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How to Decorate a French Country Kitchen

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One of the most fashionable ways to decorate a kitchen is in the French Country style. This is a very rustic look that is reminiscent of the charm found in homes in the South of France.

To accomplish this look you will have to decorate with toile. Toile is a fabric that has pictures of the countryside of France on it. It might depict landscapes, bottles of wine, cheese and the produce of France on it as well. These motifs are a great choice for the curtains, tablecloth, chair seats and dining ware in your kitchen.

Ladder back chairs are also characteristic of this look. Make sure the table is large and rustic and that the chairs have seats made out of rush (twined water reeds.)

The colors of the French Countryside are rusts, greens, blues and golds. Keep the walls, ceiling and floors in earthy brown, creams and red colors. If you have beams running across your ceiling you are lucky because it means you would have accomplished the look. If you don’t have beams in your ceiling you can also install them.

A stone floor also compliments this look. You can get faux tile in stone like colors that can help achieve this affect. Another charachteristic of this kitchen style is roughly plastered walls. Cast iron wall sconces also look nice on a plastered wall.

Yet another characteristic of rustic French kitchens is rusted metal. Rusted metal could be found in kitchen cabinet hardware, lighting fixtures and baker racks.

French motifs in the form of scultprues, clocks and other items can be roosters, olives, sunflowers and lavender. Decorate with handmade pottery to bring the element of the French countryside to your kitchen.

It is also characteristic to hang baskets in a kitchen. These woven baskets should be large and natural looking. You can put fruit and vegetables in these baskets and use them to store cooking implements.

Copper pots and iron pots also look gorgeous in this type of kitchen. Be sure to hang them from the ceiling and on the walls to augment the look.

When planning your space, remember that the French Country is a very warm, relaxed, and informal decorating style. Stay away from anything too fussy or formal.

How to Decorate Wine Bottles

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Quite a few people enjoy collecting and decorating wine bottles. Many wine bottles are beautiful in shape and size. You can also embellish a wine bottle that you were keeping for sentimental reasons. You can also decorate either a full or empty wine bottle.

To look a collection it is nice to display the wine bottles in groupings of three to seven at once. It is nice to keep wine bottles that have the same color or that are the same type together in their own groupings. Another nice touch is to mount the wine bottles in a way that they are showcased. A shelf with a glass backing to it is a very nice idea as it also reflects and picks up the light in the bottles.

You can start by picking empty bottles and placing a wax candle into the mouth of the bottle. You then let the wax drip down as it burns. You can do this with several different colors of candles to add variety to the look of the wax drippings.

Another nice touch is to line up all the wine bottles together in a line on a window sill. This makes a nice window covering as it is difficult for others to see in. The color of the bottles also shines through them to create a nice glow in our home. One warning though – do not use full bottles of wine for this purpose as wine can be worried if it is exposed to direct sunlight.

If you really want to get spectacular about this then you can put your skills to work by making a rustic Italian –style lamp base out of a large wine bottle. You need to drill a small hole through the glass in the bottom or on the low side of the bottle. Purchase a lamp wiring kit at a home improvement store and then thread it through bottle to make a lamp base. This is a great project for anyone who is good at glass cutting.

One crafty way of decorating a wine bottle is to take chain or thin silver rope and coil it around the bottle to make ribbed designs. You can also make this chain or rope into floral or geometric shapes to give the bottle visual interest.

Finally consider using these empty wine bottles as flower vases. There is nothing prettier. Even a single bloom looks great standing up straight in a wine bottle. You can tie ribbons around the wine bottle neck to augment the effect.