Nothing says Christmas like RED! Add a touch of red color and instantly everyday decor becomes beautiful Christmas decor. By changing two items in my French Country inspired bathroom and adding red French Country decor, my bathroom is now decorated for Christmas. 

Four red Christmas items grouped together make a bigger impact than scattering the four items around a room. Having all four red items together creates a focal point that draws everyone's eyes directly to the window area of the bathroom, including from the adjoining bedroom. Only later does anyone notice another spot of red... 

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.