Modern European Country is a romantic, elegant, understated look far too sophisticated and evolved to concern itself with hashtags or fashion sashaying down the runway. Whispery color stories that charm me most? Hushed, atmospheric neutrals, white, and pale stone hues that feel natural, calm and serene. At its best, European antiques and contemporary forms harmonize or spring to life with subtle tension. Fresh flowers in a vintage urn feel more at home than fussy floral patterns. Linen, velvet, and natural textiles belong.
Modern European Country Interiors
While I’m obviously no expert on modern European country design style, I remain committed to its magique and romance as a student:
Jill Egan’s Soulful Way With Modern European Country
My favorite designer, MILIEU’s Pamela Pierce, featured an amazing newly built home by interior designer Jill Egan and architect Kirby Mears in this 2019 issue:
Five years, and I haven’t yet recovered from the issue.
Jill’s home is truly a sanctuary of wonder and whispers. Details were thoughtfully considered; its curation feels like a gift to not just a family, but a bright future.
This is how I imagine all grand homes a century ago were imagined. Built with integrity to last and serve future generations.
You get a sense of design restraint straight away, simply an abundance of breathing space. And dream space! Expanses for the soul to rest. Not nothingness or emptiness, but spaciousness for the senses to calm.
Old World Style & Artful Environments
Is it any wonder a lover of minimal modern European country style would also be drawn to understated, delicate, subtle art? This framed work by Lauren Collin is a scalpel-carved work on watercolor paper.
It speaks volumes! If you have worked with watercolor paper, then you know. I just love this medium, and the idea of piercing it to awaken it to life is thrilling!
Even the tree surrendering its pulp for this art must absolutely sigh in gratitude.
As I considered why I love this art form, I noticed how nearly-forgotten memories surfaced. Ragtime sheet music from a player piano in the 70s. French knots on a white linen curtain. Mysteriously beautiful Braille pages read by an elderly next door neighbor. White wedding cake with delicate bas-relief icing.
Masterful Luminosity
With a minimal approach to Modern Belgian-French, lighting and texture often play starring roles. Jill Egan’s dining room chandelier is utterly breathtaking in daylight; I cannot imagine what magic illumination emerges in the evening!
As a blogger who posts ad nauseam about paint colors, I would gladly trade my painted walls for plaster walls ones this warm and lustrous.
Minimal need not lack drama.
There’s a design intelligence undergirding the livability of such a look. To live with such spare luxe, everything must have its place. Savvy planning of hidden sources of storage for all of daily life’s essentials is a must. (Do you suppose that breathtakingly lovely bathroom mirror covers a niche where medicine, makeup, and potions live?)
Jill Egan Designed Moments of Minimal Modern Belgian French
She is simply a genius with her lighting decisions which can elevate the whole mix.
I desperately need her to style my shelves! No heavy, brown stained wood for trim and mantels here! Lightened up luxurious trim (or none!) heighten serenity and tranquility.
Gilded iron and unlaquered brass? Clearly I’m a broken record…but kittycats! Gold works magically with cool greys and greyed-whites..
Patina and texture become the color in minimal modern Belgian French interiors, and I’m here for it!
Wait. Patina? I seem to remember another design team who know their way around minimal modern European country charm…
Patina Style: Steve and Brooke Giannetti
Brooke and Steve Giannetti have such a fresh take on livable luxe interiors that revere patina and modern French allure.
Online searches for this design dream team’s work (Velvet and Linen is a treasure trove!) often characterize the look as rustic.
Rustic? Really?
Another label that hardly fits is “modern farmhouse.” However, most modern farmhouses we see in the marketplace and on social feeds lack the refined sense consistently coming from the Giannettis.
And that’s as it should be. These creatives have worked hard for years collecting, curating, learning, traveling, and refining. You cannot order this assemblage of understated elegance online.
Romantic European Country Inspired Homes
What I love about the work of Brooke and Steve is the glorious timelessness at the heart of what they create. The craftsmanship, the organic California-influenced natural layers, and the earthy livability of it all. There’s always a golden thread of gentle grandeur and authenticity running through their designs.
Earthy in that even though the craftsmanship and quality are high, design elements are never showing off. And we wouldn’t even blame them if they wanted to show off a bit. Right? Reclaimed stone mantelpieces? They have earned the right to brag after such a rich history of service across the pond! And yet we feel a gentle humility illumining this dining room..
How fortunate are we that the Giannettis often chronicle and share the process so we may see what lives between the before and after? These next images are from a couple of years back as they breathed to life a kitchen which feels very keeping with today’s theme.
Farrow & Ball Pavilion Gray Paint Color
The cool blue-grey of Farrow & Ball’s Pavilion Gray on cabinets and steel never strayed far from my mind and made an appearance in our current kitchen.
That pantry imagined by the Giannettis! Is it speaking your language?
If it’s okay with you, since I have yet to become bored by examples of this enchanting design style, there shall be more. I’d love to hear what you admire about it.
I independently selected products in this post—if you buy from one of my links, I may earn a commission.
Peace to you right where you are.
-michele
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