Rustic simplicity that is unpretentious, friendly and welcoming is the mainstay of country home decor. Typically made by craftspeople, country styled furniture has a sturdy, dependable look. Though flexible enough to include handmade pieces, natural materials, reproductions and timeworn antiques, country styled furniture will rarely use delicate designs or have a formal appearance.

Buying one style of country furniture for your whole house is an easy, safe and time-saving option. While you are unlikely to make a decorating gaffe, the very coordinated sameness of every room can get boring after a while. Better to decorate every room with a mix and match of complementary country-styled furniture.

When looking for furniture for your country styled home, it’s best to focus on certain distinct country characteristics.

Wood is good. It is the staple of country styled decor. Hand-carved country furniture made of wood such as maple, oak, pine, walnut, cherry, hickory and exotic woods can fill every room with welcoming warmth. Look for furniture that is at least partly made of wood in combination with other natural materials such as wicker, straw cane.

Rustic, country styled furniture is typically plain and simple with straight lines, round knobs and plenty of chips and scratches that impart a certain character to every piece. The wood can be stained or natural, but is very rarely or never glossed to a high sheen.

Country-styled furniture is seldom made with synthetic, man-made materials and garish colors and glass tables, modern shiny metals or highly polished surfaces are rarely seen.

Here are few suggestions for giving each room in your house an inviting country look

Bedroom

Set the tone for your country-styled bedroom with a beautiful four-poster, canopy bed and complete the look with rustic wardrobes and smaller pieces of furniture in traditional shapes and materials. If your bedroom is on the smaller side, keep other furniture to a minimum.

Kitchen

Classic country kitchen decor includes kitchen cabinets made of natural materials, aged surfaces and round or ceramic knobs. Kitchen cabinets in natural-finished or painted pine add cozy rustic warmth to any kitchen. Pine cabinets with a distressed color finish can add distinctive beauty to any country kitchen, whereas antique reproduction cabinets add old-world charm.

Living room

Country style living room furniture exudes warmth and relaxation. Splurge on one or two eye-catching pieces; it could be a stunning centre table or a magnificent sofa set in a romantic country style or a seriously rustic country style. A grandfather chair is a charming addition and adds timeless grace to any country styled living room.

If you are looking at French Country Decorating for your bedroom then there are few things that need to be considered to ensure that the finished look is right.

Firstly you need to look at style and colour. Most French Country Decorating designs are set against a background of whitewashed woodwork and are able to co-ordinate with a wide palette of colours. For a bedroom flowers and toile patterns can be used effectively. Where ever possible you should use materials that are luxurious to the touch, look at adding some traditional French lace if at all possible to the design or even some brocade may be included within the design as well.

If you like a bit of color, you could consider some light blue or light green walls or even a golden color. The key is to make it look faded or white washed as if it is antique. Match the colors in your patterns to the walls, curtains, rugs and accessories. Adding some antique accessories around the room with “chippy paint” will help to give it an authentic look for the French Countryside. Although these type of accessories are in demand today, you can still buy them at fairly reasonable prices in local antique markets and even some thrift or consignment stores.

Next we need to look at windows and lighting. For a more authentic French Country style the windows should look lovely with the use of soft sheers and tailored curtains and drapes preferably ones that will softly fold on to the floor to add that extra hint of luxury (so don’t go for short curtains). It is important to include decorative tiebacks, valances and swags in your French Country Decoration design. The lighting to the room should be ornate with the lamps (Tiffany style seems to suit this kind of design well) and which also help to accentuate the walls and fabrics in the room as well.

It is important that the furniture used in a French Country Bedroom decoration should be a few pieces which have been either wood stained or colour painted to help ground the room and make everything sit in perfect harmony with each other. Certainly a French Country style bedroom should be decorated using the most luxurious toile or floral bedding that you can afford as well as a ornate and gorgeous bed along with shabby chic furniture. Remember a French Country style bedroom should ensure that you are surrounded by beauty and style as you sleep.

But at the end of the day it does not matter whether you go for the country or contemporary look, what you really want to do is design a room that displays your taste and style.