French Bedroom Design:
Ideas & Inspiration
For A Country French Bedroom

french bedroom design




French bedroom design made easy:


Learn from examples of French designer bedrooms, and ...

... understand the ground rules of French bedroom decorating:

♦   style elements,
♦   textiles, and the
♦   right color mix.

1. Which Style?

To help you decide which French bedroom design style works best for you, check out these examples of country French bedrooms in France - including a number of French designer bedrooms:

Out of all French bedroom design options, most people choose a "French Country" look - which, in turn, comes in many different styles.


Which look would YOU choose for decorating a French country bedroom?

  • A white iron bed - or a black one - with exquisite scrollwork, covered in a white Matelassé Bedspread?
  • A regal canopy bed hung with white tulle, or with elegant toile?
  • Distressed Rococo furniture in antique white?
  • An ornate Louis XV bed, plus armoire and gilt mirrors, plus silk and velvet in deep jewel colors?
  • Fabulously elegant French country curtains?
  • Any kind of French inspired bedroom look, as long as it's somehow convincing and feels right?

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2. Big Decisions First!

Start your French bedroom design with the big-ticket items: the furniture.
Are you going to buy ...

  • a French country bed?
  • an armoire?
  • a large mirror?
  • nightstands?
  • a vanity dresser?
  • chairs?
  • any other large-scale/expensive decorating item(s)?
  • new flooring, or a new carpet/rug? (French bedroom design often includes terracotta tile flooring.)

Starting your decorating project with the most expensive, biggest, most highly visible items will help you to

  • focus your decorating vision,
  • save time when you're looking for wall colors and fabrics (these minor items are much easier to find than a bed that goes with your wallpaper)
  • save money - when you're clear which part of your French bedroom design is the most important, it's easier to go 'cheap' on the less important items.

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3. Getting The Mix Right

Make one piece the STAR. Show it off against a plain backdrop:
a fine gilt chair against monochrome walls, and elegant iron beds dressed in crisp, white matelassé.

Obviously, you could just buy a French provincial bedroom set, and you'd be done.

But there's a drawback - it's not easy to produce a 'French' feel that way.

Country French interior design has a creative, very individual edge (at least in France).

So try and avoid the matchy-matchy, 'right-out-of-the-catalog' look as much as you can.

Combine unexpected pieces, find beauty in strange places, and add a personal touch to your French bedroom design.

In other words, don't match all of the furniture!  Instead,

  • combine an antique armoire with a seriously unglamorous, modern platform bed (sans headboard or footboard);
  • hang fine curtains from a superbly elegant bead crown, down around the head of the aforesaid plain platform bed;
  • use shelving for storage & hide it behind a gorgeous antique silk curtain;
  • pair an exuberantly ornate Louis XV bed with white walls, white minimalist furniture, and simple distressed-gold frames on the walls;
  • combine fine and shabby, artsy and natural, new and old items - this is one of the most important 'rules' of French bedroom decorating!

Once you've got the basics working, stir in some personal, fun, unexpected items:

  • a collection of French things, like
    • paintings/photos/etchings/book jackets/maps/wine or food labels/fabric swatches - anything you can frame or hang on the wall!
    • pottery or porcelain
    • antique items for everyday use
    • beautiful things above the lintel
    • (For more ideas, consult the pages on

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4. Getting The Colors Right

French country colors include

  • soft, earthy hues (like yellow umber, ocher, warm gray, soft peachy pink, terracotta)
  • pale seaside colors (muted greens, blues, and a neutral palette from stone to white)
  • red-blue-white combinations (but not the primary colors - rather, go for grayed blues and terracotta or berry reds)
  • red-brown-white-gray combinations (very popular for French bedroom design in the French Alps!)
  • any combination of neutrals, including natural sandstone colors, with a few shots of vibrant, more saturate color
  • the popular gray-white-blue of the Gustavian style is not originally French; it's been 'reimported' from Scandinavia (more about this here and here!)

For bedroom color scheme ideas, check out the pages on Bedroom decorating colors and Bedroom color schemes!


5. French Bedroom Design: Where To Buy It

a) For reproduction pieces, have a look at the following:


b) For antique country French bedroom furniture, or a mix of old and new elements, try

  • Garage and yard sales,
  • Flea markets,
  • Estate sales,
  • Antiques dealers, or
  • Antiques auctions.


Alternatively, get lucky and find exactly what you're looking for on ebay:


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