Via Architectural Digest
For people who choose comfort over formality and appreciate an eclectic, mismatched look, the shabby chic French country look is a good option. The ever-popular shabby chic decor trend is spiffed up in its French country interpretation, still emphasizing distressed finishes and flea market finds, but opting for a richer color palette and more artisan touches. You can add a shabby chic French country element to a room with a change of paint or textiles, or invest in some vintage furniture that serves as a focal point.
The key hue in a shabby chic French country palette is antique white. Distressed, matte surfaces are appropriate in this style. Faded blues, purples, yellows and pinks work as wall colors, accent shades and furniture finishes.
While it's been thought that modern interiors are cold and minimalist, today's contemporary interiors are comfortable and welcoming without being cluttered and dark. It's a style that is equally appropriate for offices and stores, lofts and homes.
Fundamentally, simplicity, subtle sophistication, texture and clean lines help to define contemporary style decorating. Interiors showcase space rather than things. By focusing on color, space, and shape, contemporary interiors are sleek and fresh.
Megan and Mark Sutherland's home in Overland Park, Kans., strikes just the right balance between a gracious country house with old-world details and a relaxed family home that always welcomes. Drawing on her love of the English countryside, her sense of color, and her previous business as an antiques dealer, Megan made a new house (built 13 years ago) feel convincingly like a century-old home.
An ornate mirror is appropriate for a powder room, where it can be admired close up. Anchoring this small but elegant space decorated by Pamela Laney is an antique marble-top Louis-Phillipe chest that has been converted to a vanity. Antique French bronze sculptures dangling with crystals affix to toile Scalamandre wallpaper.