A farmer in a blue cap and jacket and tan pants walks away from us through a wheat field on a sunny day in Provençe. He walks away from a crumbling brick wall and some red flowers toward an ochre farmhouse with blue door and windows. A bright aqua sky above has pink ad white clouds. The farmhouse is surrounded by olive trees and mounded haystacks.

French Country Interior Design

French country has long been a popular interpretation of French interior design style. Though related to the English cottage and American farmhouse styles, its exteriors may be more rustic. However, its interiors are often more sophisticated and spare than those in English-speaking countries. French country interior design is less casual and soft-edged than the related […]

15 hanging and dozens of folded examples of colorfully patterned Indonesian batik fabrics are displayed on wooden shelves

Caring for Batik and Other Deeply Dyed Fabrics

Q: On my travels, I’ve picked up some amazing hand-dyed fabrics around Asia, the Americas, Africa, and Australia. I’ve found colors and patterns outside of the US that were like nothing I’d ever seen. I want to use some of them to decorate my home. But when I prewashed them before sewing, thd lost so […]