French Provincial Furnishing
The French Provincial style is very rustic, warm, deeply cozy and extremely appealing to gardeners because it is can be created on a reasonable budget. To develop this style, start with a key feature, such as garden furniture and work outwards as and when you can afford new items. After your furniture, buy some copper or brass pans, the kind normally found in the kitchen but they also work perfectly for the garden area – they can be as battered and elderly as you like because all you’re going to do is fill them with flowering plants and herbs or simply hang them on roughly plastered or rendered walls to give a traditional rustic feel. Architectural features such as rough stone walls and very coarse plastering are easy to organise. If you have a garden wall, render it with a rough pattern, paint it ochre or dusky pink and set an old garden bench alongside it. French provincial windows and doors are very narrow, often with shutters which will usually be bright and contrast with the surrounding plaster; lime green shutters balance pink or cobalt blue with ochre. You can buy cheap louvre panels in DIY shops and hang them up to make false shutters. Furniture details are quite precise for this style: chairs are usually oak or pine and carry carved details, often with a ladderback or woven rush seats. French fabrics, when new, are intense in colour and for the right feel they need to be faded, so wash new material in washing soda and let it dry outdoors, or even give a gentle bleaching (dilute bleach to 20% and brush over fabric unevenly with a large emulsion brush – leave for five minutes before washing) to soften the colours. Coordination is the opposite of what you want to achieve, instead aim to combine checks, stripes and plains with floral designs to give the right rural feel. Flooring tends to be clay tile, brick or stone. Accessories are for the French Provincial style are a lot of fun – try baskets, second-hand ceramics and Chinoiserie pottery, wire baskets, carved wood sculptures, old telescopes, fishing floats and other devices, wooden or china dolls and old playing cards (especially French tarot cards) laid under glass on a table. A hammock makes the perfect finishing touch.
Next time – plants!
Posted by The Allotment Blogger on Friday, July 27, 2007
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