Do-it-yourself shabby chic in the interior

This style combines trends such as retro, provence, country and baroque, and its name means "shabby chic." It is often used to decorate the entire apartment or its individual elements. It’s easy to create shabby chic in the interior of the room with your own hands, you just need to decide what you want to see as a result.

The origin of style

This interior style originated in England at the end of the 20th century. The British began to furnish their country houses with shabby furniture. They just took their old furniture, found family heirlooms, bought antiques. Gradually, fashion for vintage things penetrated into other countries. Housewives and interior designers began to buy shabby furniture in flea markets to emphasize its history and breathe new life. These things can even be from different eras, but together they look interesting and unusual.

Shabby Chic Style Features

The translation of the name of the style speaks for itself - in the interior of shabby chic there should be shabby furniture and seasoned decor items, in addition to which characteristic background features are used:

• Naivety and romance.
• Pastel shades.
• Plant motifs, as well as angels.
• Ruffles and scallops.
• An excess of details, such as, for example, in the Baroque style.
• Natural wood, as well as ceramics, wrought iron, glass.
• A large number of decorative vases, candlesticks, figurines, caskets.
• Live roses.

Style color scheme

In the interior of the style of shabby chic pastel colors are used:

1. Light green.
2. Blue.
3. Pink.
4. Light purple.
5. Peach.

They are diluted with white or beige flowers. The use of bright colors is not allowed, even in individual elements of the decor. Walls, furniture, textiles, trinkets - absolutely everything should be in pastel colors.

Wall decoration

If you decide not to overload your Shebby apartment with chic, but just add some chic elements, then it is better to choose a white painted wall. Against such a background, the rest of the elements of this style will look good, and the guests of the apartment will not have the feeling that they are in a dollhouse or a theater interior.

To rid the walls of the apartment of hospital color, it would be better to give them volume with the help of textured plaster. Also, the style allows the use of wooden panels. They can be let out in full height on one wall and painted using the effect of scuffing. Do not forget about white stucco moldinggiving sophistication to the entire interior.

Finishing one wall under a white brick would be interesting, for example, at the head of the bed in the bedroom, or around a decorative fireplace in the living room.

To create an interior in the style of shabby chic with a romantic slant, you can glue a flower wallpaper with your own hands. The background should be light, and the flowers should be in pastel colors. Roses are best.

Ceiling

The ceiling must be made plain. You can paint it in ivory, light pink or pale blue, depending on the purpose of the room. Or you can choose the classic white color, diversifying it with the effect of the old cracked paint.

Unusually, decorative wooden beams will look on the ceiling of the apartment.

Floor

The canons of style require the use of flooring only from natural wood. It can also age and add scuffs. For the kitchen and bathroom, it is better to choose a tile.

Light carpets with short or long nap give comfort to the interior. A carpet with a pattern must be aged, to create the effect of a worn coating so that it can fit into the style of shabby chic.

What furniture does shabby chic require?

For this style, you can take old family furniture or look for suitable rarities in the flea market. It can be both the most ordinary, and with its own special long history.

Wicker furniture, which is usually used in cottages and country houses, is well suited for such an interior. For example, a wicker rocking chair with soft pillows will look good in the living room or on the loggia of the apartment in the spirit of shabby chic.

To furniture did not look like shabby trash, it will have to be cleaned and decorated with your own hands.

The most important point - all the furniture should be made of wood. Then it will be easy to work with her, and you will have a lot of room for imagination. Masters create the effect of cracked or shabby paint, carved decor, the effect of patina on metal elements or simply draw floral motifs.

Decoupage chest of drawers

Decoupage is one of the most popular techniques for creating DIY shabby chic. Suitable for decorating surfaces made of wood and metal. With it, you can decorate any piece of furniture, such as a chest of drawers.

1. Take a finished chest of drawers or a wooden blank. Even a rare "old man" from a flea market or from a thrift store will do. In this case, it will have to be cleaned of varnish and paint.
2. Paint the chest inside with paint. Then take a synthetic brush and dip it in a stain. Remove excess with a newspaper and dry brush with a stain on top of the paint. The effect should be worn.
3. Prime and sand the outside.
4. Those places where scuffs will be created, paint with black paint and rub with a candle.
5. Paint the entire chest of drawers with the main color in 4-5 layers.
6. Take a special tool of artists - a palette knife - and tear off their paint in places of scuffs. You can do this after applying varnish, but it will be easier. You yourself choose the amount of scuffs.
7. Take a decoupage napkin and cut out the necessary items. Most often, floral motifs are used.
8. Stick the elements on the chest of drawers with a brush and smooth out all the bubbles and folds.
9. After the glue has completely dried, sand the napkins. Pay special attention to the edges so that there are no noticeable borders.
10. Using a thin brush with the main paint, paint over all the borders so that the napkin merges with the background.
11. Boxes inside can be pasted over with a cloth.
12. Coat the chest of drawers with 5 layers of varnish.

