Styling a Home with The French Folk

As our business has grown over the last few years we have been lucky enough to see our products featured in more and more of your beautiful homes, which is a really special feeling that we will always be grateful for. We adore seeing images of how you style our goodies and every now and then we come across pictures that really take our breath away. This is exactly what happened when we saw our coral shell cushion and mustard dot rug featured in the stunning home of Margaux Follis - aka @thefrenchfolk. So, we decided to get in touch with interior designer Margaux to find out a little more about her, her sweet family, her gorgeous home and her unique styling!

Grab yourself a cup of tea and dive in to our interview with @thefrenchfolk below...

Please tell us a bit about yourself and your family

As everybody knows I am not from here but from France and spent the first 23 years of my life there until I graduated and decided to travel with my partner. We met at school and have been together for 11 years now, crazy hey, expecting our second little bub but still not married. We first visited Asia and traveled around for a year and then flew to Australia for a 6 months adventure that became a year and then a sponsorship and four years after that, a permanent residency.

I graduated in interior design in 2013 and had my own business here in Australia until we had Ambre and a quick “maternity leave” became a full time “mumfluencer” position. I just started like everyone else when I was pregnant 2 years ago, sharing photos of my daughter and the first nursery I designed for her and from there I became what I am today and absolutely loving sharing all the things I style and the cute DIY projects I create for Ambre.

Your home is absolutely gorgeous! How would you describe your interior style?

I frequently change my mind with interior design and there are a lots of different styles I love, but I think it is obvious, I am obsessed with vintage and rattan, this is something you’ll always find in my house. I can decorate a room with a minimalist Moroccan style and style another one with thrifted furniture from the 70’s. I guess my style is a bit boho retro with a bit of modern, I don’t have a name for that but I can easily mix retro thrifted pieces with really modern furnitures.

What are your go-to sources for inspiration when styling your home?

I think it is not secret anymore as I have shared it so many times, but Pinterest is where I spend a third of my time. If I need inspiration for styling or colour palette, this is where I look.

Instagram is also a really good source of inspiration but most of the time everything that goes viral on insta finishes on Pinterest, so you’ll find it one way or another.

Do you have any current favourite trends or specific brands you are loving?

I love that rattan came back and you can find some easily because I’ve been thrifting rattan pieces in op shops for years but those are so rare honestly and often in pretty bad shape so it is good that we can buy them new now, and there are even more beautiful stuff we can find nowadays too.

We really adore Ambre's playroom, nursery and now big girl room. How did you go about styling these spaces and what are your favourite items that you've included in there?

I often start with a piece I love and it inspires me to decorate the rest of the room, her playroom is definitely built around her three tiers shelf I built myself and the play kitchen I hacked. For her bedroom it was her rattan bed and the colour we picked and designed for her beautiful rug from Hunter and Nomad. I think picking your rug before everything else is a great option, some people will start with other pieces but I definitely go first with a rug I love and then style the rest of the room, rugs are really a centrepiece in design.

Do you have any styling tips for other expecting parents that are in the nursery / playroom designing process?

Well, firstly stop thinking you need heaps of money to decorate a space, lots of people tell me they wish they had heaps of money to be able to create as good as me but trust me, 80% of our furnitures are thrifted from op shops, facebook market place, and you can revamp old pieces or hack them, this is what i did with the vintage wardrobe Ambre has in her bedroom, I paid $50 for it and painted it. In her nursery she had a drawer everyone was crazy about, its from Ikea and cost $279, her cot was from there too and is only $129. I think the best advice I could give is go with what you like, pick a colour palette, maybe a wallpaper if you want to add one, a rug that works well with it and then work around this.

We love how well our rug sits in your home! If you had to pick three other favourite items from Hunter & Nomad what would they be?

Thanks, well it was designed for her bedroom so it just works perfectly in that space.

I have had my eye on the Tudor mirror for a while, absolutely beautiful piece and that natural round swing chair, I’ve never seen any anywhere else, this piece is quite singular and an absolute masterpiece. Last items I adore are all those beautiful leather handles, it can transform any drawers just by adding a simple but super stylish detail.

Click here to take a closer look at the Mustard Dot Rug and Shell Cushion that are both featured in Ambre's big girl room.

Click here to follow along with Margaux's journey - @thefrenchfolk