My French Country style sunspace is a favorite room in my house with everyone who comes to visit  us. Why? The view out the windows overlooks our backyard and naturalized woods. When rain damaged a sunspace window beyond repair, we immediately called the window company to come give us quotes to replace the window.  

Unfortunately, we could not just replace the one damaged window because it was part of a double window.  Since the original window style is no longer made as a standard option, the new windows are a different style.

The original windows, shown in the photo, had a larger pane at the top that offered unobstructed views to the backyard while sitting at the breakfast table. That’s the view everyone loves. 

Upstairs Bathroom Remodel | Sink Area

The remodel of the upstairs bathroom in 2021 was so extensive the sink area of the two-section bathroom is just now being shared. After thirty-three years the bathroom needed renovating to become more ADA (American with Disabilities Act) compliant, to replace worn out fixtures, and to add more French Country style. 

The after photo of the section of the bathroom with the sink has elements of French Country style I love. Over the years French Country style was added little by little throughout the whole house with each new change in the house. Whether it was new furniture, upholstery, light fixtures, decor, flooring, or wall treatments, I always looked for ways to incorporate French Country. Naturally when it came time to remodel the upstairs bathroom, I added more French Country there, too. 

The French Country distressed green and gold wood mirror was added to the bathroom several years ago and is one of the few things kept the same in the bathroom remodel.

Mirror Updates to French Country

Homes change over the years due to routine maintenance, upgrading appliances, freshening paint, changing tastes, and finding what you have been wanting for years. The mirror in my half-bath powder room started as American Country style that eventually was replaced with a new French Country style mirror. 

After years of searching and intermediate changes along the way, the half-bath has a French Country mirror I love. This post is for all of you who still long for changes in your home. Don't give up. The journey may take turns and twists, but little-by-little you can achieve the home you dream.  

Take a look at my journey from American Country mirror to the French Country mirror shown above. I've tried to include photos with the same views into the half-bath so you can see how the mirror changes over the years looked in the bathroom from the same perspectives. 

Bulletin Board Inspiration No. 8 | French Country Coastal Decor

A Paper Series Post 

Summer is flying by! Before it slips away, I created a bulletin board for coastal decor inspiration with a French Country twist. France has miles and miles of coastline from the far north Normandy region down to the southern Riviera making French Country Coastal an authentic phrase for French decor ... and for style of living. 

La Mer (the sea) offers sights, sounds, and feelings with countless images to conjure fun-filled hours of a day, a week, or a whole summer. Cool blue and white color schemes echo water, skies, sea creatures, and coastal architecture. 

Only recently, I saw a blend of simple coastal decor and traditional French Country decor that makes a perfect pairing.

French Country Winter Paperwhites

Paperwhites brighten winter days whether inside or outside. A large French Country pedestal urn filled with artificial paperwhites is perfect to transition inside from winter to spring.

The arrangement on the vintage pine table actually began as part of the Christmas decor last December. A large glass plate sits inside the urn and provides a flat surface on which the artificial paperwhite blooming bulbs stand. A fresh boxwood wreath is just the right size needed for adding greenery around the rim of the urn. 

French Country Christmas | Eiffel Tower

A Paper Post 

Each Christmas I ponder ways to include French Country decor as I decorate for Christmas. This year, an Eiffel Tower photo taken on a cloudy, dark day was inspiration for creating a glittering gold framed Christmas print. 

The finished multi-media print in gold with silver German glass glitter is not a typical print for Christmas. Yet, glitter on ornaments, Christmas cards, traditional holiday prints, artificial small trees, and artificial greenery add sparkle to Christmas decorations. Likewise, silver glass glitter lends a holiday look to the iconic symbol of France. 

Read how a throw-away photo of the Eiffel Tower was transformed into a beautiful French Country Christmas print. 

Bathroom | New French Hardwood Flooring

New French Oak Light House hardwood flooring in the bedroom and adjoining bathroom made a beautiful change to how the bathroom looks. I am already starting to decorate the bathroom for Christmas, but realized there should be a post showing the bathroom with its new solid oak French floor before sharing the holiday decorations. 

The new flooring flows seamlessly between the bathroom and the bedroom with no raised door thresholds. Nothing on which to stumble in the middle of the night trips to the bathroom. 

Custom French Country Wood Paneling

Custom made paneling for the exterior walls of the master bedroom in my post and beam house adds extra insulation to the French Country inspired home. 

When we built our post and beam house in the countryside several years ago, I priced having solid wood raised paneling installed in our bedroom and in our dining room. The cost of one eight foot wide by eight foot tall paneled wall was out of our budget, much less installing about seven times that amount of linear wall paneling. 

Fortunately, the Long Tall Texan had woodworking experience and the tools needed to make custom raised panels instead of paying a cabinet maker to build them. He built the custom wood panels during the first couple of years we lived in the house. That was the first time he tried his hand at making solid wood wall paneling, and he did a fantastic job. 

French Country Bedroom | Hardwood Floor and Rug

Replacing wall-to-wall carpet with Wide Plank French Oak Light House ¾" Solid Hardwood Flooring and a 9'x12' Capitola blue variegated rug is a beautiful renovation to the master bedroom. The new flooring is the latest addition of French Country style to my post and beam country house. 

At first sight the bedroom may not look different from before replacing the carpet with a hardwood floor and rug. The blue and white color scheme is the same, the furniture is the same, and most of the room's decor looks the same. 

Take a step back to see a larger view of the room to see the difference. 

