Classic French Style
Four Seasons Suite at Hotel George V Paris, photo by Four Seasons
A bit of history
Classic French Interiors, with their wall paneling, tall windows and ceiling moldings take their roots in the Baroque period which developed during the 1600s. At the time, this style was known for the luxurious use of fabrics, painted leather wall hangings, and rich carving, gilding and exotic plasterwork ceilings which were often painted. Good examples of Baroque Style are the palace at Versailles and the Vaux-le-Vicomte Château, to the south-east of Paris.
Obviously (luckily?!) the Baroque style has, over the centuries, since been distilled to a lighter, less showy style. I’m going to call this style ‘Classic French’. It’s classy, it’s elegant, it’s what we think of when we think of Haussmannian apartments in Paris, upmarket hotels all over France and many, many châteaux!
In order to give a complete vision of this style, and to help you create this look at home, I’ve broken down the look into its different composant parts. Now, of course you can choose just how authentic you want to be! You can go very classic and use pastel colors, real antiques/ very good copies with damask upholstery. Or you can take the different parts and play with them to modernize the style while still keeping strong references to the original style. Below is a list relative to a sitting room, but obviously it can be adapted to the other rooms in your home.
Walls
First of all, ceiling height is important to the Classic French interior. In Haussmannian apartments in Paris, the lowest ceiling height you’ll find is 270cm tall, which is just under 9 feet high. Now depending on where you live, this might not be the case, and there’s not much you can do about that! You can cheat a bit by giving a feeling of height - a white ceiling, for example, will make the room feel taller, as will full length drapes.
Also, at the base of the walls there is always a skirting or base board, in proportion to the height of the room. So for a 9 foot high ceiling, you could have a 4 to 6” baseboard. A rounded top, for example, fits well with this style. This will make it feel more elegant and better finished than a square edge. But avoid too much carving as the detail will distract the eye from the other parts of the room.
Walls in the Classic French style traditionally have wooden moldings on them. Generally there is a ‘dado’ or chair rail which is a continuous horizontal decorative molding which divides the walls into an upper and lower part. The height of the dado rail should be placed depending on the height of the room - a good equation is to divide the room height by 5 then multiply by 2 to get the right height. The height of the dado rail should also take into account other features such as windows, mirrors or art work that the rail will run under. It’s ok to have dado rails at different heights in different rooms, as long as it’s at the same height for one closed space. So for a room with two levels, find a good compromise!
Other paneling can be below and above the dado rail. These panels can easily be created by sticking (or nailing) lengths of molding onto the wall to create frames. A good rule of thumb is to leave 12cm or 4.7” between: the skirting board and the bottom of the frame, the top of the frame and the dado rail, between the frame and the wall and between each frame. Often, there is paneling below the dado rail, but not above it. This lightens the effect and makes it easier to hang pictures as you are not constrained by having frames above the dado rail.
In terms of colors, you can either go down the pastel or the intense color route. The wall moldings and baseboard can be picked out to highlight them in a lighter or darker shade or a contrasting color. The wall moldings can also be picked out with gold paint if you want a more Baroque look.
There are also some wallpapers which give a very realistic impression of wall paneling - just make sure that the different frames line up exactly when it’s put up!
Doors and windows
Originally, in the 16th century, homes were one room deep, with the courtyard on one side and the gardens on the other. So, to access a room, you had to go through the other rooms before it, which seriously limited privacy! It was actually Le Vau, the architect at Vaux-le-Vicomte, who changed the layout by placing rooms beside each other rather than on top. Le Vau invented the ‘hipped roof’ as the usual steep two sided roof would not cover this, now wider, space.
In any case, the layout of having rooms leading into each other (‘en enfilade’) continues to this day. So doors are very important to the Classic French decorating style. They are also paneled usually with 4 frames, two longer on the top, but no dado rail! Often the doors are double doors (at the time, court dresses were particularly wide!) - but obviously we have to work with what we’ve got. There is often a molding frame above the door to complete the decoration, if there are upper molding frames on the rest of the wall.
Windows are central to creating this look. Traditionally, they are tall, floor to ceiling (or nearly), but, again, unless you are constructing a new home, we have to work with what is there already. You can install moldings around windows to make them stand out more - even though they will most likely be hidden by drapes.
