Key Parisian furniture pieces are aged, tell a story or have history (bumps, knocks and chipped paint add character). Be generous with proportions like the use of oversized feather-filled sofas or billowing sheer curtains. There is a sense of the past, memories, nature; details where objects have a beauty of their own and bring richness to your life.

1. Top Tip for French style

Take a cue from the Parisian attention to detail. There is a certain stylistic manner in everything they do. Your space reflects your deepest desires and passions.

2. Traits

Intricate wood detailing, linen, muslin, velvet, rugs (layered and mismatched).

3. Designers/Artists

Jacques Grange

4. Pantone colours

5. Brands that fit

Xavier, French Accent Furniture, Le Forge, Horgans, Ici et la, 1825 Interiors, Globe Imports, Laura Ashley, Izzi & Popo, Cote maison, Dirty Janes Emporium.

6. A perfect day

An early wake to catch the sunrise across the hills. Pick some fresh herbs on the terrace for the beef casserole that will slow cook and the aromas flow through the house. Brew a pot of jasmine tea and roast the pecans for the handmade pecan pie. A day of cooking, tea brewing, potting and chatting to friends on the phone. A late afternoon swim to lift the soul. A perfect balance of relaxation and invigoration.

7. Fragrance or tune

The Motley Candle-otes of California laurel, willow, wild grass and blackberry, reminiscent of the rising sun in the morning.

French style homes in Australia combine a warm, antique look, that looks natural in a more modern home.

Check out more decorating styles!  

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The French accent style style has come along way since it’s roots in the 1770’s. While still incorporating elements of antique furniture and over-the-top furnishings, nowadays we don’t have to be so extravagant to create a French accent style.

Whether you want to create a simple and modern French look or you are opting for the traditional, all-out style, these are our top 10 tipsL

1. French walls

The colours of your wall will determine the decorations and upholstery for the rest of the room. Try spilt coloured walls, such as: the upper half painted grey or white and the lower half (chair rail height) painted a darker red or blue. When choosing whites, stick to warmer tones such as cream, ivory and stone. As for blues, use aqua, cornflower or midnight blue. Choose a dominant colour such as red, that can be used to highlight aspects of the room. The style is inspired by the rolling French hills, so sunshine yellow is also an option for an accent colour. For a more traditional French style, incorporate timber work into the upper half of the wall.

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2. Passionate patterns

When choosing patterns for your French inspired home, think to the outdoors. Floral upholstery is a large part of the style, and this can be incorporated into anything, from couches to curtains to rugs. Red and blue stripes are a recognisable French feature and can be used in curtains and upholstery. In the kitchen, emphasise visual depth through your tiles and cupboards.

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3. Simple but effective floors

The flooring is the base to your room, so there’s no need to go over the top with pattern and colour. Stick to natural materials such as stone, slate, natural wood and limestone. If you aren’t a fan of hard flooring, choose neutral, warm tone carpet or you could place coloured rugs on top of your stone floors. In the kitchen you have a free pass to go all out. Match the colour of your floor with the cupboards and go to town with the pattern.

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4. The French and their furniture

Don’t rush out the door to buy brand new couches and tables with clean white shining finishes. These items will stick out like a sore thumb. French style homes prefer a weathered look. A look that represents ware and tare from past generations. This doesn’t mean you have to have an antique leather couch that has been passed down from generation to generation, it just means you have to shop for the right materials. Search for wrought iron, bronze and brown leather couches, tables and chairs. Also consider natural materials like timber and stone, but make sure they match the warm colour scheme.

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This may sound strange, but avoid matching furniture. Create a collected look with different shapes, sizes and colours of furniture and accessories. Mix a variety of finishes from natural woods to metals.

5. 2 in 1 Decorations

While French accent is often known for an abundance of decorations, each decorative piece often has a functional use. The large clocks are for reading the time, the open kitchen shelving for easy access and the hanging pots and plates are for use in dinner parties. Extravagant candle holders once functioned as the only source of lighting but today they are more functional for nice smelling candles. Use gold as a main accessory colour, to reflect light around the room. Beautifully patterned plates can be hung in place of artwork. If using artwork, choose one large antique piece as opposed to smaller pieces and don’t forget to add mirrors where possible. If you are lucky enough to have a fireplace, this is the perfect spot for decorative gold mirrors or large artworks.

