Shabby chic is an interior design style that appeals to many with its timeless and elegant look, incorporating history into your home at an incredibly affordable price. What sets shabby chic apart from other interior design styles is its heavy reliance on furniture and furnishings that are either antiques or purposefully distressed to achieve the same look. A shabby chic home is meant to look lived in and has a design that’s both comfortable and interesting for you and your guests.
A room with a shabby chic design is warm yet opulent, making you feel relaxed from the moment you walk in. Although it shares many commonalities with the bohemian design, shabby chic is unique in its use of softer hues and textures as opposed to the bolder and more vibrant colours used in a typical bohemian design. If you’re looking to incorporate a shabby chic interior design, here are a few ways to get started.
Begin With A Neutral Background
With any shabby chic home, you’ll be plucking furniture and furnishings from all sorts of flea markets and antique stores. Because you want the furniture to shine, you have to make other areas of the home a little more muted if you don’t want to end up with a chaotic mess. Not every area of your home can demand the same level of attention. By using a neutral colour palette, you let the furniture take centre stage.
Consider choosing a white or a soft pastel colour for the walls to give yourself a good base to start from, and go for a standard white or hardwood floor for a simple choice. But just because the background of your home is neutral doesn’t mean it needs to be dry and uninteresting. You can play around with colour choices and textures to find something that compliments the rest of your home without taking all of the attention.
Buy Antique Or Distressed Furniture
One of the biggest benefits of the shabby chic design is its relative inexpensiveness compared to other designs. Because most of your furniture is supposed to look used, you can find great deals at local flea markets and thrift stores to fill your home with interesting pieces that boast plenty of history. The whole point of the shabby chic design is to give your home a relaxed and lived in feel, so anything that looks like it’s lived an interesting life will only add to your home’s unique style.
If you prefer to stay away from used furniture, distressed furniture is a great way of achieving that weathered look with a newer piece. By painting furniture and then rubbing and sanding away the top coat to show the wood, the piece is given a distressed look that mimics age. This can help the piece resemble an older furniture style that isn’t around anymore, giving your home a unique look that won’t be easily replicated.
Mix and Match Your Accessories
The use of vintage and distressed furniture isn’t the only thing that will make your home bustle with life. When you decorate your home with a variety of accessories, you add to the eclectic feel of the space and give your home an even bigger personality. Chandeliers are very popular accessories in a shabby chic home, easily hung either in the corner of the room or over a table to light up a room and give the eye a focal point to rest on.
When it comes to things like throw rugs or tablecloths, floral patterns and lace are excellent choices that fit the shabby chic style. The use of linens and sheer-style draperies will give your home a soft look that adds to the casual feel of the place. To achieve a balance between the elegant and the worn, combine more elegant items such as silver accessories with rougher elements such as a wooden table. This will give your home a mix-matched look that is the epitome of shabby chic.
Use Plants And Other Natural Materials
Plants are a shabby chic home’s best friend. Shabby chic is meant to represent life, so anything alive will only add to that. Don’t be afraid to fill your apartment with life and nature, and consider using plenty of natural light to nourish your houseplants. A naturally lit home has a bright and airy feel that perfectly fits with the shabby chic style and can perfectly complement your aged or distressed furniture.
If you’d prefer to stay away from live plants or natural light, you can use natural materials in your furniture and accessories to still give your home a natural feel. Natural wood floors, marble counters, clay artwork are all great ways to make your home feel like the outdoors without actually having to bring anything in from outside.
If you’re looking to turn your simple home or apartment into a shabby chic den of comfort, look no further. Home Guide is a Singapore home interior design company that can help you find the perfect vintage furniture and accessories to outfit your home with. Check out our portfolio to see some of the other fun and stylish designs we’ve completed, and contact us today for all of your Singapore interior design needs!
