Tips for Creating a Provencal Kitchen

Are you a fellow lover of French Country style? Whether you are a frequent traveler to France, or just visit virtually and in your dreams, these Tips for Creating a Provencal Kitchen will have your kitchen speaking fluent French in no time! If you adore Provencal style, it's easy to bring a bit of France home to your kitchen. Antiques, patina-weathered finishes, natural materials, and warm neutrals are a few of the things you'll often find in French Country kitchens. The overall effect makes the kitchen welcoming, effortlessly elegant yet casually comfortable. Neutrals and soft colors such as shades of blue, red, pink, and green bring creamy whites and wood tones to life in this relaxed European style. If you collect antique white ironstone and love the look of blue and white, that's perfect! The flip side of that is the bold choices of reds, blues, golden yellow, black and jewel tones, which can also bring the visual interest that is in an exceptional French Provencal decorated room.

Tips for Creating a Provencal Kitchen

USE HEIRLOOMS & SOUVENIRS

Your kitchen truly is the heart of your home, I know here at FrenchGardenHouse it is! Things that you have inherited like your grandmother's rolling pin or souvenirs from trips to France make your kitchen personal. Here at home I am lucky to have a few wooden spoons my {mostly non-cooking!} Mom used, and her silverware. They are not grand, and they're not costly, but they connect me to her. I also display some of the antique towels and ironstone I've bought over the years at flea markets on trips. I try to buy something special for our home on each major trip, as a souvenir of fun times! It doesn't have to be big or costly, and often it's something to use in the kitchen. France can inspire many of your choices, and luckily, even if you have never been there, our French culinary antiques are sourced in France, they're fantastic and we ship them all over the states.

USE EVERYDAY COUNTRY PIECES

The beauty of country style is its casual, and effortlessness. You can mix and match textures, sizes and it all goes together to create beauty. Group neutral country French pottery pieces together for visual impact. The beauty about using French culinary antiques for decor is that most of them are still so usable and practical. We have an ever rotating {meaning our French Country culinary pieces are quickly adopted by new parents!} collection of country pottery pieces used long ago. The best thing? Not only are the hand made, beautifully designed and have plenty of character, they are still useful. It's a win, win, win, win!

STRIVE FOR BALANCE

While I gravitate towards a "more is more" look, keeping your French Provencal kitchen from becoming too cluttered is a balance. Keeping most of your accessories in a neutral tone definitely helps unify your space. You want to add just enough country antiques for warmth without covering up every inch of your counters. I am not always 100% good at this, I love a good stack of antique cutting boards and ironstone platters, but realize it is frustrating to have to shift things around in order to prepare lunch or cook. So I try my best to keep it simple, and create beauty with a lived in look that still allows for a working kitchen.

ADD SOMETHING SHINY

To balance all that French earthiness, add some shiny things! I love a good cup of tea, and my little tray has shiny silver tea pots at the ready. Recently, I have re-ignited my love for copper. It's both timeless and practical, and it really warms up your kitchen! Copper pans are not just pretty, they are also wonderful to cook with, they are an excellent conductor of heat. Since I don't have a huge kitchen {read= storage is at a premium} I display some of our copper pans in with the French ironstone in our kitchen armoire.

JUST ADD SOAP

One of the things that is the easiest to do to create a French country feeling is to use wonderful French soap in your kitchen. Nothing says French Provencal kitchen more than some authentic French soap from Marseille.I always get asked about our French Marseille Soap. The aromatic fragrance transports you to the meadows of Provence, and the kitchen or bathroom of every French home. Experiencing natural beauty should be an everyday, affordable luxury, these soaps bring the authentic French dream to your home. {Ps. After a long time, our French Marseille soap is finally being shipped to our shop from France again. Arriving soon. Yippee!}

USE NATURAL TEXTILES

One of my very favorite things to do in Europe is shop for linens. I know, I know, in the grand decorating scheme of things it's not that big of a thing to bring French flair. But my European friends use the most gorgeous 100% linen towels and aprons in their kitchens! Linen towels are a great, inexpensive way to add instant European charm to your kitchen. I have a seasonal addiction - don't judge me please - I love to add new complimentary towels to our kitchen with the changing of each season. Changing to all natural linen towels and aprons will make your kitchen have that country lived in look we all love. We use both new and antique linens in the kitchen, they make me happy no matter how old they are.

Shop Linens

I hope this gives you some ideas on how to get the Provencal look in your own kitchen at home, and that these tips for creating a Provencal kitchen is something you can easily emulate at home. French Provencal kitchens come in all different colors, from all neutrals, to soft pastels all the way up to sunny golden yellow and bright red. The thing they all have in common is that food and memories are made there with love. I hope the same for your kitchen, no matter what your decorating style is! Thank you so much for joining me here! READ ON:

See how this is Perfect Decor - French Antique Stoneware >

Merci beaucoup!

A BIENTOT

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