The use of fabrics in the decor of shabby chic

In the style of shabby chic, only natural fabrics are used, plain pastel or with floral motifs - linen, cotton, silk, satin. From geometric patterns, you can choose thin strips or a small cage.

There should be a lot of textiles in the Shabby interior: cushions, upholstery, curtains, tablecloths, rugs and napkins create comfort. Embroidered pillows or tablecloths in the style of shabby chic look luxurious. Motives are chosen floral, vegetable or rustic.

Choosing lights

Traditionally, the style involves the presence of a large baroque chandelier with imitation of candlesticks, with crystal pendants and wrought-iron elements in the center of the ceiling of the room. In places of rest - near an armchair or bed - they put lamps with textile lampshades. Their coloring should be in harmony with the decoration of the entire shabby interior.

Table lamp decor

A lamp in the style of shabby chic is easy to make with your own hands. For this:

• Take a table lamp and separate the lampshade from the base.
• Ground and coat the bases with dark paint, and rub the corners and protruding parts with a candle.
• Paint with white paint.
• Take decoupage napkins, cut out the necessary motifs.
• Separate the two lower layers of the napkin, they will not be needed. Glue the top layer to the lampshade using a brush and PVA glue, varnish on top.
• Rub the base of the lamp with sandpaper in places rubbed with a candle. The bottom paint should show and create a worn effect.
• Sew lace on the bottom of the lampshade to emphasize the style of the item.
• Decorate the base with a bow from a ribbon.

Shabby Chic Living Room

A spacious bright room is usually chosen for the living room. Furniture is placed in the center, space remains around it. At one of the walls you can create an imitation of a fireplace.

Sofa and armchairs can be chosen baroque, but be sure to age them. Upholstery should be just light or in a small flower. A few pillows should be scattered on the sofa.

Take a walk around flea markets and antique shops, for sure there are objects that fit perfectly into your shabby chic living room. On the coffee table you can put a vase with live roses, emphasizing the style, candlesticks, figurines and photo frames.

Photo frame with a touch of antiquity

Patina is a sign of aging on a metal thing. On iron it looks like rust, on copper it looks like green plaque. In order for the new photo frame to match the style, you need to age it, that is, perform patination:

1. Take a gypsum photo frame with curly elements.
2. Apply a special primer for patina.
3. Paint the surface with metallic paint.
4. Without waiting for the paint to dry completely, apply the patina paint with a thin brush. To get it neatly, let the patina itself drain from the brush and spread over the surface.
5. In the process of oxidation, green stains appear. After that, cover the frame with varnish.

Shabby Chic Bedroom

The bed - the main element of the bedroom in the style of shabby chic - should be wooden or iron with a wrought headboard. The wooden headboard needs to age. A canopy made of light plain fabric can be hung over the bed, and on the bed itself you can lay a floral bedspread and lay out several rows of pillows.

A must-have element of Shabby Chic bedroom is a mirror in an old frame. The necessary effect of shabby gold can also be created with your own hands.

All other elements - wardrobe, chest of drawers, bedside tables - should be in harmony with the bed and repeat its shape. Also the wrought-iron headboard can be repeated in the chandelier.

We make the kitchen

The set of kitchen shabby chic should be made of natural wood, decorated with decoupage or simply aged. Be sure to have a large wooden dining table. Its coating is easy to age with your own hands with sandpaper.

Along the walls you can put cabinets with glass doors in which beautiful dishes should be displayed. To emphasize the style, the walls of the kitchen or dining room can be decorated with decorative plates.

Bathroom

Even in the bathroom you can create an interior shabby chic. But for this you need a fairly spacious room, preferably with a window.

The bathtub itself and other plumbing fixtures can be standard, and elements such as a chandelier, mirror, vases will help to style the room. The chandelier can be forged, the mirror can be placed in an old frame, and the vases can be decorated with stucco. Faucets and fittings are suitable golden color, as in the Baroque style.

Creating an interior with your own hands in the style of shabby chic is not at all difficult, the main thing is not to overdo it and competently combine all the decor items with each other. Then the room will look romantic, fresh and comfortable.