One of the most difficult tasks even for an experienced gardener is to decorate the entire summer cottage in the same style. This requires not only a creative approach, but also pedantry, diligence and a responsible approach to business.
A garden made in the Provencal style will be a difficult task for a home designer, but with the right approach to design and knowledge of the peculiarities of the style, the site will sooner or later acquire a completely recognizable look of the French province, charming, incomparable, evoking aching nostalgic feelings.
Provence at the dacha
What should be in a French garden?
Provence has its own characteristic, well-recognized features:
- Spices;
- Orchard;
- Plants of pink and blue colors and shades;
- Natural stone masonry;
- Antique Country Style Outdoor Furniture;
- Paths and paths paved with stone;
- Wall or walls painted in light colors;
- Antique gazebos;
The exterior of the house or garden house should correspond to a simple, rustic style.
French Provence style
Provence at the dacha
Landscape design ideas in Provence style
Flower drawings
Floral designs perfectly convey the mood of the Provence region. They can be painted on the fence, on plant pots, inside the house. The floral theme can be repeated in the paintings. Lavender is traditionally depicted. The main thing is not to overdo it with such designs: excess will create unnecessary diversity and make the design oversaturated.
What plants to choose for a garden a la Provence?
A garden properly decorated in the Province style can be easily recognized by its smell. This is facilitated by flower beds planted with Provencal herbs, which emit a characteristic, so well recognizable aroma. Unusual for us, but quite standard for France, will be a combination of herbs and vegetables.
Rosemary, thyme, zucchini, pumpkin, sage and lavender can coexist perfectly in one flowerbed. You can't do without lavender at all. The fact is that the smell of lavender and its flowers should prevail in such a garden.
Flowerbed in Provencal style
Country design in Provence style
The main colors of France are pink and blue, the cultures themselves are not of paramount importance, the main preference is given to the color palette. It is advisable to enclose flower beds in the Provence style with natural stone; it is better if the border is made of stone masonry.
Install a fountain
The south of France is characterized by dry weather. To have a source of constant coolness at their disposal, residents of Provence often install fountains in their gardens. Why don't you use this idea too? In our latitudes, the fountain will serve more as a decoration than as an important functional addition to the site. This means that the main thing you will need to take care of when thinking about the concept and planning the installation is the appearance of the fountain.
- Types of decorative fountains for the garden - learning the basics
Do you want to make your summer cottage unique and more attractive? Place a fountain on the premises.
What to pave paths near Provence with?
And here preference is given to natural stone. Provence involves crooked and winding, deliberately rough paths and paths. An ordinary river stone will achieve the best results.
The main thing is to thoughtfully mark out the complex shape of a path or path, prepare the base and carefully fasten the prepared stone with cement mortar. Such a French path will look appropriate in the overall style and will last for many years. You see an example in the photo.
What furniture to furnish the garden in French style?
Most likely, this moment will be the easiest for those who have a private house inherited from their parents. In such a house there will definitely be a corner with old furniture that is quite suitable for decoration purposes.
If there is furniture, but it doesn’t quite fit the style of an archaic French village, then it can be aged with improvised means and given the rough appearance of untreated wood.
In addition to the furniture itself, it would be logical to use various antique or artificially aged wooden objects. Various barrels, tubs, and garden carts are perfect.
Provence style cuisine: 5 steps to France
Where else can a housewife express herself if not in the kitchen? This is where Provence expresses itself fully, allowing you to experiment with color, decor, and materials. Thanks to this style, it is possible to create a real rustic kitchen in a country house. And then the dream of returning to the village, as in childhood, will come true very soon.
Kitchen in blue tones
In the kitchen, Provence pays attention to 5 important details: ceiling, floor, walls, furniture and decor.
How to decorate a country house in Provencal style?
One of the most traumatic moments for a person who built a garden house with his own hands is to fit it into the Provence style, which means radically changing the exterior of the building.
This point is fundamental, because if the entire site is decorated in the same style, and the house does not undergo corresponding changes, then all the work will be meaningless. The house will take on the appearance of an alien spot against the background of the changed landscape and will simply spoil the overall impression.
In order to fit the building into the general style, it is necessary to remember that the French outback is mainly an unpainted rough board, and if painted, then in light colors and certainly with a brush, leaving specific marks.
Ceiling
Since we are already talking about low ceilings, we need to note some of their features. So, ceiling beams are mandatory for Provence. This is the characteristic feature that unmistakably helps distinguish country from shabby chic. The second nuance is texture. If you choose plaster, then it should be done slightly carelessly.
One should get the impression that it was repaired several times, moreover, hastily and without any claims to quality. But you can even line the ceiling with wood.
Well, the third problem is the correct painting.
- Firstly, even all wooden parts should be coated with white paint.
- And secondly, this should be done not with a roller, and certainly not with a spray gun, but with an ordinary wide brush, so that later you can easily see the strokes.
And yes, we almost forgot. Stretch ceilings that are fashionable today and Provence are incompatible things.
Well, this is how everything we said looks like in practice.
Clay utensils and accessories
If there is such an opportunity, then it is worth using clay pots of different shapes and sizes and a variety of flower pots in the decoration. It will be visually very cool to combine huge and tiny pots in one place in a deliberately cluttered cluster. It is worth planting in such containers some of the plants and herbs that have a characteristic spicy smell, because pots are usually used to decorate the most visited places, which means that the smell of the French province will intensify.
More stone
Rough natural stone, massive and irregularly shaped, fits perfectly into the exterior of any corner of the garden in the Provence style. A wall made of such stone would be very appropriate. It can be unfinished or half-destroyed, entwined with plants and its shadow covering flowers and herbs from the hot rays of the sun and wind.
Selection of decorative elements, textiles
Country style and, accordingly, Provence “loves” high-quality, natural fabrics (linen, silk, cotton, muslin, chintz). Drawings are preferably plant-based, for example, flowers. Such prints are ideal for decorative pillows, light curtains, and tablecloths. The windows are decorated with tulle with interceptions, ruffles, and tassels. The bedroom is covered with quilts. Do-it-yourself elements will fit perfectly into the interior. Lampshades, floor lamps, and floor lamps can be decorated with fabric inserts with a floral print.
When choosing textiles, give preference to natural fabrics - cotton, linen, silk or chintz
The right mood in the room is created by an abundance of all kinds of decor, many of the elements of which can be made with your own hands
The walls are decorated with paintings depicting nature and rural life. Place small wicker baskets, candlesticks, several lace napkins, and ceramic dishes on the shelves and table. Mirrors are hung in wrought iron frames. In the village you cannot do without flowers in pots and cache-pots, and there is a herbarium on the wall.
See alsoThe concept of architecture and interior design of residential interiors
A gazebo that will decorate any cottage
A gazebo or pergola is an integral part of a garden decorated in the style of provincial France. The only condition is a rough, almost brutal style, light colors. A wooden gazebo in French represents only a temporary shelter from the scorching rays of the sun and nothing more.
