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A single page about Provence living and home decorating could never do justice to this beautiful region in the Southeast of France.
For that reason, I’ll be adding more pages with information about, and pictures of, Provence interiors in the near future:
Elements of French Country Interior Decorating,
French Country Style Curtains,
French Country Kitchen Design,
French Country Kitchens - Getting the Look
Color Schemes for French Country Decorating
French Country Decor on a Shoestring,
French Bathroom Decorating Ideas and
French Bedroom Furniture.
Walls
From the farm houses (mas or bastides) to the little cottages (cabanons), most houses in Provence are built of local stone.Sometimes the interior walls are left unrendered to show off the beautiful grayish-golden rock.
If they’re rendered (or plastered), they’ll usually be whitewashed once a year, or painted with lime-based distempers in greens, light (yellow) ochres, or light blues.
The effect of this paint is almost like watercolor with a chalky, matte finish.
And since these walls are never quite straight or quite flat, the paint gives them an almost translucent, organic, 'alive' look.
In the photos on this page, you’ll notice that the lower parts of the walls are painted in a darker color – this is often done to conceal the inevitable knocks and scuff marks of everyday life.
Flooring
The floors in Provence interiors are usually covered with terracotta tiles in warm reds, browns and oranges.The oldest, handmade tiles used to be square (you’ll find a picture of them in the page on French Country Curtains).
For the past 200 years, though, hexagonal tomettes (pictured right) have been the most widely used. If someone talks about 'typical' floor tiles for Provence interiors, they usually have tomettes in mind.
On the other hand, multi-colored cement tiles are now getting in on the act – and they weren’t exactly invented yesterday, either (the first ones were produced in the 1850s).
I like the way you can use cement tiles to accentuate an area in a room.For example, you can
- draw a border around the whole room/along the wall,
- design a ‘stone carpet’ for the living-room seating, or
- make an ‘island’ for the dinner table.
They are cool under your feet (very important in the fierce summer heat), very hardwearing and easy to clean.
Fabrics
The little fabric swatches below show traditional Provence cotton prints. The yellow and the blue one have stylized bees swarming all over them:
That's because the honeybee has been something of a mascot of the Provence region of France since the days of Napoleon Bonaparte, who adopted it as a symbol of his reign.
These printed fabrics in lovely, strong colors are used for traditional soft furnishings in Provence interiors, and they’re now as popular as they were in the 17th century.
At the same time, there’s currently a trend towards a slightly more hip, minimalist look that involves unbleached and antique white linens.For example, the quilt in this picture (I photographed it in Uzès on a market day) has scalloped edges like some of the traditional boutis bed coverlets ...
... but instead of being smothered in floral or toile de jouy imagery, it’s all in sophisticated ivory and taupe.
So if you would prefer to create a contemporary appearance for your Provence-style home, choose linen (and maybe cotton) in a neutral color scheme; then accessorize with more colorful fabrics (solids and patterns).
Furniture
Provence interiors are not lavishly furnished. The most typical piece of furniture in Provence home decorating is probably the straw-seated chair.
Straw-seated chairs come in lots of different shapes and sizes, from simple and sturdy (as in the picture at the top of this page) to elaborate Louis XV and classic Louis XVI styles.
You’ll find excellent reproduction chairs in the workshops of designer craftspeople in Provence today, and originals in the many antique shops in the area.Traditionally, Provence furniture is made of walnut wood. It is either polished to a high sheen, or painted.
The most popular colors for painting furniture are the light, grayish blues and greens that are also used on the wooden shutters and doors, but you’ll also see sideboards and dressers with antique white, 'distressed' paint finishes.
Provence Pottery
and Fine Earthenware
The Provence region of France is an eldorado of beautiful Mediterranean country style crockery – and no Provence interiors are complete without it.
The most traditional colors of Provence pottery are yellow ochre and green (with tones varying between grass green and deep fir green), but you’ll find beautiful blues, umber and more 'spicy' reds and browns as well.
Provence has a very old tradition of making fine glazed earthenware.
Whole villages are dedicated to the craft; the most well-known are Moustiers (where French faience originated) and Vallauris, the village that Pablo Picasso made world famous.But there are lesser-known treasure troves of Provence pottery all around the region (and they're great places for bargain hunting!): Valbonne, Opio, Levens, Gréollières, Cliouscat, Aigues-Vives and Saint-Quentin-la-Poterie.
Any of these will be happy to help you stock up on one of the most important ingredients of Provence interiors.
And Provence pottery isn’t just for the table, either. Go ahead and hang collections of your finest pieces on the wall:
- Group a few antique soup tureen lids for an instant, exquisite wall display in your French country style dining room.
- Or hang the Most Gorgeous Plate above a doorframe where you’ll see it every day.
For more ideas on creating Provence interiors and French country interior decorating, check out the following pages:
- French Country Interior Decorating,
- French Country Style Curtains,
- French Country Kitchen Design,
- French Country Kitchens - 'Getting the Look',
- Color Schemes for French Country Decorating
- French Country Decor on a Shoestring,
- French Bathroom Decorating Ideas, and
- French Bedroom Furniture.
Alternatively …
… return from Provence Interiors to French Interior Design, or …
… return from Provence Interiors to the Dream Home Decorating Homepage.
