8 Ideas from French Decorators You Should Note

We always enjoy looking at photos of French interiors: luxurious, stylish, modern, and airy. Take a look at these decorator tricks and find the golden mean between the atmosphere of Parisian luxury and comfort in your own home.

PinterestCombine Vintage and Modern Interior Items

Parisian chic in a modern setting is created when you successfully blend something old with something new. The secret lies in the right combination: select vintage restored items and pair them with modern pieces that look best when new. For example, you can buy a modern table and mix it with old restored chairs. Learn more about how to restore a chair yourself here.

PinterestTransform Everyday Things into Luxury

A dining table may look simple and minimalist during the day, but when guests arrive, it can transform into a luxurious interior feature thanks to textiles, candles, candelabras, vases, and fine china. Remember the simple base that you can transform with elements of luxury.

PinterestPlay with Details

Two different interior styles that seem to have nothing in common can look stunning together in one room if combined tastefully. It all comes down to harmony of color, lines, and proportions. Mix velvet draperies with mosaic floors, Scandinavian furniture with vintage items, classic elements with Provence touches.

PinterestChoose Restoration Over New

If you've found antique furniture that could potentially be restored, use this opportunity, even if restoration costs the same as buying new. Reupholstering with interesting expensive fabric and polishing wood creates wonders, and an old chair in its new life can become the centerpiece of your new French interior.

PinterestBoldly Mix Styles

Parisian apartments look unconventional because interior items are not bound to a single style and coexist harmoniously. Think about which interior style feels closest to you, and what you like just as much. Scandinavian style with boho, classic interiors with modern elements, minimalism with countryside notes — the secret of the French is in mixing and proper proportions. Place a bright chair in a white Scandinavian interior, hang reproductions of expressionist paintings, stack old books on a table made from unfinished wood. Do you feel how stylish and unconventional your interior has become?

PinterestChoose a Central Piece in the Room

Build your composition around it. Study interior magazines and stop on something that you love so much that it stays in your head. Make this find the central element of the composition (not necessarily placed literally in the center!). Choose items according to your taste, based on the compositional rule set by the central piece. You won't go wrong!

PinterestDon't Ignore Worn Furniture

In Parisian apartments, there is a relaxed atmosphere unlike what we usually see in interior magazines. The difference is that the French don't ignore wear and imperfections on wooden furniture. Flaws are unique, and there is something very personal and valuable in them.

Scuffs on your grandmother's sideboard remain from pre-revolutionary times, and a dent in the wooden table tells you that it has some history: you didn't buy new, but kept this one, so the room becomes warmer with it. So instead of throwing away your grandfather's rocking chair, think about how you could transform it.

PinterestDon't Limit Yourself to One Color

A monochromatic interior in one style is not typical for the French. Add a vibrant detail, play with contrasts of textures, color accents, patterns — and Paris will settle into your home.

Pinterest