We Tapped a French Design Specialist to Answer Your Biggest Interior Design Questions

Beginning a new decor project comes with its fair share of excitement, but also an equal dash of trepidation that us design enthusiasts wouldn’t be able to overcome without a little help. With French modern style being one of the north stars for a discerning yet distinctive home, it can get even harder to work this look into your own space—after all, the sleek aesthetic can be difficult to get exactly right, especially due to the array of mixed materials and unique furniture it entails.

"Contemporary French style is elegant," says Francois Vijayan, senior design ambassador and lead merchandiser at Ligne Roset. "It’s organic, with graceful form and function."

Fortunately, when you’re picking products from French modern luxury brand Ligne Roset, you’re able to access their interior design concierge service, involving everything from evaluating your space and choosing the best items to completing furnished floor plans and renderings for a 360-degree look at your home. This makes Ligne Roset a one-stop shop for all your design needs, and their experts have years of experience to troubleshoot even the most intricate issues you might face. "Normally, French style pairs with opulence and guild," Vijayan adds, "But with Ligne Roset, the collection pairs with French sensibility, lifestyle, non-conformity, modernism, and contemporary artistic values mixing technology and hand-craft to create beauty."

To help us get a head start on all our spring design endeavors, we’ve asked Vijayan to walk us through the biggest design uses a homeowner might face when creating their very own contemporary space.

When and How to Mix Eras (and Make it Look Good)

While the common impression is that mixing the old with the new might look out of place, Vijayan insists that they can merge together quite well—specifically when you’re using modern design in a historical space.

"Start by determining the overall feeling you want to achieve," he advises. "Use different colors, texture, and a variety of scales to layer the contemporary pieces to blend within the historical canvas. Select contemporary pieces that allow the historic/aged room to maintain its importance and authenticity, as many contemporary pieces give a nod to a traditional style, rather than directly opposing it."

For instance, maybe a modular floor lamp will emphasize a more regency-style rug, and the colors will be able to play off of one another—you’ll never know until you try.

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How Low Is Too Low for a Coffee Table?

A really cool aspect of French contemporary design is the use of clean lines and lower furniture pieces, which let you play with scale. However, when designing a living room using low furniture, the question comes up: Does the coffee table have to follow suit? And does this affect its functionality in any way? The answer, it seems, depends on your own personal style.

"Scale and height balance are both incredibly important, but ideally with low furniture, one can use low coffee tables or end tables surrounded by higher lamps and cabinetry," adds Vijayan. "Another option is to balance the play on height with upholstery pieces such as the Prado with accompanying Togo chairs"—aka, use low furniture around the coffee table that’s just slightly higher, but still low enough so that the coffee table doesn’t stick out like a sore thumb.

Determining Your Dining Table Shape 

A dining room table is one of the most important decisions you’ll make for a space, and choosing the shape and how you’d like to position it can be a major challenge. To start, Vijayan says to play around depending on the shape of the room: "Square or round in a square room, and oval or rectangular in a rectangular room," he says. "Choose appropriate materials such as stoneware, tempered glass, or solid wood tops of tables based upon functionality and wear and tear." Of course, also make sure to measure your room, as you want enough space for all your chairs, and for your guests to comfortably be able to mingle and get in and out of their seats with ease. 

How to Style Modular Storage…Without It Looking Like Storage

"Modular furniture is highly flexible and can be added onto, so you can create bespoke combinations to fit your needs at any point in time," explains Vijayan. "However, I know that sometimes, the impression can be that it’s reminiscent of a dorm room, despite the fact that you can truly store so much in it."

Ligne Roset’s Canaletto media unit, for example, has been created with these concerns in mind, allowing for bits of open shelving and a mix and match arrangement for the client’s personality to really shine through.

"Keep it simple but effective, letting the color, texture, and scale inspire the placement," adds Vijayin. "Layering in groups of threes or odd numbers can create symmetry or asymmetry." Look at the storage as a way to display your items in the most exciting way you know how.

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Making Your Sofa the Statement Piece

We all know the iconic Togo—but Ligne Roset’s innovative modular sofa, Prado, uses weighted cushions equipped with a non-slip system, allowing them to be moved in any position, or even used on the floor and leaned against with no need for outside support. This means you can easily place this gorgeous seating option right in the center of your space. Customers may not have experience styling a room around this type of setup, luckily, Vijayan has tips to help.

As a larger rule of thumb: Furniture should never touch the interior walls. Depending on the size of the space, allowing two inches of "breathing room" from the wall is ideal. By having furniture away from walls, albeit upholstery or cabinetry pieces, it makes the room feel visually and emotionally bigger.

"Using a sofa in the middle gives an idea of an internal wall, so it can be used to separate an open floor plan," adds Vijayan. "For example, it can float between living and dining areas, or it can create different living areas in a large singular room." Another option is to use it where one might place a rug, but be mindful that the furniture around shouldn’t overwhelm it—that might draw attention away from the focal point you’re trying to create.

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Don’t Be Scared

We saved the most important (perhaps even contradictory) tip for last. 

Have fun with your home(!)—and in every step of the design process. It’s supposed to be an extension of you, and a place where you get to be as creative as you want to be.

"And don’t let the idea of permanence or longevity hold you back," Vijayan adds.

Visit any Ligne Roset showroom to get inspired or shop the collection online at ligneroset.com. 

 To get started with personalized designer services, contact the nearest store or email info@rosetusa.com to begin the process.