Continuing our investigation into the charm of French interior design, this time looking at kitchens and bathrooms. Kitchens The French kitchen is traditionally a workplace and middle-class families eat strictly in the dining room. Working-class and country families, however, do tend eat in the kitchen and many country families don’t have a living room at all, spending all their time… Read more »
The epitome of French house style must be the chateau, and living in a grand building of this kind takes a certain approach to interior design. Many Britons are enchanted by the idea of buying a chateau, and they can still be picked up in France for the cost of many a UK townhouse. Although the most famous chateaux are… Read more »
The casual, liveable cottage and farmhouse style never loses its appeal. Cottages and farmhouses are the kind of period French property most commonly bought by British buyers and they are buildings designed to be lived in, not for show. Such buildings are generally in the vernacular style – using local materials for both roof and walls, and fitting well into… Read more »
French interiors are known the world over for their charm, but charm is a hard concept to put a finger on. ‘Raising domesticity to an art’ is the hallmark of the French look, claims French style magazine Maison & Jardin, and that’s not a bad place to start. There are many different types of French interior, of course, but one… Read more »
Every French house deserves at least some French furniture. Let’s sort the antiques from the bric-a-brac. Most British people buying a period house in France still prefer to a least partly furnish it with French furniture, and although the days of rock-bottom bargains may be over, there are still gems to be found if you shop carefully. Furniture can be found… Read more »
Review: Living with Light by Gail Abbott
Brown is the new black – yet again