5 Affordable Room Makeovers: How to Modernize French Country Decor

In this post: If you’re looking to update your home without spending a fortune, these room makeovers will show you how to modernize your French country decor.⇒

When was the last time you changed your hair style?

If you’re one of those people who has been wearing your hair the same way for as long as you can remember, then I’m guessing you haven’t changed your decorating style much either.

When we first got married, I went through countless home decor styles that spanned a pretty broad array of looks, from ultra contemporary to bold southwestern, culminating in the purchase of a pretty expensive piece of furniture that was ‘you-can’t-miss-it’ turquoise. I believe I was trying these styles on for size, but eventually I discovered my love of French Country and felt absolutely certain this was my true style. As it turns out, French influenced decor remains my true style, but over the years it has nonetheless evolved.

This past year I took a look at several of my rooms with fresh eyes and gave each of them a makeover, modernizing them while still adhering to a French aesthetic. Below you will find the before and after photos of these 5 rooms with links to the posts that detail the updates.

Because this post is about affordable room makeovers, I did not include the more involved renovations such as our master bath or our kitchen. While I did find ways to save money with those remodels, they were the rooms we spent the most on. Instead, the room refreshes you’ll find below were often achieved with little more than paint, accessories and a minor piece of furniture or two.

Living Room

Our living room started out with dusty pale colors, mostly pulled from the aubusson rug and needlepoint pillows. The pale yellow walls and bronze silk drapery panels added warmth to the room, but along with the sprays of faux florals, they began to look dated.

I kept in place almost all of the furniture, moved in a tufted bench from another room and concentrated most of my effort on updating the paint, draperies, lighting and artwork. You can find the details here: LIVING ROOM UPDATE (as well as links to the products below each of the rooms.)

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Dining Room

Perhaps the room with the most transformative change, the dining room is also my favorite makeover. But much like the living room, almost all of the furniture remained in place. I did add 2 chairs at the ends of the table, but most of the modifications were accomplished with accessories. Sconces, chandelier, paint, drapery panels, rug and decorative pieces did most of the work. New chair slipcovers also made a very affordable difference. Find the full post here: DINING ROOM UPDATE

Family Room

The changes we made to the family room were a bit less dramatic, although in person it feels a lot more significant. Again, the walls received a neutral coat of paint, floral pillows were swapped out for tonal linen and velvet and most importantly, the coffee table was replaced with a more sophisticated piece. (It’s actually a whole lot more obvious without the fall decor mixed in, so I’ll have to reshoot this one soon.) For the detailed post click here: FAMILY ROOM UPDATE

Breakfast Room

The one room that was changed by substituting all of the furniture was the breakfast room, mainly because that is all that is in the room. A new whitewashed farmhouse table and mix and match French chairs definitely brought to the room a complete metamorphosis. The new floor was part of the kitchen renovation. Find the breakfast room post here: BREAKFAST ROOM UPDATE

Master Bedroom

Another one of my favorite revamps is the master bedroom. I had never felt this room was done to my liking and so I kept all of the furniture except I replaced the bed, then highlighted the new look with all white bedding and added some gilded accessories and crystal lamps. You can explore the room details here: MASTER BEDROOM UPDATE

These 5 rooms have made a huge difference in the feel of our home. My beloved antiques are still at home with this new style, yet it feels a lot less dated to me. 

The turquoise armoire is long gone after going through several iterations. Now perhaps I should take a good long look in one of my French gilded mirrors and check to see if I need a new hair style!

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