Shabby chic style lovers look for well loved, slightly neglected, comfortable goods and furnishings

If you love flea markets, antique malls, and put your feet up living, this is the style for you

Shabby Chic has the appeal of living the simple life and the comforts of home. It is a relaxed style of decorating that tells visitors: "Come in, put your feet up and relax here. This is a home where comfort is king." If you have children and animals, this is a great style for you. You are not concerned that they may damage furniture or stain rugs because this just adds to the well loved look you prefer.

Although aficionados of this style are shopping in antique shops, they are not looking for precious, one-of-a-kind, don't touch items. This does not fit the Shabby Chic philosophy at all.

Shabby Chic fans love previously owned and well loved items. They haunt flea markets, auctions, antique malls and estate sales. They are searching for treasures that show benign neglect, the wear and tear of time, and items that have been well used and handed down through generations.

Shabby Chic Style Fits Anywhere

Architectural details and location have nothing to do with the decision on whether or not to use this particular decorating style. This style can fit anywhere. It is actually more of a design philosophy than a decorating style. It has the same popularity as a well worn pair of blue jeans and pops up almost everywhere. Victorian home, seashore cottage or modern ranch homes all sport this easy to live with style.

Furniture Used in this decorating Style

The beauty of shabby chic is that there are no rules. Nothing is as it seems and nothing needs to be what it is supposed to be. This sounds like "Alice In Wonderland", I know, but this is the basis of shabby chic style.

Old doors become coffee tables and moldings become picture frames. Ceiling medallions become frames for mirrors and wicker laundry hampers turn into end tables.

Chipped, stain, gouged, or cracked, each sign of age is looked upon as a piece of history and adds to the character of the piece.

If you love it, and you have an idea of how to use it, go ahead, buy it and use your creativity to add charm and character to your room.

Casual, loose, white rumpled slipcovers fit well into the shabby chic style on upholstered furniture. Painted, stained, vintage wicker is a favorite type of furniture here, as are old bureaus, painted, peeling wooden tables, while vintage iron gates used as headboards and comfortable love seats find a place in the bedroom.

Shabby Chic Doesn't Mean Junk

Think of generations of families that could afford to update their furnishings but prefer the well worn comfort found in the ancestral home and surroundings. This is the look shabby chic aficionados are striving to achieve.

Look for hand wrought iron pieces and discarded carved wooden pieces that suggest they might have been used by your great grandparents and passed down to you. This is the ambiance and atmosphere one gets when walking into a shabby chic room.

Floors, Walls, and Ceilings - The Background of Shabby Chic

• Flooring Choices

  Flooring choices reflect simplicity and ease of care. Hardwood floors are always a classic choice. These can be stained and finished in the traditional way. If they are older wood floors, or maybe a soft wood such as pine or poplar, they can be whitewashed and pickled, or finished with a colored antique stain technique. They can also be painted and stenciled if you enjoy doing crafty projects. Spanish or Mexican tile floors are also a good choice.

  Floors are covered with a variety of area rugs. Well worn and faded Aubusson or Orientals are used along with handcrafted hooked or braided rugs. Sisal rugs also fit in with the Shabby Chic style. If you live in a home that has wall to wall carpet and are not yet ready to remove it, use plenty of area rugs over the carpeting to achieve the shabby chic look.

• Walls

  The most classic choice in walls is a plain, painted white wall that acts as a background canvas for your room. When I say "white', I am talking here of all shades of this color. Cream, ecru, ivory and eggshell are all whites that fit perfectly with this style.

  Don't rush to cover cracks, holes, and dents in the wall. Look these over with critical eye. These can all add character and appeal to your overall decorating scheme.

  Embossed (raised) or textured wallpaper is also a choice that is available to you. Cabbage roses and large floral print are also good shabby chic wallpaper choices.

  Wainscoting is commonly found in shabby chic homes. Crown moldings, columns and pediments are used along with wainscoting to add character and charm to the home.

• Ceilings

  Wooden beams are often the first choice for the ceiling. Of course, this is not always practical. One way to add interest to a ceiling is to make use of rosettes and medallions.

  Medallions are made of plaster of paris that are placed under ceiling lights as ornamentation. In earlier times, they had the practical use of holding up the lights. Many reproductions are available today from paint and wallpaper stores, home improvement stores and can also be purchased online.

  A great alternative to plaster medallions are wallpaper medallions. These are cut from wallpaper and pasted on the ceiling under the lights. They can also be used without a light as decorative accents. They can be used in corners or put in a line along a long hallway. Be sure to check these out at your favorite wallpaper store.

The Background is Settled, Now What?

Now that you understand the philosophy and have achieved the background look you desire, check out Shabby Chic, Part Two, for more hints and information on how to complete your decorating scheme.

To see a listing of other styles reviewed on this site, check out Types of Decorating Styles

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