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French Country Christmas Tree Ideas For A Simple, Stunning Holiday

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french country christmas tree with pink, gold ornaments

Want an elegant and rustic vibe for your Christmas tree this year? Then you’ll want to check out these French Country Christmas tree ideas for a soft, down to Earth Christmas tree look!

Keep reading to learn how to create the perfect French style Christmas tree theme inspired by natural & shabby chic decor.

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Basic Christmas Tree Themes

Did you know that there are 8 main Christmas decorating themes? It may seem like themed Christmas trees are just a random mix of colors and creative styles.

french country christmas tree with ornaments, lights

But in reality, any Christmas tree that looks well put together will have at least one general theme. When Christmas product designers start on a new collection, these are the 8 main Christmas tree themes they use:

Because of this, when you go to shop for Christmas decorations in the store, you’ll see items from these main themes! Once you decide on a theme or two to use, it makes shopping that much more simple.

Now you don’t have to stick with decorations in just one Christmas tree theme. In fact, the most creative Christmas trees will often feature elements from two or more Christmas tree themes.

But it helps to get started by focusing on one Christmas tree theme and building out your tree decorations from there.

French Country Christmas Tree Ideas

Let’s explore one of the most charming Christmas decorating themes: French Country!

shabby chic christmas tree with ribbons, roses, ornaments

If you’re not a big fan of bold Christmas colors schemes or electic looking Christmas decorations, then French Country might be the perfect theme for you. This simple, refined and often understated Christmas tree decorating style is perfect for a peaceful, down to Earth Christmas holiday.

Here are some features of this beautiful Christmas tree theme:

  • Antiqued, weathered & shabby chic looking ornaments
  • Soft metallic elements such as bells, ribbons & florals
  • Rustic fabrics like burlap, cotton, jute & linen
  • Elegant fabrics such as velvet & satin
  • Patterns such as toile, vintage floral prints & stripes
  • Natural looking greenery & florals
  • Pastel & neutral colors
  • Any decorations that read as “french county”, “shabby chic”, “homemade”, “handmade”, “weathered”, “antique”, “rustic” or “natural looking”

With the French Country Christmas tree theme, you’ll see several different elements at play:

  • Rustic – natural elements such as pine cones & florals
  • Elegant – rich elements such as velvets, satins & metallics
  • French style – decor such as toile & linen fabrics, pastel colors, antique finishes

The biggest give away with the French Country Christmas tree theme is the use of pastel colors paired with neutrals & soft metallics. These soft, muted color palettes, may not seem like Christmas at first, but they are festive all the same.

French Country Christmas Tree Decor

French Country Christmas Tree Styles

What Christmas tree styles work best for the modern French Country Christmas tree theme? In my opinion, traditional, cone shaped, green Christmas trees work great for a French provincial Christmas tree. These classic artificial Christmas trees provide a nice backdrop for pastel color schemes and soft textures.

Traditional Christmas Trees

You can also consider using a real, fresh cut Christmas tree. The natural branches work well for French Country themed Christmas trees. Plus they smell amazing!

If you don’t want to use a real tree, there are several companies that make rustic looking artificial Christmas trees. These types of trees are designed to look more sparse than a traditional faux Christmas tree and are perfect for shabby chic themed Christmas trees.

Rustic Christmas Trees

Also, consider using flocked or frosted Christmas trees for these shabby chic Christmas tree ideas. These snowy trees look lovely with rustic, French Country themed Christmas ornaments, ribbon & garland.

Flocked Christmas trees have faux snow that covers the branches, giving it a look of a tree covered in freshly fallen snow. Frosted Christmas trees are the same, but with less faux snow. So they appear to have more of a “dusting” of snow than a flocked tree.

You can buy an artificial Christmas tree that is already flocked. Or you can buy special snow flock powder that can be used to flock a Christmas tree.

Flocked & Frosted Christmas Trees

All white trees will also work ok for the French Country Christmas tree theme. The white branches provide a nice backdrop for the muted color schemes. I would avoid trees of other colors such as pinks, purples, etc for shabby chic Christmas tree ideas. This will give off more of an eclectic vibe than we’re going for.

