- Toile fabric repeats a pattern -- usually of a couple or a pastoral scene -- and brings color and texture to your window. Toile comes in a variety of color choices, such as blue, red or yellow design with a white or cream background. Stripes and checkerboard patterns abound in French country design as does floral prints. Floral prints may be muted tones of flowers from the garden or the new bright floral linen print panels from France with corals, greens, blacks and fuchsia.
- Natural fabrics form the backbone of a French country design. Select cotton or linen for its texture and durability, while a delicate soft lace works best when used as a trim or in an under-curtain capacity. Ticking, a hardy fabric with a thick weave, hangs as a room divider curtain or drapes over a rod to the floor. Cheesecloth, a loosely woven fabric, brings privacy to a room when draped over a window or tied just underneath the pane.
- Most window treatments adapt to a French country design. A Roman shade, when made with a toile fabric, takes on a French flair, or a café curtain with a red checkboard design becomes decidedly French when paired in a window with bottom half-shutters. A bright yellow cotton panel topped with a valance of a vibrant red and white rooster on corn-yellow fabric brings the country to the window. A muted blue and white vertical striped linen panel with the bottom third in a horizontal stripe covers a muted white flower lace sheer.
- Bring the curtain treatment together by your technique. Layer the sheer curtain under a thick heavy drape trimmed with a gold embroidered thread design. A white-washed wooden cornice hides the curtain for a floral panel print-top curtain paired with a solid floor-length linen drape that puddles on the floor. Tie backs of lace, tassels and decorative buttons bring French character to the window treatment.. Mix the patterns by coordinating the colors contained in each pattern
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