We carry out the aging of furniture in the Provence style with our own hands. Do-it-yourself Provence style - universal solutions and tips for implementation (110 photos) DIY Provence style wall
Modern furniture stores offer a huge selection of furniture in a modern style. But Provence prefers to make furniture with their own hands more buyers. The reason is simple: modern style, especially its most fashionable trends like hi-tech and minimalism, not everyone likes it.
The interiors seem faceless and uncomfortable, but if you want to relax with your soul at home, then you have to choose another option. It was then that less functional and modern, but such cozy solutions in the Provence style come to the rescue.
Cozy interior Provence style houses
The Provence stylistic direction was formed in one of the provinces of France, from which it got its name. It is believed that Provence as a style was formed in the 19th century, although the first prerequisites for its emergence began to appear 200 years earlier - at a time when cities were actively developing in France.
Despite the simplicity of solutions and the "village" origin, Provence was considered elite style
Even then, some people were tired of the endless bustle of cities, and they sought, if not to change their place of residence, moving closer to nature, then at least to give their apartments and estates a rural charm. Despite the simplicity of solutions and the "rustic" origin, Provence was considered an elite style. It was in this solution that they preferred to decorate the rooms of families of lawyers and large industrialists.
The main elements of Provence are:
- openness;
- the use of only natural materials;
- light, "sunny" colors;
- ease.
Provence is characterized by some details that allow you to create the right mood in the room. First of all - a massive floor, which will only emphasize the lightness of decor elements and furniture. To create a similar effect as floor covering wood or stone is traditionally used, however, it is acceptable to use tiles with imitation of natural materials.
Furniture should look like antiques
The walls in the rooms are not covered with wallpaper. Instead, ordinary brick or stone masonry is used, inaccurately painted or plastered.
The focus in Provence is on furniture. First of all, it must be old. However, a new one is also suitable if you first do the aging of furniture in the Provence style with your own hands. In any case, the furniture should look like antiques.
As for decor items, they need to be selected very carefully and their placement carefully thought out so as not to “overdo it”. Sometimes one simple napkin is enough to give a certain mood.
What should be Provence style furniture?
As already mentioned, the Provence style dictates two basic rules regarding the furniture used: it must be made of natural materials and with forged metal decorations. Chrome-plated fittings, glass details, modern wardrobes - all this is categorically not suitable for such an interior. Therefore, it is better to purchase ready-made or make furniture in the Provence style with your own hands.
All components of the interior are traditionally kept in bright colors, less often bright colors are used.
All components of the interior are traditionally kept in bright colors, less often bright colors are used. The facades are decorated with bright drawings depicting landscapes, plants, animals or still lifes. Wicker chairs, intricate carvings, antique cabinets and chests, tables and chairs with carved legs, wrought iron cornices - all this will convey the unique atmosphere of the French province. Beds for a Provence-style bedroom require the simplest in design, but with unusual carved or forged motifs.
As for upholstered furniture, the same rules apply here as for other interior elements. The frame of armchairs and sofas is usually kept in light colors - cream or beige. And you can transform it very simply - with the help of fabric. It must be pleasant to the touch, soft, in soothing colors. Drawings with floral motifs or geometric shapes are only welcome.
Provence style bedroom bed
furniture aging techniques
There are a huge number of ways to age new furniture, so you can choose the most convenient one from them. Do-it-yourself furniture aging in the Provence style allows you to end up with interior elements that will look exactly the same as genuine antiques, but will cost much less.
Ammonia for aging furniture
All methods are divided into 3 groups:
- mechanical aging involves the artificial application of scratches, chips, cracks and abrasions on the surface of the furniture;
- with thermal, the effect of antiquity is created due to the effect of an open fire on the surface of the furniture;
- chemical involves surface treatment with stain, craquelure varnish, ammonia.
If desired, any of these methods allows you to quickly get Provence furniture with your own hands, without spending too much effort. But with any processing method, you must first prepare the furniture. This process is also not difficult - just clean the surface and remove all fittings, removable shelves and drawers to make it easier to access furniture.
