Many tend to associate shabby chic decorating with femininity yet I disagree. To me shabby chic is a decorating style that expresses pride in history by using furniture, sofas, and pieces of art from earlier periods, the vintage pieces ideally look a little worn, to create a beautifully aged design scheme.
It was in the 1980s when Rachel Ashwell began the use of this term, then an inexpensive line of furniture became popular for shabby chic decorating. The furniture associates with a number of historical designs from different periods, the pieces are created to look as if they’re older, worn and from an earlier period, for instance the 18oo’s country French, Shaker designs, plus many others.
This style will turn your living room into a comfortable space with the romance of things that are old or vintage pieces that have a purpose. A shabby chic living room is perfect if you’ll like to show off your favorite accessories and antiques. And best of all it is possible to create your own shabby chic decor using items in your home and paints.
When painting shabby chic furniture home decorators get an inner sense of pride and save cash because the decorator creates the finished product.With style of painting each piece of furniture is created as the decorator desires. Shabby chic decorating is a cozy, stylish and relaxing look and a perfect way to preserve vintage items. Shabby chic shows class and pride in character, and can be used for any room of your home such as the nursery, living room and guest room. Arrange articles that are different and then paint theme to give them a uniform appearance. The pride of creating shabby chic furniture belongs to everyone, even if you don’t have any old or antique furniture in your home. From thrift shops and garage sales look for pieces of furniture that have some antique lines, or furniture with a lot of curves. There is no need to spend on expensive beds, large closets, or huge sofas, nothing has to be purchased. Many decorators do shabby chic painting using old suitcases, stools, pieces of broken glasses, broken vases and lamps, with a little bit of reason and a sense of freedom home decorators can find pride in shabby chic decor. If you take pride in preserving old furniture you’ll be amazed at the opportunities this style of decorating offers. Restore a worn deck chair for living room furniture, fix up old wood using a transparent blue stain paint. Bring in a garden arbor to make your scheme distinctive, use garden statues such as angels, or combine pieces from your grandmother’s home with pieces you have chosen. If you take pride in preserving old furniture these ideas will make you a proud decorator
In the living room decorators can use house hold furniture already in their home, they can sand half of the paint off a piece to give it a worn look or add a light layer of paint to a wood piece. Decorators may also use several layers of different shades on top of one another, so that the shabby chic piece appears to be from an earlier age, the idea is to break up sets by painting each piece a different color. The paint treatment can also be used to create a cottage tile floor, by painting the floor to resemble a blue and white checkerboard. Noteworthy qualities of a shabby chic wall include: the paint color is light such as cream. Artwork can be created by grouping plates together, use floral plates or solid colored trays. Also paneling and bead board is very popular with shabby chic. Turn your light fixtures into chandeliers with paints for shabby chic decorating, using cream or butter yellow color hang crystals from the room’s light fixtures. Incorporate various sizes and shapes of crystals to stimulate curiosity and to break away from conventional decor. Also decoupage a floral pattern to show charter, onto the outside of light shades. Break away from older ideas for decorating, remove the glass from old window frames, and suspend the window from the ceiling for a room divider with a shabby chic element. We have just had a discussion on shabby chic decoration, this style will take personal commitment and pride in your ability to decorate. So now you know the secrets, it is up to you to separate excellence from inaction, with a bit of reason and a sense of freedom you’ll proud of the results. Look for more articles and writings by me on home decor, I look forward to future discussions on this exciting subject.