How to Create a Beautiful French Country Living Room

Learn how to add old world European character and charm to your living room with these easy tips.

A step-by-step guide on how to create an old world European feel in your living room.

Our home was a classic 1980’s home with no character to be found anywhere. I love French Country Decor, my mission was to add in as much French country character as I could. Here is what my living Room looks like now.

Here is what it looked like before. Purple is definitely not my color. There was purple everywhere-cabinets, carpet, vinyl flooring, outlet covers, vent covers-I mean, everywhere.

Lava rock fireplaces and antiquated (and not in the good way) cabinetry, is not my style either. When we tried to get the first lava rock off of the fireplace, the entire thing fell to the ground. At least it was easy to get down.

We added corbles to the entry of the living room to add character. We also updated the woodwork, added a new fireplace surround, added doors to the cabinets and painted everything “Alabaster” from Sherwin Williams.

We added plantation shutters and a lovely dark hand hewn wood floor. What a difference it made. This pair of chairs were upholstered in a burgundy and gold pattern, I recovered them in a flax colored fabric. I love using monotones in my designs.

This lovely old chair was a great find in an antique store for less than $200. The leather was dry and dirty-with a bit of elbow grease and come leather soap and conditioner, it cleaned right up. I love the character of the old leather.

I’m fascinated with green right now. When I found this green velvet fabric, I knew that it was perfect for drapes. That was a true labor of love-I needed 12 drapery panels that required a total 36 yards of fabric-luckily it was on sale at a huge discount.

I absolutely love to read, I love antiques and I love to decorate. This bookcase fills the bill on so many levels. And, nothing is more classic than a large bookcase with a library ladder. I found this gorgeous fabric and made the pillows for the sofa.