Bedside table in decoupage technique
All old varnish or paint must be removed from the surface. sandpaper with small grains. Then the furniture must be carefully rubbed with paraffin, not missing a single area. You need to rub, moving along the line of wood fibers.
Then the entire surface must be covered with one or more layers of paint. Aerosol paints are well suited for this, as they allow you to evenly paint the surface, treating all the cracks and hard-to-reach places. Only then can you begin to age the surface.
Methods for aging furniture
To choose how to age the surface, you can familiarize yourself with a master class on making Provence furniture with your own hands.
Paraffin for aging furniture
In order to visually age the furniture, it will be enough to wipe the surface with a sponge after paraffin treatment and staining.
Important! It is important not to overdo it here, because if there are too many "bare" areas, the effect will not be achieved.
After such processing, it is necessary to fix the result. To do this, you need to process the furniture with one or two layers of varnish.
Another way to make Provence furniture with your own hands is to use "steel wool", which is sold in the household department. This material is also called metal wool and is intended specifically for polishing furniture.
black steel wool for furniture processing
For processing, you need black steel wool. The surface must be prepared - remove the old coating and re-coat with paint (as in the first case). Then, with metal wool, “walk” over the surface with confident movements. The result is a layer of "soot". After that, hold with a damp cloth so that part of the "soot" is partially erased, then wipe with a dry cloth. You will get beautiful "scuffs". The fittings must be processed in the same way.
An original way to get Provence-style furniture is to age it with crackle varnish. Two-component varnish must be applied in at least 2 coats with a brush with natural bristles. The more layers there are, the more cracks will result. The varnish should be left to dry for 40 minutes. You can speed up drying with a hair dryer. Cracks need to be treated with dark oil-based paint or bitumen, then apply another layer of varnish, but already ordinary.
Before decorating, sometimes it is necessary to update the appearance. old furniture. This is perfect for painting. In the same way, you can hide the “unsuitable” material for the Provence style, from which the furniture facade is made.
The Provence style is characterized by light muted tones.
If the furniture is old, then first you have to eliminate all surface imperfections. If there is already an old layer of paint, it must be removed, otherwise the surface will be uneven. In addition, the old paint will begin to crumble over time, so for a long time to please attractive appearance there will be no table (or other piece of furniture). Remove old paint with sandpaper. First you can use with larger grains, and then with smaller ones. It is better to unscrew the handles and all fittings so that you can process the area under them.
Usually, the Provence style is characterized by light muted tones - beige, cream, light gray. It is necessary to paint over facades, surfaces, corners and internal shelves very carefully, leaving no untreated areas. After the paint has dried, the surface can be covered with a layer of varnish. Let the varnish dry, and then walk with a dry cloth over the surface.
Sandpaper to remove old paint from furniture
Clean furniture handles with a steel brush, wipe well and put back in place.
If the design provides for internal drawers, then you need to put a piece of fabric in the same tone on the bottom and fix it well with glue.
Provence furniture decoupage technique
After aging, you can additionally decorate furniture in the Provence style with your own hands. Decoupage will look good on new furniture, and will add charm to the familiar old one. In order to perform all the actions, it is not necessary to have artistic abilities.
Plant motifs, pictures with pets, flower bouquets, still lifes and rural landscapes are best suited for the Provence style.
Images do not need to be drawn on your own, you can pick them up on the Internet, for example, in needlework groups, or purchase special napkins with a pattern. If the drawing is supposed to be printed, then it is better to do it on laser printer otherwise the colors will wash out.
Important! Plant motifs, pictures with pets, flower bouquets, still lifes and rural landscapes are best suited for the Provence style.
If the surface is already artificially aged, then you can immediately proceed to applying the image. If not, first prepare the surface in the usual way: remove the old paint with sandpaper, apply light paint and wait until it dries.
Decoupage will look good on new furniture, and will add charm to the familiar old one.
Let the glue dry. In the first hour after gluing, air bubbles sometimes appear. To make them smaller, before applying the glue, the pattern can be put in water for a few seconds. During gluing, the hands should also be slightly damp. Bubbles are important to notice and eliminate in time so that the drawing does not deteriorate. After that, next to the pattern, gently rub with sandpaper to make scuffs. Apply a layer of varnish on the surface, and after drying, apply powder for patination in several places. Apply 2 more coats of varnish to fix the result.