French Country Hardwood Floor

French country hardwood flooring for the master bedroom was an unexpected beautiful solution to replacing wall-to-wall carpeting. While searching for pale periwinkle blue and white carpet, I found a gorgeous variegated blue and white RUG that was exactly what I wanted in wall-to-wall carpeting. Then up popped a promotional advertisement for Wide Plank French Oak Light House ¾" Thick Solid Hardwood Flooring for a special buy price! 

All at once, the past 5-year search for new carpeting transformed into a fast-tracked ordering process for solid hardwood flooring and a 9x12 rug. 

Since the bedroom, closets, and bathroom had to be emptied from all of their contents to install the new flooring, the new hardwood floor project is also an excellent time to clean the rooms from top to bottom, to repaint the walls and trim work, and to refresh the decor. 

French Country Inspired Conservatory

A rustic French Country conservatory photo inspired building a sunspace attached to our kitchen when we built our house many years ago. With each holiday or new season new inspiration provides ideas for updated decor and plants in the small sunspace. Most recently, my May bulletin board display sparked ideas for decorating the sunspace with a more traditional conservatory look than usual for the sunspace. 

Glass cloches, boxwoods, and ivy wreaths are what I envision would be in a traditional conservatory whether French, British, or American. 

French Lavender Indoors for Spring

What better way to add Spring color inside than with a pot of French lavender? The navy blue bulletin board with blue and white rabbits for Spring and Easter inspiration is still on display at the end of the fireplace. As much as I love the bulletin board arrangement as it was, I love it even more with the addition of a pot of lavender bursting with blooms. 

French lavender on the pine chest at the end of the fireplace is not unusual at my house. Over the years potted lavender inside has added both color and fragrance to the same space since lavender is one of my favorite plants. 

French Country Spring Kitchen | Blue Hyacinths

Early spring blue grape hyacinth bulbs were an easy way to bring Spring into my French Country kitchen while skies were still gray over the bare trees in the surrounding woods. 

Blue muscari bulbs, commonly known as grape hyacinths, are the perfect blue color to go with the blue walls, upholstery, and accent pieces used all over my house, not just the kitchen. The plants easily fit into a variety of flower pots and baskets, collected over a lifetime, for displaying inside before being transplanted into the ground outside after the blooms were past their prime. 

French Country Light Fixture | Dining Area

Finding a new French Country style light fixture for my dining area to replace an original fixture required searching for just the right style and size. Not to say everyone in all house styles don't search for just the right style and size. But, post and beam houses are beautiful open spaces which challenge designers, builders, subcontractors, and owners to conceal modern wiring, plumbing, and duct work to preserve the beauty of the open posts and beams. 

After several months, I found this gorgeous semi-flush, slightly rustic, antique gold metal light that meets all my needs and wants in a new ceiling fixture. Like many internet ordered items this past year, there was a shipping delay. But the light arrived just in time for installing on the day of a Christmas party to celebrate the holiday season with friends last November 30. 

Winter Tablesetting | Snowy Trees with Navy

Beautiful new navy coffee mugs with snowy trees set the scene for a Winter table setting filled with white, snowflakes, and trees. An easy transition from Christmas to Winter decor. 

Tiny white ceramic trees coordinate perfectly with the snowy white trees on the navy mugs. 

French Country Christmas | Living Room

Both fresh and artificial greenery are primary Christmas decorations for my French Country style home. Built with structural posts and beams, the living room is a vaulted two and a half story space with a soaring cut-limestone fireplace which looks best dressed in understated natural flowers and greenery. 

Artificial greenery on the mantel and faux paperwhites on the coffee table blend well with the fresh white live poinsettias, fresh greenery in a white crown vase, and a small fresh cut tabletop Christmas tree at the end of the fireplace. 

French Christmas Carol Poster

Last Winter I was inspired to create a French Christmas carol poster to use in this year's Christmas decorations. Wholesale gift shows always have spectacular larger-than-life window and floor displays designed by their professional stylists which usually are beyond my resources to replicate similar ones.  

But, last January an eye-catching wall-size Silent Night Christmas carol poster in the Dallas Market RAZ Imports wholesale showroom inspired me to create similar displays for a French Country Christmas poster this year. Read more for how I selected to use, and how I created a poster for O Holy Night. 

Simple French Country Fall Kitchen

The last simple bouquet of blue and white hydrangeas sat on my French Country kitchen island as summer slipped away and Fall arrived. While most people decorate for Fall with traditional shades of orange, yellow, brown, and beige, I favor using the blues and whites that are part of my everyday decor year round. 

Keeping with French Country style of understated elegance, there were no elaborate displays for Fall in my kitchen this year. 

French Country Garden Shed | Shelf Desk

An 11.5" by 34" shelf added to a corner of my French Country garden shed is the perfect solution for adding a desk to the small 12 feet square space. The garden shed serves as both an upscale garden house and as a pop-up Christmas store each December.  

Every addition to the space must be functional, be inexpensive, and be beautiful to display gorgeous Christmas decor. Many of the materials used to construct and to update the garden building are recycled, but not extremely rustic. Often rough recycled materials were sanded, stripped, refinished, or painted. Gently worn surfaces with a natural patina developed over time are the key to capturing the French Country farmhouse style found in both my home and the garden house. 

French Country Chandelier for 8 Foot Ceiling

For those of us who love French Country style, but live in houses with 8 foot ceilings, chandeliers are mostly a dream instead of a reality. If you long for a French Country chandelier in your standard 8 foot ceiling height home, take heart. I found a chandelier for my very small guest bathroom which may also work in your home. 

Not only did I find a mini chandelier, I also found a carved wood art medallion to use as a ceiling rose above the new chandelier.