Guest Blogger: How to Create the Shabby Chic Look (Video)

Guest Blogger #601, Entry #1410, July 25, 2012

Creating the Shabby Chic look with a mixture of thrifted and replica pieces

DIY restoration is one of the most cost effective ways to preserve furniture. Many people see it as a chance to use their creativity to personalise a piece whilst saving money at the same time. Although restoring all the pieces yourself can be time consuming, the effort put in is rewarded by a sense of accomplishment.

Create a shabby chic home!

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Before you can start to restore your piece however, you have to find it. This can be difficult if you aren’t restoring a piece you already have at home. Many people prefer to source antique furniture from second hand thrift stores or try and spot a bargain at a car boot sale. Once you have your piece you have to decide on a theme for it, one that is very popular at the moment is the distressed shabby chic look. AlchemyFineLiving have an interesting method on how to achieve this.

Sourcing and restoring furniture yourself can take up a lot of time, especially if you want to do a few pieces, it can take up several weeks. You could pay someone else to do the restoring but I personally think that combining an equal balance of restored and bought furniture can be the ideal solution.

You may think that to get the perfect restored look you have to either restore yourself or pay a large amount for a piece. This is not true as there are a growing number of replica stores that offer affordable prices on furniture with the French furniture and shabby chic look which can accompany your personalised furniture to give a natural flow opposed to a balance in the room.

Create a shabby chic look that you love

Replicas are also an option if you don’t manage to find a piece you would like to restore, although this may come at a higher cost simply finding a replica piece can save further time which may be spend traipsing about yard sales looking for that perfect piece.

Once you have your main pieces of furniture in place it is time to pick the accents. These are the subtle touches that tie the whole room together. Hat boxes are great to give a decorative touch and give you the benefit of hidden storage. Candles are also great but if you decide to use metals, such as gold or silver, look for muted pieces that don’t give off a glare or look garish. Another creative idea is cushions, AlchemyFineLiving also have an interesting method of jazzing up old boring cushions which are on the verge of being thrown out.

Don’t be afraid to mix and match pieces to add to the natural flow of the room, European objects are great for this as they tend to have the right colours and motifs to fit into your shabby chic room.

Lucy Hunt is an Interior design and crafting enthusiast with a keen interest in shabby chic and vintage style interiors, currently doing research on behalf of Baytree Interiors – suppliers of shabby chic furniture, giftware and soft furnishings.

Watch Stagetecture’s You Tube Channel for more DIY ideas