The desired decoupage effect can be achieved in another way. To do this, you need a fabric with a bright floral pattern, which you need to upholster the furniture. Complete with forged elements and stylish fittings.
Before you get to work, you need to choose a sample of the pattern and choose colors. Suitable for painting acrylic paints white and one color close to white, but darker by several tones.
First you need to paint the surface in two layers. It is necessary to paint white, and the second layer - darker.
After painting furniture in the Provence style with your own hands, you need to wait until the paint dries completely, and you can apply drawings to the facades and sides. You need to apply a sketch with a pencil, but before painting, be sure to rub the contours a little, since after painting the pencil is sometimes noticeable. Apply a layer of oil varnish on top and wait 3.5 hours. After that, apply a water-soluble varnish. If after that you blow a little hair dryer over the surface of the picture, it will turn out to be slightly smeared.
This design direction got its name in honor of the French region of the same name, located in the south of the country, near the azure coast. Representatives of the wealthy classes began to equip their estates and settle in this area from the 17th century. He attracted them with his nature, harmony and solitude, which was sorely lacking in large cities. Over time, a special style of interior design has appeared.
This direction of decor became extremely popular in Europe in the 19th century. It gives a feeling of simplicity and naturalness of country life, lack of fuss. It is no less popular now with those who want to fill their home with harmony and comfort.
Distinctive features
First of all, it combines provincial comfort with a modern level of comfort and luxury. High-quality, new interior items are antique. He reminds country style country with a touch of French sophistication.
There are several fundamental signs of interior design in this style:
- The interior decoration of the premises has a warm pastel color.
- The walls are in no case pasted over with wallpaper, but covered with light plaster. Of course, this rule is often deviated from in apartments, but at the same time they use wallpaper of the appropriate color scheme and stylization.
- Furniture and decor items are made from natural materials whenever possible. Wood and stone are primarily used. Furniture from natural wood painted in such a way that the structure would be preserved natural material. Various decorations of premises are made of metal with the help of forging.
- The paint and varnish covering of furniture is exposed to artificial aging, I add various attritions. Copper elements of fittings are covered with an artificial patina, the appearance of which in natural conditions takes at least one century.
- In the decoration of the premises there are natural or dried flowers and figurines made of porcelain or ceramics. Flowers can be both live and in the form of herbariums.
- The ceilings in the rooms are decorated wooden beams natural, dark color. Now they are only decorative. Previously, in old buildings, they carried a constructive function.
- The curtains in the rooms are made of plain light fabrics with floral patterns.
Applying a Style
Having studied various photos Provence style, it becomes clear that you can decorate most of the interior elements in this style with your own hands. It is no more difficult than other areas of design, there is always a place for creativity in it. Let's take a closer look at how to decorate the design of the room in it: what should be the walls, ceiling, furniture and other items.
First of all, you should pay attention to the color scheme. It should remind you of the warm nature of the south of France, its provincial comfort. Only soft and light colors are used. The main range of colors is white, cream, yellow, lavender, light green. The colors of walls and furniture and other interior items should be of the same color scheme.
Surface decoration
The design of walls, ceilings and floors in the Provence style has its own rules. The walls are covered with plaster. For full compliance, it should be uneven, with bulges. In exceptional cases, you can use wallpaper that imitates such a surface.
The walls in the rooms can be finished wooden planks painted in light colors. The kitchen is decorated with stone, brick and mosaics. In accordance with the canons of style, windows with white wooden frames should be installed.
Interior doors should also be light in color. The floor in the rooms is covered with wooden boards or tiles. The tree is subjected to artificial aging, and the tiles are used in brown shades.
Do not use laminate, linoleum and carpets. Ceilings are painted White color. With sufficient height, they are decorated with dark wooden beams.
Curtains are made in the same style. Preference is given to simple natural fabrics with small embroidered patterns and flowers.
Provence style furniture
The choice of furniture in this style requires special attention. It is made from natural wood. modern materials better to avoid. It should be elegant and functional, its color should be combined with the overall color of the room.
