Here's a great tip that also doubles as a wonderful decorating idea: Use curtain rod finials as your bookends! A finial is a carved or shaped decorative detail used as ornaments to spruce up all sorts of items in a room. Curtain rod finials are used to make curtain rods more decorative, and also to keep curtains from sliding off ends of rods. Regular architectural finials are often used as enhancements to a room's decoration and style. Sometimes you'll see them for instance, at top of a staircase post or on tops of bedposts.

Natural materials such as wood for tables, chairs and armoires, scrolled iron plant stands, plaster walls and stone or brick floors are an integral part of French country look. The look of plaster or stucco walls can be easily obtained by use of a product called Venetian plaster, or you can make your own by mixing drywall compound with a little latex paint in a neutral color. This is spread over a painted wall in varying degrees of thickness, and then when dry can be glazed or sealed with a latex sealer. Details on this technique can be found online or in your local home improvement store. The floor may be a little more difficult for do-it-yourselfer, however, new laminates very much resemble stone flooring. It just won’t be as rough as real stone or brick but that could be a good thing!