Posts Tagged ‘French Furniture’

French Furniture Can Be An Ideal Wedding Present…

Wednesday, December 1st, 2010

When you’re looking for spectacular wedding presents, it can be very difficult to find something when they’ve been together for a long time. Gone are the days when weddings signal the first days of people living together, now they are more likely to be a culmination of many years in each other’scompany and often sharing a house or flat. This means that many of the traditional wedding gifts, such as linen, crockery and silvers, are no longer as needed by the couple as they once were.

The perfect wedding

The perfect wedding

While this may make you reluctant to think about choosing gifts for the home, you could instead think of it as an opportunity not to stock their home with essentials, but to add beautiful pieces of furniture and gorgeous fixtures into the mix. There are some items of furniture that are especially perfectas wedding presents, for example, sensuous bedroom furniture like beds, bedside tables, French screens or antique mirrors. Gifts such as these are sure to hit the perfect note for sophisticated couples and are the kind of thing that they will be able to enjoy for a long time.

French furniture, both antiques and reproductions of great designs, is a particularly good choice for a wedding present, as the country is well known for its romantic ties. Whether you choose practical yet stylish pieces such as French blanket boxes and furniture for the bathroom or you decide to plump for more exotic choices such as some exquisite French lamps or chandeliers, you’re sure to find something to out a smile on the face of the happy couple.

On the other hand, if you’re worried about choosing French furniture for their home because you’re not sure if they’d welcome new pieces, why not have a think about their garden? With everything from garden tables, chairs and benches to ornate birdbaths and feeders or pretty accessories, there’s a huge range of inspiring garden pieces out there to be enjoyed. One of the best things about choosing presents such as these for wedding days is the fact that they will have some practical used and it’s likely that they will be enjoyed by the special couple every day. What’s more, things such as items of French furniture are the kind of presents who could gain value over time or alternatively have the potential to bepassed down and even become a family heirloom one of these days – making them a particularly wonderful wedding gift.

Why is French Furniture So Appealing?…

Wednesday, November 17th, 2010

Everyone’s home needs redecorating once in a while, but trying to decide how to do it and what style to go for can be very difficult indeed. Certain types of furniture come from specific countries, and there is no doubt that French style furniture is loved by lots of people. Why is this so?  What is it about French furniture that makes it sodesirable in many homes?

La Rochelle Black

La Rochelle Black

One major benefit of going for a French theme is that it will work in many rooms of your home. For example you can have a nice rustic kitchen that makes you feel as if you are in a large farmhouse somewhere in rural France. Or how about designing a boudoir that the most romantic French person would be proud of? One thing is for certain – you can use plenty of ideas and lots of inspirational input from the wide range of French furniture on the market today.

A rustic look often typifies the French feel in certain rooms of your home. Don’t fall under them is apprehension that this is all you can go for. The key thing to note about the French style is a feeling of time and history. Many of the items of furniture that fall into this category are classically good looking. They almost look as if they could have been used by Marie Antoinette or other people who lived two or three centuries ago. It is this aged feel that is seen in many classic French furniture items, and it provides a refreshing contrast to the ultra modern furniture we so often see nowadays.

Another good point to note is that you can still get matching sets of items when you opt for French furniture instead of other styles. So for example if you wish to create a French-styled bedroom you can buy a matching bedstead, dressing table, wardrobe and chest of drawers as well. When you couple these with complementary decoration and accessories, you can create a stunning refuge to retreat to on a nightly basis. It is small wonder that so many people love this style of furniture.

There are lots of ways you can accessorise this type of furniture too. Consider buying a screen for example to hide some clutter, or perhaps some cushions or stylish baskets to use as well. There are plenty of options here to create the ideal space that appeals and has a certain age about it. There is no doubt that chic furniture has found an eager audience. With so many attractive items of furniture to choose from for each room in your home, the hardest part of going with this style is choosing the furniture that will fulfil your needs. Of course, your desire to have an attractive home that really catches the eye.

Enhance Your Rooms With Mirrored Furniture…

Wednesday, November 10th, 2010

Romano Mirrored Wardrobe

Fitting mirrored furniture in your home can instantaneously transform your rooms, giving them a more stylish and spacious look compared to traditional surfaces. The reflective properties of mirrors can be used to great effect to create a more expansive environment, and by choosing the location of mirrored furniture carefully – positioning furniture to reflect daylight from windows or the soothing glow of table lamps - you can effectively control the level of lighting in your bedroom and other living areas.