Classical furniture elements are all kinds of chests of drawers and sideboards, cabinets with many drawers and carved chairs. The color must be either white or grey. Cushioned furniture should also be muted colors.
Welcome artificial aging furniture. This design direction gives great scope for home creativity with furniture. You can paint Provence-style furniture yourself, additionally performing decoupage. To do this, use safe acrylic paints and ready-to-stick drawings. You can change the color of both modern and old furniture.
Enough interesting solutions can be obtained by decoupage of old Soviet furniture in new interesting colors with the addition of colored ornaments.
Decor in style
Style is created not only by finishing the room itself and large pieces of furniture, but also by small, cute interior items. To decorate it in the Provence style, you can make small crafts with your own hands. There is a huge scope for the creativity of home needlewomen.
It is possible to produce various small interior items with functional purpose or just for decoration. Many items are very easy to make with ordinary tools and without special skills. To match general style color scheme must be followed.
One of available ways is the decoration of the room with a bouquet of dried flowers. Lavender and dried field herbs are ideal for this. They can be installed in a specially made vase made of earthenware or glass bottle, decorated with plasticine, fabric and pieces of wood in a common soft color scheme.
Of the functional items, stitched with my own hands various potholders for the kitchen, chair covers, tablecloths for dining table and soft toys. original idea is the manufacture of Christmas toys in the style of Provence with their own hands. To do this, you can take modern inexpensive plastic Christmas balls and paint them oil paints in bed colors with patterns in the form of flowers.
For decorating a room with your own hands, you can use different ideas. Such items will be appropriate in any room. They are appropriate not only in a room completely decorated in Provence style, but will also look good in modern interiors, recalling the existence of this style.
Do-it-yourself Provence style photo
The main feature when creating an interior in the Provence style is the presence of antique furniture with a century-long history. Purchasing an expensive one antique furniture no need. Thanks to the aging technique, you yourself will create this effect. Consider 4 techniques that are most often used by masters.
What paint is suitable and do I need a varnish?
For aging furniture, you should not buy expensive paints. An inexpensive water emulsion for ceilings is quite suitable. It dries quickly, is easy to work with and mixes easily with colors (dyes). choose pastel shades, giving preference to gray, blue, cream, white shades.
Before painting furniture in the Provence style, cover the surface acrylic primer for wood. It will increase the adhesion of the paint to the surface and reduce its consumption. Any pigment lays down evenly on the primer. To create an artificial patina, use bituminous varnish and silver. The first option is suitable for aging light surfaces, and the second for dark ones. When choosing a finish for furniture in the Provence style, it is preferable to use matte rather than glossy varnish. It emphasizes the effect of antiquity, retains color and texture, without highlighting smudges and bumps.
Aging with paraffin and paint
For the first option for aging furniture in the Provence style, you will need the following set of materials:
- dye;
- foam sponge;
- paraffin candle.
Before you start aging furniture, take care to keep the workplace clean - with your own hands or with an assistant, we cover everything with newspaper so as not to stain anything. Next, we prepare the furniture for painting - we remove the layer of old varnish with sandpaper, wipe the surface from dust, take out the shelves, remove the handles and rub the wood with paraffin candles. To make the process go faster, use spray paint in a bottle. It penetrates well into hard-to-reach places and crevices. Due to the fact that it is not sprayed evenly in all places, the effect of antiquity only intensifies. Spray paint at a distance of 50 cm from the surface.
After applying the paint, let it dry slightly and treat the painted wood with the rough side of a dishwashing sponge. We do not recommend using sandpaper in this case, as it can severely damage the surface. Start wiping off excess wax paint from the sides of the furniture, and then move on to the base. Movement should be easy without effort, and scuffs should be as natural as possible. If desired, the aged surface can be supplemented with painting or using the decoupage technique.
We fix the effect obtained with two layers of varnish. To create artificial crackling, apply craquelure varnish instead of the usual matte or glossy one.
Steel wool treatment - creating a realistic plaque
Metal or steel wool will help you create an antique effect with deeper scuffs and traces of yesteryear. Steel wool can be purchased at any hardware store and is inexpensive. The initial stage of preparation is not much different from the previous method. We remove shelves, handles, decorative elements, remove the old coating with fine-grained sandpaper.