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6. Flowers, flowers and more flowers

It wouldn’t be a French room without flowers of some kind. The French style celebrates life outdoors, so ensure you have either floral prints or a bunch of flowers potted in a pottery vase. Use roses, poppies, iris and tulips to give life to your room.

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7. Modern meets traditional

For those of you who don’t want to go full antique, you can still incorporate subtle French elements and colours into your home to create a modern twist. Use light blues, warm whites or pastel yellows for your walls and combine this with gold accessories and large mirrors. Incorporate wood furniture which is modern yet still fits with the French accent style. Less is more, so choose one piece of artwork or one feature piece in the room such as a decorated fireplace.

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8. Glam it up

Instead of an antique, traditional room, mix it up with some chic elements. Start with a large chandelier for the feature piece of the room. These go perfectly in the middle of a living room or over a dining table. Next, add gilded mirrors, metallic coffee tables and gold accessories to provide that wow factor.

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9. Never too much curtain

You can never have too much or too many curtains in French style homes. Don’t stop your curtains at the floor, the more the merrier. Long drapes in red velvet or subtle blues and stone colours are perfect for window dressings. It’s all about emphasising the structure of the building, even if it’s a plain square room, curtains can dress up anything.

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10. Inspiration to get you started

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For a head start on ideas for French accent style or other popular styles, check out our style boards and gold products.

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Also known as canopy chairs, porters chairs, balloon chairs or Versailles chairs, this mainstay of traditional design is finding a home in unexpected spaces. Let’s take a look at the reinvention of a striking style of furniture that can adapt to any space. There are a number a different methods for making the most of dome chairs in a room. Probably the most subtle and inclusive approach is to upholster in the lighter shade within your colour scheme. This will allow the dome chair to blend in and be seen as an interesting addition rather than the key focal piece.

Marrying the framework colour of your dome chair to your surrounding furniture may be a more traditional approach, but who said traditional needs to be bland? Select a pattern from your room’s Style Board and feature on the rear of your chair. It’s a subtle and personal way to include your dome chairs, while having the added benefit of drawing attention to lines and colours of your room’s framework.

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Of course, you can throw the whole idea of subtlety out the window by creating the most plush and ornate incarnation of the dome chair – a cozy yet flamboyant feature that would look at home in any palace. Adding butting and stud work creates a real eye catcher! Buttoning works in almost every style. It’s all about the fabric finish, colour and pattern that will bring your style to life.

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The addition of another material such as rattan and the use of ornate craftsmanship in the wood framework turns your dome chair into a perfect addition to a French Accent or Traditional Chic space. In an environment that draws the eye to fine detail rather than bold palettes and patterns, focusing on shape and texture is key.

If the last thing on your mind is allowing your beautiful dome chair to become a seamless part of the background, there are many ways to make a huge impact. Using block colour fabrics in brighter tones really adds some punch to this design. Pull a colour from your palette to create a more traditional and harmonised space, or select a completely juxtaposed colour to your palette for a more modern feel.

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Pattern is a very personal preference but when done right can truly show your personality and wild side. This chair has spunk! While the dome chair certainly adds flair, it’s not exclusive to feminine spaces. Notice how using leather on the external shell creates a more masculine feel.

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In fact, with the right materials and simplified colour scheme, the dome chair makes the short jump from ‘ornate’ to ‘stately’. Another benefit to leather is its durability, but remember comfort when it comes to internal surfaces. If you need more durability, opt for commercial grade fabrics and an aptly simplified pattern.

There’s no doubting the dome chair’s lasting appeal, and as you can see from the examples, it has a talent for being a chameleon or a showstopper, depending on your use of this boldly shaped furniture.

Designbx  |  Domestic bliss- the return of the dome chair    | designbx.com

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Designing with Pantone 2016 colours- Serenity and Rose quartz Pantone’s colour of the year is remarkable for a number of reasons, the most obvious being the fact that, for the first time, two hues have been selected: Serenity and Rose quartz.

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 This makes sense to any designer, of course, because the selection of colour combinations is probably one of the most wonderfully agonising processes when planning interiors. While environments or personalities may inspire us, triggering design epiphanies, it’s a critical decision never made without careful and long deliberation. Thankfully Pantone’s unprecedented announcement offers a ready-made palette that achieves unusual duality: a visually bold statement that also has an undeniably calming effect. 

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 “Calming tones”

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Let’s face it; our lives have become increasingly frantic. Thanks to social media, even our private lives can seem demanding at times. The arrival of these brave yet soothing tones is a tonic. This combination also continues to break down stigmas associated with gender. Since the 80s, similar combinations have helped men use fashion to rebel against tradition. These harmonious tones have a magical quality that allows them to sit well with most colours and appear natural in almost any landscape.

