You don't need exposed beams or a farmhouse in Provence to make French country style work in your home. Even a fairly ordinary dining room can have that relaxed, slightly old fashioned feel. The trick is not to make every corner look as though you've bought it all together from a showroom. In a French country home, the furniture looks as though it's been collected over time.

At eFurn, we like French style furniture for exactly that reason. The shapes are decorative without needing a lot of fuss around them. You can start off with one piece and see how it works with the things you've already got.

Start with the colours you can live with

You often see cream walls in pictures of French country interiors, but you don't have to paint the entire house white. Warm off white, pale stone, muted green and chalky blue all work well, especially used alongside natural wood. If your room doesn't get much daylight, try the paint on more than one wall. That lovely grey you saw in a photograph might look rather cold in a north-facing dining room.

You can bring in stronger colours through the things that are easy to change. A faded red cushion on a chair, blue crockery on an open shelf or a patterned rug will do more for the room than another coat of beige paint.

Choose furniture with a little detail

The legs, edges and finish of the furniture make a difference here. French country pieces often have curved lines, turned legs or a gently aged finish rather than the very square shapes you see in contemporary ranges. It doesn't mean you have to fill the room with carving or ornate handles.

Take our Julian Bowen Camille range. The limed oak finish has a lighter, softened appearance, while the curves give the pieces that traditional French influence. There's a chest of drawers, a dressing table and furniture for the living and dining rooms, so you have a choice of pieces.

If you've already got a plain wooden sideboard you love, keep it. A more decorative table or chair can sit beside it quite happily. In fact, we think that looks better than trying to make everything match.

Make the dining room feel lived in

A big part of the French country style is the table. It's where you eat breakfast, leave the post and put the shopping down before you get round to unpacking it, so you want something practical, not a table you're afraid to use.

A French style dining table like the Julian Bowen Camille Limed Oak Extendable Dining Table has a rounded top that opens from a circle into an oval. It's useful if you usually eat with two or three people but occasionally need extra places. Pair it with the Camille rattan dining chairs, or mix the chairs you already own with something a little more traditional.

You don't need a fancy centrepiece. Put a jug of flowers on the table, leave the fruit bowl out and use a linen or cotton tablecloth if you like the softer look. Just make sure it's one you can wash.

Give the bedroom a softer feel

The bedroom is probably the easiest room to change without redecorating. A French style bed is an obvious starting point because the headboard is usually what catches your eye first. Our Camille bed in oatmeal linen has an upholstered finish, so you get some softness without needing a lot of patterned fabric elsewhere.

You could put a wooden bedside table beside the bed, add a warm bedside lamp and use plain cotton bedding with a quilt folded on the bed. A French style bed doesn't mean lace on every surface. If you already have floral curtains, for example, leave the bed fairly simple, otherwise the patterns start competing.

A mirror above a dressing table works really well, particularly if you've got an awkward corner that could do with some reflected light. And don't feel you need matching bedside tables. You might have room for a chest on one side but just a narrow table on the other and that's perfectly fine.

Let the fabrics and smaller things do some work

The furniture isn't the whole story. Woven baskets, a slightly creased linen cushion cover and curtains that go right down to the floor can change the mood of your room. Natural materials fit the look, but you can still buy sensible, washable fabrics if you've got children or pets.

Don't buy decorations just because they're labelled French country. A stack of books, a pottery bowl you've had for years and flowers from the garden are more convincing than a dozen new ornaments arranged in a row.

You don't have to do the whole house

Start with the room you use most and work out what you think is actually missing. Perhaps a lighter table would make the dining room feel less heavy, or you'd like a bedroom that doesn't feel quite so modern. Our French style furniture gives you a few ways to introduce the look without having to replace every piece you own. Keep the things you like. They'll make the room feel like yours rather than a copy of somebody else's.