring them in each course. It sounded so good that we did it on our two burners. We loved that rental.

I was just passing time - again should be doing laundry - looking at home blogs when this house came up with a "French Country" kitchen. Why do I feel like a giant stuck a vacuum cleaner over the stovetop?

Fairly sure this is from houzz: "Provincial style: whitewashed furniture, structural wood/wrought iron details, limestone or light-colored lime-rendered walls, and terra-cotta or sandstone floors.
Bit rustic yet chic, it needs STRONG ARCHITECTURAL elements to shine... it might look bland in a GENERIC SUBURBAN home.
While many French people do like such style, they often use it merely to add accent pieces in a more contemporary setting.
[They might embrace the style in older, rustic homes/but the total look is often created for tourists in Bed/B]."

Does it even apply?!

Since participation is light, I thought you might like the "French inspired" garage conversion that I designed. Zoning issues prevented the conversion, but it remains a nice memory. The homeowner had an antique cream and brass range that was going to be her kitchen centerpiece. Slate in a versailles pattern grounds the space, and some wood posts and beams give a big open space some architectural character. Oddball salvaged windows do too. In fact, almost everything in the space was going to be thrift, salvage, or inherited. A daybed at the kitchen table was to serve as the everyday bed for the owner, and a pullout in the sofa, with the bed linens hidden in the cedar chest coffee table. I used a lot of Sherwin Williams Banana Cream for the cabinets, daybed, and other second hand pieces. The walls are Ancestral Gold. Rag rugs everywhere, and a couple of antique chopping blocks as islands.

I don't think this qualifies as French Country, but it IS countryish, and French inspired. And there is wine and bread. :) It wasn't a finalized design, as they couldn't get the variance, but the yellow Real French kitchen above reminded me of this.

Cooks kitchen, I’d live there! Very cozy. Give me wine and bread, hello! Having that right now. Ha! I’m looking into a daybed/dining space so this gave me some inspiration. Thanks for posting. And, I have a duck that look similar to that picture! She has iridescent greenish blue feathers though on top of black and white body.

cawaps, I’m all about cliches! ;-))))

cawaps - you were most kind to resuscitate this subject - thank you!! I will look forward to coming up with a design this weekend.

To me French country always brings to mind a large harvest table front and centered in the room surrounded with freestanding or more accurately "unfitted" units. So here is my not so great attempt at a modern version of that ideal.

I found a couple of my DAT boards on an old Flickr account. Luckily they included two French Country boards (and my modern rustic boards).

Here is is my favourite of the two French country boards, I love the wallpaper and the blue range. Slate or Soapstone sink with runnels, oak cabinets,fleur de lis, and fresh herbs of course.

that'd be my inspiration pics for how I'd interprete it whether very right ir not

then I'd take elements that hit me the most authentic

(and if I wouldn't be drunk I'd check Kathryn Ireland's book..LOL)

(now I'll think)

so..where is the house? is it a specific house? or an imaginary one? does it exist and if yes where can I see it?

..is it very weird that actually they all remind me of one person? she grew in French country actually. The sunniest, most adventurous, devil-may-care girl ever..but oh so warm and kind..and loved nature to the point of madness. I think-she should be my inspiration then.

Roarah, it's nice to see a different spin on the idea. I love the floor and the hood, and especially the light. I'm sure people in Provence update their kitchen too, and some of them must go modern.

Sochi, that wallpaper is gorgeous, and the colors tie together nicely.

The 1st kitchen April posted is what would be in my ideal vacation rental in Provence.

April, I wasn't sure what you were referring to when you said, "so..where is the house? is it a specific house? or an imaginary one? does it exist and if yes where can I see it?" Did you mean the original post? The Design Around This threads are mostly purely theoretical: Design a colonial kitchen, a Craftsman kitchen, a French Country kitchen. Do a kitchen in pink. Use a bold colored tile. Use a piece of artwork as inspiration. Although, one time we did have people pick a specific real estate listing and design a kitchen for that specific house (everyone chose their own listing).

yes, I meant the original post, since it said "

1. Put
   the design in context. Your design should relate to the style of the house."

I think I lack computer skills to put it together

say even if I'm able to put it together in Microsoft(huge PITA..was making big mood moards for friends couple times)..say if I edit them-cutting out just the pieces I want in "my" kitchen..how do I paint something for example, how do I put it in right-to me- order? I can just cluster some things together. Purely technical things -I've no idea how to do them, and I'm not sure I'm smart enough to learn.

This is what I get for recycling text from old posts :-).

April, I use a free online program called Olioboard. It's pretty good at stripping white or black backgrounds from images (not so much when you don't have high contrast), and you can layer stuff on top of each other, pulling one item forward and moving another all the way to the back. I generally don't try to "paint" things (I just try to find a picture of the thing in the color I want). Wall paint for me is just a big square of color, usually taken from a paint swatch. You can do a lot of this stuff in Word or PowerPoint, you just need to format the image so it floats over text and you can move it wherever you want.

Microsoft Paint can do a very workmanlike mood board. Just cut and paste.

Roarah, I would love to have that kitchen!

I've been looking at French country houses. Lots of IKEA kitchens.

I was going to add a design using IKEA.

I did mine in Word and then took a screen shot - I am sure there are better ways.

I'm going to get away from the shaker cabinets.

Forget the wood enlay and trim to the left of the sink and the island, just the back cabinets:

Basic cabinet look:

Towels:

Chairs:

But you can switch out authentic rush seats for padded chairs in a provincial design.

where to put it all? Here!

Love all this “French” eye candy! Keep this thread going folks!