Then we apply the paint of the desired tone, let it dry slightly. We take steel wool and intensively rub the surface until the desired degree of abrasion is obtained. After polishing, black streaks will remain on the painted wood. In this form, they look rough. To smooth scuffs, we go over the surface with a damp cloth, wiping off the excess. Then we take a dry cloth and wipe the furniture. We also recommend that the handles be painted with a layer of paint, treated with steel wool, and then polished with a dry rag. The final stage of work is the coating with matte varnish.
Natural effect - more about craquelure polish
If you want the chest of drawers to resemble as much as possible, use craquelure varnish. It will help create cracks on the surface, as if they have formed over time. In addition to craquelure varnish, for work you will also need:
- fine-grained sandpaper;
- alcohol for degreasing the surface;
- painting kit (roller, brushes, foam rubber sponges);
- white and black acrylic paint;
- bronze paint;
- decorative patina;
- finishing varnish.
Surface preparation begins with sanding with sandpaper, remove the old layer. If the surface is rough with bumps, coat it with a wood primer. After surface treatment, degrease it with alcohol and wipe thoroughly with a dry cloth. The surface is prepared, we apply the first coat of white acrylic paint. Depending on the desired result and the size of the chest of drawers, we choose a roller, brush, foam sponge for application, or we combine all three options. We note right away that when using a brush, gaps may remain on the surface, the roller distributes the composition more evenly. With a foam sponge, it is better to apply paint to small hard-to-reach areas of furniture with blotting movements.
While the white paint dries, let's take care of the handles. We apply a base (white) layer interspersed with bronze, and after that a little decorative patina. We also recommend applying the patina to the main part of the furniture and blending with a brush. In the meantime, the white base coat has dried up, you can apply black paint. It is more convenient to spray it from a spray bottle or spray can. When the black layer dries, apply craquelure varnish. Spread it out in a thick layer. It is not necessary to wait for the varnish to dry. On top of the fresh layer of varnish, we distribute white paint with wetting movements, not too tightly. After complete drying, the top white layer with varnish will crack, and a black background will be visible in between. Use a hair dryer to speed up the drying process.
If it seems to you that you have applied white paint too thickly, and after drying, the black gaps are almost invisible, we recommend that you take sandpaper and go over it in the right places. As a result, you will get a non-uniformly painted shabby chest of drawers with the effect of a cracked old paint. To fix the result, apply a matte varnish on top.
Patination and whitening paste - application options
To create antique scuffs, purchase patina and water-soluble pastel-colored paint from a hardware store. Among the additional materials you will need fine and coarse sandpaper, brushes and matte varnish. For better penetration into the wood, the old layer of paint, varnish and other finishes are completely removed. The prepared surface must be dry and clean. Therefore, after removing the paint layer, we carefully moisten it with water and grind it with fine sandpaper.
We apply the paint of the selected tone to the prepared surface, let it dry, cover it with a matte varnish. After drying, we grind the surface again, but now with coarse-grained sandpaper. Apply patina with a brush or spray it with a spray bottle. Depending on the desired effect, the patina can be applied to the entire surface or to individual areas. We advise you to try both options on a small piece of wood and choose the one that suits you.
When the patina dries, we treat the surface with steel wool, remove the excess with a dry rag. Antique Provence style furniture painting completed. Re-apply a layer of matte varnish and enjoy the result. An alternative to patination is bleaching paste. After applying it, we grind the surface. Dark stripes show through the white base. It seems that the furniture has been repeatedly repainted, it looks vintage. However, this option will be successful for aging solid wood furniture.
Do-it-yourself shelf decoupage is a great way to breathe a second life into a “bored” piece of furniture. Decoupage is a technique for decorating objects using various images on a paper or fabric basis. Thanks to this technique, you can not only create cute souvenirs, but also decorate the interior. As with most types of needlework, this technique requires patience and perseverance. If you are afraid that you will not be able to cope with a large amount of work, then you can start with small items. 
