Designers advise to think over the interior and style of a house or apartment based on the nature and needs of its owners. If you are a romantic person, the Provence style in the interior will emphasize your sophistication in all its glory. Provencal style, this gentle French daughter of the country family, is distinguished by discreet grace, natural materials and natural shades. The traditional values in the Provence style are simplicity and conciseness, reliability and tranquility. Having decorated your home in this style, you will find an island of silence and comfort in a world boiling with passions and will be able to calmly contemplate the vanity of life, swaying in a wicker chair.
The main features of the Provence style
Provencal style is not a brutal loft for you and not “manly comfort” - a hunting lodge with horns on the walls. In Provence, everything is gentle and naive, fresh and natural. In everything - low-key elegance, harmony and the spirit of antiquity. Furniture and all items of Provencal life seem to have been inherited from a beloved French grandmother.
Provence style in the interior is determined by several features:
- light colors, warm or cool;
- an abundance of light;
- antique or aged furniture;
- natural finishing materials;
- floral and floral ornaments;
- embroidery and textile decoration;
- forging, porcelain and ceramics.
Provence color
Provencal style prefers natural colors - lavender, soft olive, creamy, light beige, muted saffron, blue. Calm, sweet, gentle. Bright accents that contrast with the main color mood will help to emphasize the power of pastel colors in the Provence-style interior. These can be decor elements a few tones richer than the main color of the interior, or a combination of mustard and olive classic Provencal colors with orange or green.
Floor, walls, ceiling
Wall and ceiling decoration in the Provence style implies rough textured plaster or painting in light colors - white, light beige, creamy, muted terracotta, pale green, lavender, as if burnt orange, in aquamarine.
- Walls. Looking through stone or brick finishes is welcome.
Alternatively, you can clad the walls with a board and paint it. - Floor. A board or light-colored tile with uneven edges on the floor will create the feeling of a real country house, while chips and scuffs will give an old look.
- Ceiling. Most often, Provence-style ceilings are decorated with beams. Painted with white paint and as if darkened with time, the beams are designed to enhance the feeling of a provincial dwelling in a Provencal interior.
Furniture in Provence
Provencal style in furniture meets all the same basic requirements: aging and naturalness. Scratches and scuffs, irregularities and roughness on the surface of Provencal furniture create the illusion that nature itself has worked here. Delicate tones of facades with a print in the form of hydrangeas, sunflowers or lavender are the main design motif of furniture in the Provence style. She is sweet and graceful, rustic and unpretentious. There is no pretentiousness and pathos in Provence, everything is clear and without fuss, as it should be in the house of a real peasant.
Important! The aesthetics of Provence is inspired by the spirit of antiquity and harmony with nature. Therefore, the “combed” Provence, adapted to modern country life and touched by gloss, looks like an unsuccessful replica of the original style.
Cabinets, tables, chests of drawers, sideboards, sideboards are decorated in delicate colors typical of Provence with a floral pattern and decorated with curlicues and carvings.And this charming word from the past - "trillage" - in the Provencal style will be embodied for the hostess of the house into an irreplaceable detail of the interior, the mirrors of which will reflect her beauty three times.
The queen of the Provencal bedroom is a wrought iron bed. Openwork, airy metal forging can evoke the most unexpected associations - from an intricate floral weave to your own signature. Such a bed is an unexpected drop of luxury in a simple rustic Provencal interior, very appropriate and in tune with the general style.
Advice. A canopy over the bed will bring a special charm to the Provencal bedroom, the practical advantages of which compete with the decorative ones. The fabric for a Provence-style canopy should be light, flowing, easily breathable - silk, chintz or linen.
Textiles in Provencal interior design
If you want to feel real Provencal comfort, pay attention to one of its main components - textiles. Light tulle, floral curtains and coarse natural linen tablecloths will be the main strokes in the home reproduction of the French south. Towels with monograms, bed linen with rich embroidery and ruffles, napkins in typical Provence colors, chair covers, lampshades, planters, embroidered sofa cushions will drive more than one “Turgenev” young lady crazy. Such an abundance of "hand-made" accents will create a true Provence atmosphere in your home.
An exquisite nuance of the Provencal style is bootie embroidery. With its help, quilted bedspreads, napkins, covers are made. The buti technique makes it possible to achieve complex embossed patterns that not only decorate textiles, but also endow them with strength and unpretentiousness in use.
Lighting
Soft diffused lighting is the best fit for a Provencal interior. But powerful lamps can scare away the naive charm of a rustic style, destroy romantic serenity. Therefore, it is necessary to select lighting with special care. In the center of a Provencal-style room, you can make an accent with the main light source - a large chandelier with several lamps located at different levels. To vary the intensity of lighting, sconces, floor lamps, table lamps are used. Multi-level and skillful zoning of lighting will emphasize the gentle charm of the Provencal style.
Style details
Let's rephrase the common phrase - Provence lies in the details - and pay attention to the details. Imagine for a moment the notorious Plyushkin “with a plus sign”. Such a conservative collector, who does not part with anything and has a weakness for all the material details of his past. These character traits of a literary hero could do a good job if he became a Provencal interior designer even for a minute. What unique rarities one could choose from his belongings:
- candlesticks;
- photo frames;
- paintings;
- pots and handmade lampshades;
- vintage toys;
- grandmother's jewelry;
- original jars, bottles and other utensils;
- wall plates;
- figurines;
- vases, porcelain and ceramics.
And this is just an approximate list of "pearls" that can decorate any house in the Provence style. And the fact that some of these items have seen the views and are well-worn by life - this only increases their value in Provence.
Instead of a conclusion
Being determines consciousness, the philosophers said. Let your life be decorated with reliability and ingenuity, healthy simplicity and discreet elegance of Provencal interior traditions. Let your home become for you a place of power, an outlet in the world of vanity and eternal running in circles. Create your own French province at home and enjoy rustic peace and comfort.
