From Old School to Modern: The Evolution of a French Country Dining Room
In this post: French Country decor is not over, but it has changed. The evolution of our dining room illustrates how to use modern French Country decor.⇒
I’m almost done!
No, really. Just one more thing, I think.
For those of you following the journey of the transformation of my french country dining room, you’re probably not surprised. At least one of the changes I’m sharing today, you no doubt saw coming. But, perhaps, not the other. Especially given it’s something I just added not that long ago.
But I’m getting ahead of myself.
French Country Dining Room
Let me back up a minute and talk a little bit about my taste and design aesthetic. I’m sure you all know I love french country style. It is, after all, part of my blog’s tag line.
BUT… I qualify it by calling it ‘Modern French Country Decor’.
Honestly, I don’t know if there is such a thing. But in my mind it’s very clearly defined. In fact, if you google ‘French Country decor’ and ‘modern French Country decor’, you’ll see the difference immediately.
This is precisely the refinement I’ve been bringing to my home recently. In many cases the furniture hasn’t changed but the overall look is, I believe, vastly different. Consider the french country dining room the way it looked just 3 years ago, when we moved into this house.
While none of the major furniture pieces have been changed, the room has a completely different attitude. Gone are the mixed patterns, pastel colors and faux florals. In their place I’ve added drape-y linen window treatments and antique accent pieces. It now leans a bit french farmhouse with an elegant rusticity that marries natural materials and neutral colors with french country furniture that wears a fine patina and would be as much at home in Paris as in the french countryside.
You can see the process in these posts:
Stage 1: Elegant Dining Rooms: Refining an Existing Space
Stage 2: Dining Room Accessories: 3 Updates That Make a Huge Difference
Stage 3: How I Transformed My Dining Room Without Replacing the Furniture
In the last post I was nearly done. But there were still 3 aspects I wanted to refine further.
Which brings us to our most recent updates.
The first one is the dining room rug. While I loved the rug that I had recently added, it was a bit dark for this oddly lit room and more significantly, it was too small. I like to keep the table open with one extension leaf and the back of the dining chairs weren’t sitting on the rug. An 8 x 10 rug was simply too small.
I might not have done anything about it for quite some time, but when I found this gorgeous rug that’s perfectly suited for the space, I seized the moment. I got the 9 x 12 size and the size and color are a certain improvement.
(Rest assured I kept the other rug and I’m loving it in its new location. Stay tuned for that update!)
The second adjustment is something I’ve been talking about for a while, and this is the one many of you likely guessed at. If you’ve seen my Instagram stories you know I’ve been changing many of the paint colors in the house. The dining room was among the rooms getting a paint upgrade.
I actually almost didn’t paint it because the pale pink was very subtle, but I’m absolutely delighted that I opted to do it. I used Tapestry Beige at 50% strength and this made the room feel almost complete.
I think this french dining room has captured my vision of exactly what modern French Country is. I use plenty of antiques with the charm of patina and neutral washed linens in white and stone. Crystal and gilding both have a place here and the contrast of casual with elegance is the signature facet.
A quintessential example of this can be seen in the table setting, where I’ve mixed silver flatware patterns that I’ve recently acquired. Much like I enjoy mixing vintage china, the intermingling of silver patterns gives personality to my styling.
So what is the one last piece of the puzzle I still want to revamp? I’ll leave that one for another day… 😉
Now, if someone could just tell me the answer to something that’s been driving me crazy, I would be ever-so-grateful. Should the word “country” be capitalized in French Country? Please let me know in the comments below!
(Updated to add: I have since painted the two dark pieces of furniture. To see those 2 updates visit painted sideboard and painted dining room cabinet.)
More Dining Room Decor
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What a lovely evolution! Beautiful tablesetting, and I love your dining table. The juxtaposition of that warm wood against all the neutrals makes them all sing. You have a truly lovely home. Thanks for sharing!
Thank you so much for your kind words!
It’s very beautiful. While your new drapes are simpler and less formal than the old ones, the switch to a restrained color palette and the simple white covers on the chairs, rather than the checks, makes the room both more classic and more modern at the same time.
Thank you!! I was hoping that would be the effect… 🙂
That’s biffet and mirror though! ? I say it should be capitalized. Because it’s part of the name. I have a question jay had been bugging me. Maybe you could even do a blog on the answer. What is the difference between French Country and Country French?
Haha! I don’t think there’s any difference between French Country and Country French… 😉 The thing is, farmhouse isn’t capitalized, so why would french country be? Except that French should be capitalized. And then it feels weird to not capitalize country.
Yes, French Country should be in caps.
Thanks! So both words? What if it’s Modern French Country?
Yes, I think it should be capped, Country, because you are using it in a descriptive title.
Your beautiful dining room has moved from classy to CLASSY..and yes, all 3 words in caps.
Haha, thanks!! Great comment… 🙂
I love the evolution! The soft whites help create such an elegant space. Nice look and post!
Retired English teacher (me) says yes you capitalize both because it is a name. I love the updates!?
Thanks so much! I was waiting for an English teach to weigh in!! 🙂
I think I would capitalize the “c” in Country. Your rooms are beautiful.
LOVE your dining room so much now Lory – it’s perfect! And no, “country” should not be capitalized but “French” should! (I love that you care about that;)
Sheila
xo
Hi Lory! Love the transformation of your living room… sigh! I can’t help you with the French Country dilemna as I think the same thing whenever I am writing, too. Glad that someone above said it should be capitalized!! I’ll go with that answer. 🙂
Happy redecorating ~ love the new look,
Hugs,
Barb 🙂
Room color is divine. Caps.
Thanks!!
BTW, which paint company? And I am noticing chair rails at 4’. We are installing some and I was wondering what you thought about it. Thanks!
The paint company is Benjamin Moore. The chair rails were there when we moved in. I’m fine with them, but I do love more interesting moulding like board and batten. Thinking of that for a smaller room.
Seems like a consensus already, but all the first letters should be caps. You’d never see Shabby chic, right?? Everything is so pretty! Did you show the old rug? Looks like the same rug on all the pictures I see. Thinking about replacing mine too. Thanks for the inspiration.
Thanks, Donna! The old rug is in this post: https://designthusiasm.com/transformed-dining-room/ But I haven’t shown yet where I moved it to… 😉 As for caps, I’m still not sure. It does feel like it should be capitalized, and I can accept the explanation that it’s a title, but then why isn’t farmhouse capitalized? As for Shabby Chic, that’s the name of a company so it’s capitalized, but when referring to the style, it’s actually not always capitalized. You see ‘shabby chic’ all the time, much like farmhouse. With French Country, the complication comes in because French needs to be capitalized.
Beautiful rooms and love your butlers pantry. I have room for one if I redo the old closet. It should be French Country.
Thank you! We really enjoy it. So glad we did it… 🙂
What company makes the cane back chair at the head of the dining room table?
Those are antique. I found them on ebay.