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Working with wooden surfaces
The use of decoupage technique looks especially harmonious in the interiors of kitchens in the Provence style, which implies the use of only natural materials, the presence of many open shelves decorated with floral patterns and necessarily aged. You can purchase special blanks for decoration or process existing interior items. Whichever option you choose, you need to familiarize yourself with the features of working with wooden surfaces.
Special preparations are sold already prepared for work, buying them, you can immediately start decorating. If you purchased a non-special wooden blank, then initially it should be sanded with sandpaper or a grinder, and then applied primer. If you want to decorate old items, then remember that the surface for decoupage should not be rough. That is, the decoration object will have to be carefully cleaned of old paint or varnish.
After you apply the primer to the wooden blank, proceed directly to decoupage. Below you can find a master class on decoupage shelves for the kitchen.
Master class decoupage shelves
Shelf decoupage can be done using napkins, fabrics and even old newspapers. The start of work in all cases will be the same.
In order to decoupage an old shelf, you will need:
- fine sandpaper (the so-called "zero") or grinder;
- priming;
- acrylic paint;
- PVA glue;
- three-layer napkins or fabric with a suitable pattern, old newspapers;
- tassel;
- scissors;
- varnish glossy or matte, craquelure.
Prepare the surface as above. If necessary, paint the shelf in the desired color.
While the paint is drying, start preparing the material with which you plan to decorate.
Decorating a shelf with fabric
You can decorate a shelf not only with paper, but also with a cloth. To do this, take a piece of fabric according to the size of the shelf, or combine the decoupage technique with patchwork and use flaps. You will need the same materials as when working with paper.
The fabric should be chosen only cotton. The prepared flaps should be soaked in the adhesive solution for about 30 minutes. Then glue them to the prepared surface and let dry.
Be sure the finished product must be covered with several layers of varnish to protect it from environmental influences.
Decoupage is a very interesting technique. Restoration of shelves in this technique does not require large material costs. With it, you can easily breathe life into old objects. The top shelf in the kitchen, decorated in this way, will become a feature of your interior.
Decoupage of a Provence-style shelf involves the use of discreet paint (for example, lavender or ivory is suitable), the presence of floral or floral prints, as well as aging. An aged look will give scuffs and roughness. You can apply paint in two layers, then lightly sand, thus giving the old shelf.
Choose a napkin with a suitable image. Separate the pattern layer from the rest of the layers, cut out the desired element with scissors. You can not use scissors, but carefully tear out the pattern along the contour. The edge in this case will turn out to be uneven and, when glued, will be more like a painting.
Take PVA glue, if it is too thick, dilute it with water. Apply glue to the napkin and to the shelf. Overlay the picture and brush or roller over it, smooth it thoroughly. Movement should be directed from the center to the edges in order to remove excess air.
And Provence-style interior items are a fashion trend today. Perhaps someone will want to decorate their home with an interesting detail in this style. In order to acquire such an interesting little thing, it is not at all necessary to go to a special store. Yes, and such piece items are expensive. The fashionable passion for Provence did not pass me, and I decided to make a shelf on my own.
So, in order to get started, you will need: a small piece of plywood 4, 6 or 8 mm thick, a few wooden slats 1 cm thick, small nails (or wood glue), acrylic paints and varnish for decoration, and a hand jigsaw for cutting out details.
First you need to decide on the size of the product. My shelf will have dimensions - 38 cm by 22 cm. Having made the appropriate marks on the plywood and slats, I carefully drank the necessary details with a jigsaw. As a result, I got a set of four side pieces, one piece for the inner shelf and one main plywood piece. Fastened the parts with nails. It is quite possible to use glue or self-tapping screws. The basis of my product will be figured, therefore, on a plywood basis, the corresponding markings are made using a compass. I then sanded it down with fine sandpaper. The wooden blank is ready.
Now you can proceed to the most creative and exciting part of the process - decorating. I decided to decorate it in a slightly unusual color scheme for this style - gray and white. Through trial and error, I determined that it was a light gray shade applied to a wooden base that, when artificially aged, gives an interesting effect. And in order to give my shelf a personality, I applied a drawing using a homemade stencil made of thick paper. You can give the product the look of an object that has seen the views by slightly processing some parts with fine sandpaper. So I did.