Door and window handles are either gilt with a horizontal handle which you can wrap your fingers and palm around. Or they can be white porcelain ‘olivettes’ - smooth oval handles. Not always the easiest to manipulate, but very pretty and certainly typically French!
Fireplace
Even if it’s not a functioning fireplace, installing a marble mantel creates a lovely focal point in a Classic French room (rather than a television, for example). Complete the look with a large gilt mirror on the wall above it.
Ceiling
As mentioned above, ceilings in this style are very high. If that’s not the case in your home, you can create the illusion of height with a white / light coloured ceiling, full-length drapes and anything creating an illusion of verticality.
Of course, cornices and ceiling roses are central to this look. The cornices can be either detailed with flowers, leaves or fruit or they can be quite plain with different depths of lines. It is quite easy to install polystyrene cornices by gluing them on! Just make sure the angles for the corners are cut right. The same thing applies for ceiling roses.
Naturally, a chandelier looks just right for this classic style. If you want to modernize the style, there are more modern chandeliers that work well too. If you have high ceilings, a hanging feature light will suit here, if your ceilings are lower, probably best to keep the light fixture close to the ceiling.
Floor
Traditionally, French salons would of course have wooden parquet floorboards. These would usually be honey coloured and have a high polish shiny varnish finish. If you are looking for a more modern look, a darker color with a matte finish looks great too.
The layout of the floorboards can be pointe de hongrie, batons rompus, straight lengths or even a repetitive square design, like in the reception rooms at Versailles. Pointe de hongrie would be the most traditional way to lay the parquet, batons rompus gives a more modern look as do long wide lengths.
Rugs are used to soften and warm up the look. They would have been flat woven traditionally, but nowadays they can also be short piled. For a more contemporary look, a long pile rug could work and give a contrast in texture. As in today’s decoration, rugs are often used to group and ground furniture for a specific function in a room. For example, you might place a desk and chair on a rug - the rug here defines the desk area.
Furniture
The important thing to remember about traditional furniture in this style is that it has a lighter look and feel than much of our contemporary furniture. Furniture is generally low - up to counter height (about 3 foot) so that the volumes of the room can be seen at one time, and that art can be displayed on the walls above the furniture.
Bergères are wooden framed, comfortable armchairs with upholstered seats, backs, and fore-arm rests.The sofas are also wooden framed with upholstered seats, backs, and fore-arm rests. They can be for two, three, and even four people.
These seats are traditionally upholstered with damask fabrics, the wooden structure can be gilded. Velvet upholstery can provide a textural contrast and added richness of color.
As well as the seating, there are many tables which add to the visual interest of this style. The tables often have fine, curved legs which add to the sense of lightness. They are usually made of dark varnished wood, with gilt drawer handles and detailing. These tables sometimes have inlaid wood marquetry designs depicting flowers.
There can be coffee tables, round side tables with lamps on them, console tables (either behind a sofa or against the wall). The bureau is a desk with drawers on either side. A commode is a chest of drawers on short legs, with generally three or four drawers, a rounded front and often a marble top.
Window Treatments
The traditional window treatments for this style are thick, full-length luxurious drapes. They are thick as there was obviously no heating in the châteaux when this style first became popular. Damask is often used to create a feeling of luxury, velvet also achieves this effect and adds texture. A lighter alternative is washed linen which also lets daylight filter through and lightens the effect. Drapes are often held back with decorative hooks attached to the wall or with ornate ‘ropes’ with tassels.
Lighting
As mentioned above, the ceiling rose in a Classic French interior is just calling out for a central chandelier - more for decoration than actual lighting. Wall sconces shaped like candle holders are another type of light used in this style. Table lamps with fabric shades are also used more for ambient lighting - they create more of a cosy, intimate atmosphere.
Accessories
In this style the accessories are also very important. Traditionally, vases with real, dried or fake flowers are often featured. Vases can also be used as decoration on shelves. Sculptures on shelves or tall floor sculptures can add atmosphere and classical references. Small, wooden marquetry or porcelain boxes look great on coffee and side tables. And obviously any coffee table books about Paris, French architecture, exhibitions and châteaux are a must!
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