There are many things to consider when choosing the ideal mirror furniture for your property, as not all rooms will benefit from the effects equally. Buying sub-standard or older mirror furniture couldalso lead to problems with cleaning and other maintenance tasks, as lower quality mirror glass can become stained by smoke or easily scratched. However, by taking caution to buy good quality mirror furniture with no sharp edges and a rich texture, you can make significant changes to the look and feel of your property.

Mirror furniture is available in a wide variety of styles and colours, and it’s important to choose furniture items that blend well with your existing style. Modern and retro designs will not be so well suited to more traditional rooms, and likewise classic Venetian mirror furniture could look out of place if your room is otherwise practical and sparse.

Romano Mirrored Bedside

Romano Mirrored Bedside

If you do favour traditional mirrored furniture in the classic French style, it’s usually advisable to avoid buying antiques; while period pieces may carry a sense of nostalgia and antiquity, old mirrors are likely to have lost most of their reflective qualities and will not brighten your room as much as new products. Mirror furniture has come a long way since its beginnings in the decadent court of King Louis XVI, and the diversity of products available for all rooms of the house means you could kit out your entire property with strategically placed mirrors to enhance its most attractive features.

That’s because mirror furniture can mean more than just wardrobes and cabinets, though these are still some of the most effective items to add depth to your rooms. Smaller bedside chests and coffee tables can be effective ways to bring a mirror into your bedroom so that you don’t have to visit the bathroom to check your reflection, and can double the light given off by bedside lamps without adding anything to your heating bills, if positioned to reflect optimum radiance.

Give Your Home A Stylish Makeover With Antique French Furniture…

Wednesday, November 3rd, 2010

French furniture continues to set the standard for elegance in properties, from ornate wooden tables and chairs, perfect for hosting classy dinner parties, to bedroom furniture fit for a Parisian king. You no longer have to be royal to benefit from beautiful furnishings, with French furniture in the classic style available to give exquisite flair to every room in your house – from the lounge to the conservatory.

With a rich cultural heritage underlying the various types of furniture produced by the nation, the term ‘French furniture’ can be misleadingly broad – there is no single style of French furniture, but rather an assortment of distinctive regional varieties. The Parisian style is perhaps the best known,expanding beyond the capital in the late 17th century to become a standard in many other European countries before reaching British shores. While the mechanics of the Industrial Revolution diminished its popularity in favour of furniture that was cheaper and more convenient to produce, the ornate stylings and durable materials of Parisian furniture have seen the style remain a top choice for luxury furnishings.

More decadent still is the tradition of French royal furniture, popularised in the beautiful Palace of Versailles where silver smiths fashioned such eye-catching furnishings as those in the Galerie desGlaces. That’s not to ignore the achievements of provincial master craftsmen in towns such as Lyonand Liège, however, whose efforts helped to bring artistic French furniture out of the domain of therich and privileged to the masses.

La Rochelle Furniture

Still a hallmark of elegance, you can find French furniture suitable for all rooms in your home – from public areas such as the lounge, which canbe transformed with fashionable cabinets and coffee tables, to the private abode of the bedroom,where a French four poster bed could bring all the luxury of a high-class suite into your daily life. Your garden can even benefit from a fancy French makeover, replacing cheap or unfashionable garden chairs and tables with something classier to show the neighbours your impressive sense of style. Another area you might wish to explore to enhance your property is French mirrors, which can add depth and light to your home and make eye-catching additions to any hallway. From convenient table mirrors to larger cast iron mirrors to bring true Venetian style to your rooms, French mirrors can beused to great effect to complement your other stylish furniture, cast in the inimitable French mould.

Make a house a home – with French furniture

Monday, June 14th, 2010

Home, as the saying goes, is where the heart is. Home is also where many people invest months – or even years – turning it from a mere ‘bricks and mortar’ house, into a comfortable, personalised dwelling.

French Style Bedroom

French Style Bedroom

As such, home is a place of refuge for many people, a sanctuary from the big wide world outside, somewhere to relax, unwind and spend quality time with their loved ones. It’s for this reason that so many people take a great deal of care in selecting the right furniture, decor, appliances and general layout – a home is a reflection of someone’s taste and personal preferences and for many, it all begins in the bedroom.

The bedroom offers even more personalised space within the wider home, so in a shared abode, people can disappear to their own room for some time to themselves. This is why many people take a great deal of care making their bedroom the star attraction of their home. So where to start?

