French Country accessories just like any other décor items, add charm and character to a room, but with French Country, it's done with a twist, as Country French accessories are mostly functional items displayed to look attractive.
Photo: Art & Décoration
The French love accessories and know exactly how to display them simply yet artfully.
There will be a few pieces used for decoration only, but this will mainly be due to the object no longer being used for its intended purpose. Often, these pieces will have developed a nice patina with age, giving them a beauty of their own.
If items are made purely for décor it will most certainly be made out of a natural material, like wood or wirework, and as the French love something with cleverness about it, quite often objects will have a quirky twist.
Country French accessories are most likely to be
A stack of old leather-bound books
Candlestick holders or lanterns
Perhaps a decorative old wire birdcage
Large urns and stoneware jars are also very popular and used throughout the house and garden
Large, oversized and often very ornate mirrors flagrantly displayed, bringing in the outside light and reflecting it into the room. This is one French country accent I have noticed can be quite ornate compared to the generally simple and pared down designs of other items.
The French love cooking, eating and entertaining, therefore the kitchen is the area where most French country accessories are found. Just about everything used in the kitchen is displayed.
Here you will find glasses, pots, skillets, colanders, pitchers, milk jugs, bowls – anything used in the kitchen - decoratively displayed in groups most pleasing to the eye, or hung on the walls.
Stoneware, tin-glazed earthenware known as faience and creamware – earthenware which is cream of color made to imitate porcelain – is never kept hidden in a cupboard but always proudly displayed.
Any suitable object will be utilized and pressed into service as a container if needed. Otherwise twisted wirework containers or wrought iron racks will be used.
Last but not least, using 'nature’s own' accents in the form of plants, herbs and flowers. No French country home will ever be without them, filling the home with the beauty and frangrance of the countryside, placed in pitchers, milk jugs, urns, teapots or even dried bunches hung from the walls or kitchen beams.
Oversized containers in the form of old metal buckets re-invented to accessorise this table are well balanced with the simple rustic furnishing. Note the artful statement and visual impact of the sparkly, elegant crystal chandelier with the simple dull zinc buckets.
