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Traditionally, the term shabby chic had been used to describe old, worn out furniture. It was a term to acknowledge its shabby appearance, but the owners want it to seem better than it actually was by adding the ‘chic’. Today, the complete phrase shabby chic does still retain its original meaning but looses the negative aspect. Shabby chic furniture has become a fashion statement, a trend and a style that many interior designers are using in order to create a feminine, elegant and rustic look. This rustic appearance can be achieved by painting and sanding the furniture building it up in several layers.

 
Modern Shabby Chic Furniture

Shabby chic furniture doesn’t have to have a specific base style– it is more about the technique of making it look old. You can take any modern style of furniture and create a rustic feel with it, but older styles seem to suit this fashion a little better. If you are fond of the simpler style of design, try looking at the early American shaker style. This furniture has clean lines and doesn’t have any intricate scrolling or floral detailing and would be a nice base for trying this effect. You can get hold this shaker style in various places; maybe try your local auction rooms or there are a great deal of places on the internet. Wherever you chose to shop there are great offers out there if you are prepared to search a little and are able to see the potential in a piece.

Shabby Chic Antique Furniture

Antique furniture is where this style really comes to life. I feel that whatever period you chose to either replicate by reproduction methods or chose to buy the original, it will do it justice. Obviously you can use Victorian, Edwardian or even Gothic but I feel that French Baroque furniture suits Shabby chic more closely than other eras.

French shabby chic furniture is beautiful, elegant and it’s intricate designs so expressive. The scrolling of legs and arms and s-bends on the fronts of drawers, add to the sumptuous lines of this style. Shabby chic bedroom furniture lends itself perfectly to this period. The French furniture is painted in white, which accentuates the elegance of the detailing – Perfect for achieving the beauty a chic ladies bedroom deserves. I have seen the professionals style a bedroom in this style with class and elegance and it’s all about mixing whites, olive greens, blacks and duck egg blue hues with a hint of heathery pinks and grey. Mixed together, this palette makes for a calming and soft yet sumptuous space.

Shabby chic kitchen furniture would suit a more stable and heavy style. The Early American Shaker style in this instance would be more suitable in this room as I explained earlier. Its simpler lines would marry in with the more geometric lines of your appliances.

Doing it Yourself

Shabby chic can be relatively inexpensive and easy to replicate. Once you have decided on a style of furniture you wish to furnish your house with, you can begin to style your item(s). We’d suggest you start with a shabby chic white chest of drawers, they look great in any room.The best idea is to get yourself two pots of paint; one white and the other perhaps a pale green or grey to contrast it. Start by rubbing the piece down and then give it a coat of the coloured paint. Once this is dry, ‘dry brush’ on the white so that it ‘scuffs’ over the surface creating a worn look. If you have painted the white paint on a little too heavily, then just gently rub it with some sandpaper to achieve the finished look.

If you go to a specialist furniture shop looking for shabby chic furniture you can expect to spend a fortune. If you’re on a budget you may be pleased to hear that with a bit of hunting round and some hard work you can easily make your own piece of shabby chic furniture that will be unique to you. Let’s take a look at how you can create you own shabby chic white chest of drawers:

1. By looking around at second hand stores and charity shops you will be able to find some bargain pieces of furniture. You don’t want to buy furniture that is made from chipboard, to get a more authentic look you want a chest of drawers that is made from solid wood – oak chest of drawers are a great starting point. The shabby chic style is ornate looking so try and find something that fits this description.
2. Once you have found the piece of furniture and you have got it home its time for some hard work. Remove any fixtures and fittings that you can, this includes legs if applicable, corner protectors and drawer pulls – keep all of the fixings though for later.
3. Most of the older solid wood furniture that you will find in second hand stores will be lacquered or varnished and you need to remove this. Unless you have a shed or garage I would recommend this part of the process to be carried out outside as it will be dusty. You need to sand down the furniture so that you remove the layer of varnish or lacquer. You will only need to remove the varnish or lacquer that is visible on the outside of drawers – there is no point in removing more because as you will find out it is a lot of hard work! You can use power tools or a good old traditional block of wood and sand paper – if you do decide to use power tools be careful not to get to carried away and create uneven surfaces. This is an important step so make sure that you do a thorough job as the paint will not stick well to shinny glossy surfaces.
4. Once you have removed all of the lacquer give the chest of drawers a rub down with a finer grade of sand/glass paper so that you have a nice smooth surface.
5. Now for the exciting part – painting! White is a great color for shabby chic furniture as it is not too imposing in the room. I would recommend getting an acrylic based paint as it dries in a couple of hours so you can finish the painting stage in one day. You will need to give the chest of drawers a couple of coats so that you cannot see any variation in color.
6. It may be the case that the fixings that came with your drawers were suitable ornate and if this is the case you can move on to the next step. If the fixings you bought were not ornate though you will need to buy some. Take a look at any hardware store and you will be able to find ornate draw pulls and corner protectors. Don’t worry about the color of them as we address this in the next step.
7. Acrylic paint is also suitable for metal fixings, but for fixings that will be used regularly such as the drawer pulls I would recommend spray painting them with some car paint. Car spray paint is much harder wearing and will therefore last a lot longer.
8. Once you have all of your painting done you can reassemble the unit and you’re done you’ve made your self a white chest of drawers that it totally unique to you!