Well, for that extra special touch of class, you could do a lot worse than bring a little French elegance into the bedroom. Taking centre stage, the iconic French dressing table can take any home to the next level in terms of chic, with a hand-carved antique dressing table with mirror and French stool bringing both function and class to any bedroom.

Naturally, any bedroom needs a bed. To complement the exquisite French dressing table, what better way to lay your head down to rest than with a black antique French bed, with delicate wood carvings and an antique finish?

For the classiest of French bedrooms, you could go all out with a French bedside table, chest of drawers, wardrobe, cheval mirror and console table. The icing on the cake might just be a blanket box, screen and a French mannequin. Now, a mannequin may seem like a step too far for those with more of a leaning towards functionality, but anyone seeking a classic French feel – like something straight from the set of Luis Buñuel’s classic ‘Belle de jour’ – might just want to go that extra step to complete the look.

French bedroom furniture can take many forms, so whether you are a modernist with a penchant for all things contemporary, or have one foot firmly in the 1920s, you will be able to find a style to suit your tastes.

New iPhone 4 – good or bad!

Tuesday, June 8th, 2010

Remember when we wrote about the new Apple iPad and how it would help making shopping for French furniture online even easier? Well Apple obviously wanted to make it an even better experience for you guys, and have brought out a new version of the iPhone, the iPhone 4 !

iPhone 4

iPhone 4

The new iPhone 4 apparently has a much better quality screen, meaning you can access our website and check out the array of products online even better than before! There are some new features besides that but that’s really all we are concerned with! And with the new phone being slimmer it’s now even easier to carry around and have access to the Internet (and Homes Direct 365) even more than before!

For more insightful updates from Homes Direct 365 like this one, don’t forget to follow us on Twitter and Facebook for the latest news, reviews and offers! Plus we have the new website coming soon!

French furniture – In or Out?

Thursday, May 27th, 2010

As you know at Homes Direct 365 we love French furniture: it’s unique, stylish, elegant and embodies the European culture that we’re known around the world for. But that’s us. We’d love to know what you think?

French bedroom furniture can bring an elegance and a romantic touch to your ‘boudoir’ (AKA French boudoir!) then we think there’s nothing better than a luxurious French bed, surrounded by matching French furniture, all hand crafted and distinguished…

But then again, we are not you! Tell us what you think, we’d love to know!

Time to sit in the conservatory again!

Tuesday, April 27th, 2010

Now the sunshine is out, our once cold in the winter conservatories are now lovely bubbles of heat in our homes, letting us enjoy the sunshine when it may not be warm enough to actually sit outside and enjoy it yet! Conservatories let the sun shine in, trap in the heat and let us get ourselves ready for the summer months!

Terrariums Pair

Terrariums Pair

In your sunshine haven, why not add the same touch of class that you have throughout the rest of your home… at Homes Direct 365 we have some wonderful conservatory furniture… we have some lovely Terrariums in stock, in pairs and on their own. Or why not have a look at our stylish French garden furniture collections, so when you’re sat in your conservatory looking out into your sunny garden you enjoy the view?

Check out the website today to see what you can find to brighten up your summer.

Venetian Mirrors – add a touch of class to your home

Wednesday, April 21st, 2010

These days everybody seems to have the same mirrors on their walls, its getting more and more difficult to make your home stand out from the ‘norm’.

Venetian Mirror

Venetian Mirror

Homes Direct 365 not only specialise in French mirrors and furniture, but also Venetian mirrors. Venetian mirrors have developed in style over the years, and you can now find some stunning and unique styles, shapes and sizes, so there will be something perfect for any home, including yours!

Venetian Mirrors

Venetian Mirrors

Why not visit the Venetian Mirrors part of our website, and see if you can find something to style up your home! Check out the website today.

Don’t forget, if you’re on Facebook you can check out our page there, or follow us on Twitter to keep up to date with some of our latest news!

French matching ranges @ Homes Direct 365

Tuesday, April 13th, 2010

Haven’t got the time to sit and look through hundreds of pieces of furniture to match up different pieces for your room? Its something we found annoying and time consuming! Especially when you’re looking for bespoke items that are difficult to match like French furniture!

Romano Mirrored Collection

Romano Mirrored Collection

At Homes Direct we looked at this for you, and developed a French Matching Ranges section. Here you can find complete sets of furniture and matching ranges that we have available online, such as the La Rochelle Collection, Bergere Collection, Provence Collection and many more. Contemporary Bedroom Furniture Collections

If you want to have a look at our matching ranges you can see them online at our website today – don’t miss out on creating that unique French look in your home for 2010!