The shabby chic decorating style is popular because it brings a sense of comfort and the past into your home, while looking modern and stylish at the same time. Shabby chic decorations combine vintage items, antiques and thrift store finds. With this decor style, your living room will be casual and elegant all at the same time.
Furniture
Furniture is one of the most important aspects of your shabby chic living room. Modern, sleek furniture simply will not work in a shabby chic room. Instead, scout out your local thrift stores or antiques stores for a weathered-looking coffee table, end tables or china cabinet. Choose something that has great vintage lines and then clean it up so that it is perfect for your home. If you can't find something to your liking, simply buy a new piece of unfinished furniture that is in a country style. To make the furniture a bit more shabby, put some dings in it with a hammer. Next, paint the piece of furniture. Paint the furniture white, then create some scuffs on it with sandpaper. You can also make a cool effect by painting a coat of white, then covering the white with another color, such as pale blue. When you scuff up the furniture with sandpaper, remove only the blue paint so that the white shows through.
Paint
The colors most often used in shabby are pale or muted. Avoid deep navy blues or bright reds for this style of decor. Instead, choose soft yellows, blues, greens, pink and creamy off-white. Use these colors for your wall colors, fabrics and accessories to tie the style together.
Window Treatments
There are several ways to approach your window treatments when you are planning a shabby chic living room. Choose some off-white, lacy vintage curtains for an elegant look. On the other hand, create a cornice for your windows out of wood and then cover the cornice with a pastel-colored quilt or vintage linens. A nice shabby chic look for windows is to place wooden shutters painted like your furniture over the windows. You can open and close the shutters as you wish.
Accessories
Finish off your shabby chic living room with the right accessories. Search for mismatched antique or vintage vases at local thrift stores or antiques shops. Fill the vases with real flowers or dried flowers and place them around the room. Choose vintage light fixtures and update them by painting them cream or white. This is especially important if the fixtures are the brassy color that used to be popular. Choose old plates for a wall decoration. The plates don't need to match, but should be in the colors that go with your room. Hang them in a symmetrical design on your wall.
Tags: living room, shabby chic, chic living, chic decorating, chic living room, local thrift, stores