“Feminine touch”

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“Sharper edges with a masculine accent”

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Each established interior design style gains a unique effect. Serenity and Rose quartz offer an obvious opportunity for Modern in the form of bold colour blocking while Modern Eclectic will see these tones paired with metallics, rich fig and green tones.

“Vivid colour blocking”

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“A modern twist”

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Traditional styles will see a flirtatious use of pattern and colour. The impact of this serene pairing of colours can easily be softened or amplified when combined with complimenting tones like black, neutrals or yellows, and they have the unusual distinction of perfectly suiting sharp block shapes or fluid, loose fabrics.

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As examples clearly illustrate, whether you limit a space to these colour(s) of the year or adventurously add bold but complimenting hues, Pantone’s inspired choice seems to be at home (pardon the pun) in most settings.

“Room to be you”

Designbx “Designing with Pantones 2016 colours- Rose quartz and Serenity” designbx.com

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According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, one in twelve Australians works from home, but that figure will skyrocket over the next few years. There’s also a legion of artists and entrepreneurs who finish the daily grind only to go home and work on pet projects.

“Keep an ABW (activity base working) approach at home. A healthy way to detach from work when not scene “

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Our ambitions are expanding as our spaces shrink, so it’s never been more important to have a comfortable, productive work environment. But anyone who’s worked from home knows that doing it successfully isn’t simply a matter of finding a flat surface and a comfy chair. Thankfully any room in your home can have a dual identity and become a brilliant space for creation and focus, or you may decide to style a room specifically for your career. It’s all a matter of smart planning and clever design.

“Built in bookcases behind the dining table reverts from functional office to personality filled dining room with a clear of the table”

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“Making a space specific to your work space doesn’t need to be large, just considerate to your style and functional needs”

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Take storage for instance. Most people living in the city or suburbs already have challenges when it comes to space. It seems daunting but the answer may be as simple as stacked baskets, boxes or crates that keep your surfaces clutter-free and guarantee your work is safe. But consider measurements, textures and colours to make sure that stack in the corner is a feature, not an eyesore.

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Few of us have the luxury of having a dedicated room for an office. How do we meet the challenge of creating a room with a double identity, and which room do you choose? The good news is any room can seamlessly make a daily transition from its primary function to makeshift office, or coexist happily. The Industrial styling of your living room may be the natural site for architectural inspiration, or your Boho Chic bedroom’s exotic vibrance may energise a graphic designer.

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Your workspace could be a great excuse to add a library or study to a larger living area, not only complimenting the room but aesthetically improving it. A floating desk can create a more sociable environment and improve productivity by including friends, partners or the kids. Rather than feel isolated as you work, feel integrated. Be honest about the usefulness of each room.

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A formal dining area may be used rarely, especially in modern households where schedules clash. There’s no need to completely eliminate its original function or remove furniture. Just redesign the space to make it lively and inspirational. Simply swapping an elegant style like Scandi for Modern Eclectic’s vitality may transform a rarely used space into one that looks and feels productive.

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Probably the most positive example of adding a workspace is a collaborative area designed to be a hub of work activity for everyone in the home. It’s a case of ‘if you can’t beat them, join them’. Just make sure everyone’s catered for, including practical seating for kids and adults. Sometimes a soft and attractive partition can be all it takes to separate your work life from home life.

“A space for all”

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In a home with Coastal design, dropdown blinds may be the perfect touch, or perhaps your divider can be more subtle, simply telling the rest of the family that the space is dedicated to work without dramatically splitting the area. Storage shelves are a good example, keeping the room open and letting the light in. Freestanding room dividers are an easy fix but don’t ruin your interiors by adding a feature that clashes with your style. Make sure you consider finishes.

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It’s always possible to achieve pleasing, practical design. For instance, if your room is French Accent, stay ‘on theme’ with careful attention to detail and textures. Most importantly, it’s incredibly important to feel comfortable as you work, so your office, like the rest of your home, needs to be truly you. Consistency is key and that includes materials and lighting that create a seamless flow from one space to the next. As our work and private lives become more integrated, it’s increasingly important to think of your home office as a truly integrated space that inspires you and reflects your personality.

  “Room to be you”

Designbx  “Home offices for every lifestyle“ www.designbx.com

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