:: DIY French Country Kitchen Coffee Cups Like Anthropologie:: Let memories of summer vacation in the French country linger on forever with DIY French flower mugs, and other French country patterns in your kitchen. This is an easy DIY, but I urge to to use the right materials. Read on…
DIY French Country Kitchen Coffee Cups Like Anthropologie
Ever been on vacation in France? Or perhaps merely have seen the movie ‘Toujour en Provence’, set in the Provence, that most gorgeous part of the south of France? Then you know that there is this certain thing about the French live, their sense of style, beauty and ‘soit de vivre’ (wise wisdom on how to live well) that we, the non-French, can only aspire to. I’ve been fortunate to have spent quite a bit of time in France and love French country design. That’s why I am always homesick for that special place when I’m not there.
I love the way the French celebrate life … as well as morning coffee!
It seems that the French are orderly, but not too neat. A little rustic. A little hand made. A little quirky. A little vintage. But always, the emphasis is on quality over quantity. Generally ‘better’ in terms of ‘pattern, design, materials…’ is more important than ‘larger’. Except for their large cups for their caffe’ au lait. See, the French Country Kitchen coffee cups they sell in Paris, are these….
These French country kitchen fruit bowls are really … French coffee cups. They use them for their caffe’ au lait in the morning.
Here’s a different set of coffee cups that I also saw in Paris.
Now, all these coffee cups I saw in Paris are cute and very French. But they are too trendy to classify as French country kitchen. For that, we must go further south and find actual French country farms.
Here’s a French farmer.
Now, let’s go find his wife… Because that’s where we will find our coffee cup inspiration…
On the farm, I look for those typical French country kitchen curtains and window boxes with an abundance of flowers. That’s where real French country women live. Their kitchen. And when you peek through the window, you might see rows of French coffee cups hanging on the kitchen wall. If you’re lucky.
OK. A rather long intro for this tutorial on how to DIY French country kitchen coffee cups.
DIY French Country Kitchen Coffee Cups
I saw these DIY coffee mugs with Provincial flowers at Pinterest recently.
photo credit: Home heart & craft
They were inspired by this Anthropologie coffee cup.
Like Anthropologie DIY French Country Kitchen Coffee Cups
Which in turn is inspired by 1950’s vintage Provincial French tea towel- and table cloth designs, which you can still find today in rural France.
When I saw the mugs, ……. I got homesick. For France. So homesick that I wrote you this blog article. It was meant to be a Provence -inspired Coffee Mugs DIY tutorial. And instead, it became a personal story. It took me ALL THE WAY BACK to France, via a million of photos that I had to peruse in order to show you these few shots that illustrate my sentiment. I spend almost half a day looking through my photos! Which made me realize that I’d love to be in France now.
So, come on, everyone, let’s make inspirational DIY coffee mugs and bring something French into our home.
No DIY Sharpie Mugs
But … No. I am not suggesting that you go make a Sharpie mug. Go see more photos of the mugs on Home, Heart & Craft if you like, but I am not recommending the tutorial. That’s because I think that you should not use a Sharpie to paint your mugs. As I mentioned in this article about the gorgeous Italian pottery and ceramics, it is important to insist on lead-free. Most ceramic studios nowadays only sell lead free ceramics that you can use to drink & eat from. However, that was/is not always the case. And that’s why a lot of ceramics were intended ‘for looking-at only’.
So, likewise, with the current craze for DIY self-decorated mugs baked at home in a conventional oven, I’d like to express my same concerns.
How to Make Your Own French Provence Mugs, the Healthy Way
How to get started….: Instead of the Sharpie, get proper ceramic paint
Furthermore, if I were to make hand-painted mugs with little French flowers, I would leave the rim ( + the side-section where I would drink from the cup + the inside of the cup), free of any kind of ink, pigment or paint. Instead, I’d paint on a design that omits these areas, and nonetheless looks good.
Tutorial on How to Design Your Own Mug
1. DESIGN. On a piece of paper, sketch out your mug design.
2. CLEAN. You may need to first clean your mug thoroughly before painting it. Read your paint instructions.
3. PAINT. Once you have the ideas worked out and your mug is clean and dry, start painting it.
4. BAKE. How to bake the paint, varies by type of paint you’ll use. The instructions come WITH the paint. Generally speaking, it take a bit of drying time and then less than an hour to bake the mug in your conventional kitchen oven on a high setting.
E’ Voila’!
Salut!
