A French country bedroom, tried on your own room.

What makes a French country bedroom

• Soft, warm color. Cream, butter, pale blue, sage and lavender. Rarely pure white.
• Curved painted furniture. Dressers and bedside tables with shaped legs and fronts, painted and lightly distressed.
• Pattern in fabric. Florals, toile, ticking stripe or checks in cushions, quilts and curtains.
• Aged and gilded accents. A carved or gilt mirror, a small chandelier, worn brass.
• Texture on the walls. Panel molding, plaster or wainscoting in the wall color.

What to check on your own bedroom

A photo of someone else’s bedroom can’t tell you how the style sits with your light, your proportions and the things you are keeping. These are the points to look at once it is on your photo:

• How much ornament. The style goes from charming to fussy quickly. Compare a design with one statement piece against one with many.
• Paneling and ceiling detail. A design may add wall paneling or molding. Decide whether you would build it, or let furniture and fabric do the work.
• Room size. Curved furniture takes more floor than it looks. Check the walkways around the bed.

Before

After

Before and after comparison. Drag or use arrow keys to reveal more of either image.

Where it works, and where it doesn’t

It suits older houses with some detail of their own, rooms with good daylight, and bedrooms where you want softness. Much of it can be done with furniture and fabric, including secondhand pieces repainted.

It sits less easily in a very modern room with low ceilings and plain walls, where carved pieces can look like props. There, borrow the palette and one curved piece and keep the rest simple.

How to see it on your own bedroom

1. Photograph the room. Stand in the doorway in daylight and use your phone’s normal 1x lens, with the bed and the window both in frame. Make the bed first: a design follows the shapes it is given.
2. Choose the room and the style. In Remodel, pick Bedroom as the room and French Country as the style. Remodel is designed to keep the shape of the space and its windows and to change the finishes around them.
3. Run a second style on the same photo. Try Transitional next and drag the slider on each. A style is easier to judge beside another one than on its own.
4. Refine the one you keep. On a paid plan, Edit changes one thing you describe and Brush changes only the area you paint over. Designs are saved in your Library beside the original photo.

Styles to compare it with

• Transitional. The same softness with plainer furniture and no ornament.
• Shabby Chic. More distressed and more casual, with heavier use of white.
• Cottage. Simpler and more rustic. This one is included with a free account.

What a design can’t tell you

A design is a picture of a direction. It has no measurements, so it can’t tell you whether a bed, a dresser and a walkway all fit. The furniture and fabrics are a look to match, not specific products, and a design can add built-in details, such as paneling or a niche, that would be real construction. Treat those as ideas.

What it costs

On the web, French Country is one of the styles that come with every paid plan, starting with Basic at $13 a month, or $91 a year. A free account can try the same photo in Biophilic, Mid-Century Modern, Scandinavian, Minimalist, Cottage, Contemporary and Farmhouse first. Every paid plan adds Edit and Brush and unlocks all the styles and room types. The pricing page lists what each plan includes.

Common questions

What colors are French country?

Warm cream and off-white with soft blue, sage green, lavender, butter yellow and muted red, taken from the landscape of southern France.

What is the difference between French country and shabby chic?

French country is more structured, with curved furniture, florals and some gilt. Shabby chic leans on distressed white paint and a looser, more thrown-together feel.

Can French country work in a small bedroom?

Yes, with restraint: a pale palette, one curved piece such as a dresser or mirror, and pattern kept to the bedding.

Is the French Country style free to try on a bedroom?

Not this style. On the web, French Country comes with every paid plan, starting with Basic at $13 a month, or $91 a year. A free account, with starter credits and no card, can try the same bedroom photo in Biophilic, Mid-Century Modern, Scandinavian, Minimalist, Cottage, Contemporary and Farmhouse. The pricing page lists what each plan includes.