French Essence
The essence surrounding your bedroom has a large impact on your mood and how you start your day. For a romantic, soft, and feminine feel, a French-style bedroom is what you need. French décor ranges in color, texture and design, so prepare yourself for making some wonderfully difficult decisions.
Set the Mood with Color
In order to begin working towards your French-themed bedroom, you need to start with color. Typically French color pallets are neutral beige tones with gold, sometimes leaning towards light pink or rose, and on occasion light blue and green. Once your paint color is chosen, you can begin decorating from there, using other décor that will incorporate French color and style.
(For a more modern feel, you can use dark, dramatic colors such as burgundy and dark brown.)
French-Style Furniture
The French style incorporates lots of rich cherry wood, sometimes ivory wood, and grand furniture pieces. Antique finishing is very reminiscent of French style. Your bed will be the main focus in the bedroom as it is in French décor, so choose a large sleigh bed or perhaps a bed with only a large headboard. French is all about grandeur style, so you want everything to be big, bold and beautiful. To add to the room, you should use over-sized furniture, such as an armoire or chest of drawers. Also, add a wide floor-length mirror for more drama. It will make your space appear larger if it is small. If it is already a large bedroom, then just think bigger is better.
To add just a little more dimension, you can place a chaise lounge in the room if you have space, or a silk screen matching your color pallet in one corner to soften up the feel of the room.
Linens and Lighting
Again, once you have chosen your paint color pallet, move on to all of and draperies. If you choose to work with beige and gold, make sure your linens are silk, lace or toile in the same color spectrum. If you choose to go more modern and dramatic, make sure your linens are satin in deep hues as well. As for adding to the bed décor, having large, plush pillows is very dramatic and goes along with the oversized theme of French décor.
Your draperies should reach from ceiling to the floor. If the top of the window does not reach your ceiling, you can make valances above the window to make it appear as though it is the full height of the wall. You should use drapes in the same color and fabric as the rest of your bed linens to keep with the theme.
Lighting is extremely important as it sets the mood for the bedroom even more. You want lamps to be your main source of light since they are dim and romantic. Having a gorgeous chandelier in the center of the ceiling is a great way to add dramatic lighting since it will reflect off the ceiling and dimly light the entire bedroom.
Tags: your linens, bedroom French, color pallet, French color, French style