White Christmas Trees

French Country Christmas Tree Theme Colors

What colors should you use for these shabby chic Christmas tree decorating ideas? Here are some of the colors & shades that will work best for French style Christmas tree ideas:

  • Pastels: dusty pink, dusty blue, sage green, soft yellow, mauve, light reds, lavender
  • Metallics: antiqued or muted gold, silver, rose gold, copper, platinum, bronze, champagne
  • Mid range colors: French blue, periwinkle, slate blue, magenta, brick red
  • Neutrals: light brown, white, off white, cream, ivory, beige, taupe, navy blue & grey

As I mentioned before, the biggest thing that makes a Christmas tree look “French Country” is the use of pastel colors. Now if you use a bunch of different pastel colors on your tree, that will read more as “eclectic” rather than French Country.

french country christmas tree with ornaments, florals

But one to three pastel colors works great for the French Country Christmas tree theme. Pair the pastels with at least one metallic and one neutral and you’ll have a lovely French style Christmas tree!

Can you use reds and pinks with the French Country Christmas tree theme? Yes! Soft and muted reds such brick red will work well. You can use bright reds, but be sure to counter them with lots of muted colors. Pinks should be the same for a French provincial Christmas tree – ideally soft and muted. Bright pinks will read more as vintage and eclectic.

shabby chic christmas tree with ornaments

Here are some popular Christmas tree color combinations for the French Country Christmas tree theme:

  • French blue + muted gold + taupe
  • Lavender + antique silver + off white
  • Sage green + cream + light pink
  • Sage green + bronze + white
  • Light pink + magenta + sage green
  • Rose gold + champagne + white
  • Brick red + cream + antique gold
  • Navy blue + bronze + French blue

Shopping For French Country Christmas Tree Decor

Just because this is an expensive looking Christmas tree theme, doesn’t mean that your decorations need to be pricey! There are good finds out there for all budget levels.

flocked christmas tree with floral decorations

Here are some of my favorite stores for French Country Christmas tree decorations including ornaments, toppers, skirts, ribbon, stars, etc.:

Don’t forget to shop for gently used items on sites like Poshmark, Mercari and eBay.

french country christmas tree with ornaments, garland

When shopping, use the following keywords for decor items in the French Country Christmas tree theme (for example, search “shabby chic christmas tree ornaments”):

  • Toile
  • Linen
  • Satin
  • Burlap
  • Weathered
  • Antique
  • Pastel
  • Metallic
  • Shabby chic
  • Rustic
  • Natural
  • Luxe
  • Velvet
  • Silk
  • Fleur de Lis

Combining Christmas Tree Themes

What other Christmas tree themes can be used with the French Country Christmas tree theme? Here are some of the common Christmas tree theme pairings you will see:

Remember, there is no right or wrong way to decorate a Christmas tree! Whatever inspires your creativity and feels right for your space is what will work best for your tree.

shabby chic christmas tree with ornaments

But if you want to your Christmas tree to look like something in a magazine or something your favorite home decor blogger designed, then you’ll want to stick with at least one Christmas tree theme.

Personally, I find this helps narrow down my options and keeps me from buying too many random things that don’t really work well together in my Christmas decor.

What are your thoughts on the French Country Christmas tree theme? I hope article series on Christmas tree themes this gives you a good starting point for creating a beautiful Christmas tree this year!

Get organized for Christmas this year with this FREE printable Christmas planning checklist. Sign up below for an instant download!

More Christmas Tree Themes

For more info on various Christmas tree themes and decorating ideas, check out these posts:

Pin It For Later!

shabby chic christmas tree with roses, ribbons
shabby chic christmas tree with ornaments, lights, florals
rustic french country christmas tree with ornaments, flowers
french country christmas tree with blue, gold ornaments
shabby chic christmas tree decorations
french country christmas tree with garland, ornaments
french country christmas tree with gold, bronze ornaments
shabby chic christmas tree with roses, garland, ribbons
french country christmas tree with pink, gold ornaments

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