After spending time looking around at different interior design styles I thought I would write a blog about Shabby Chic.
This style has been around for many years but over the last 20 years it has earnt itself a respectable title of Shabby chic, which has become so popular in households that it is set to stay for a very long time.
Shabby chic is a form of design where both furniture and furnishings either new or mainly old take on the appearance of a distressed look to achieve the appearance of antique, vintage.
This wonderful example of Shabby Chic has been created by using pastel shades of pink. The dressing table is just stunningly beautiful and has been painted in a Shabby Chic style using a vintage ivory colour and complemented with the use of wooden frames with a whitewashed theme and distressed on all corners to create a old English feel of country shabby chic. The room has been dressed with vintage charm and again painted in ivory cream to create this beautiful look. A floral theme has been added to the beauty of the room picking up in the pillowcases in shades of light pink, cream and white and delicate roses have been placed in a vase on the dressing table to add to this vintage charm. The gorgeous chair has been covered to compliment the style of the room and is extremely complementary to the bedding where the bed is covered by a white cotton with lace trim. The fireplace has been painted to truly bring this look together and an ornate vintage fire guard with a delicate buds of flowers stands proudly in front. There are so many gorgeous ornaments lining the surfaces of this fabulous example of Shabby Chic.
Get the look it really isn't as hard as it seems. I will give you a step by step guideline to help you on your way.
I would suggest you try on a small piece of furniture first, from a junk shop or a carboot sale that hasn't cost too much.
Firstly lightly sand all over your chosen piece I would personally use a 180 grit to create a good base. If the wood has been waxed use a wool pad, plus white spirit or turps would be best, however if it has been covered with varnish then you will need to use varnish remover and sandpaper. Don't forget to brush off all the loose dust and around you as you want to make sure you start with a good clean work station. I would suggest using a mask and make sure you work in a well ventilated space.
Now your ready to start. Prime your chosen piece of furniture with a water based acrylic primer and make sure you use good brushes as this will give you a smoother finish and preparation is key to everything.
Apply your first coat of water based acrylic paint, apply thinly and once painted leave to dry. I would leave for 2 hours and it should be dry to touch.
Once dry you can now apply your second coat, if you want to achieve a look like the above green dresser then I would apply the first coat in white and the second coat in your chosen shade of green. ( you can actually lightly sand the first layer with 180 grit if you want a better finish, but don't forget to brush off the surplus) Once the second coat is dry I would leave this for atleast 2 hours then you are ready to start the fun bit of distressing. Please note I would suggest using synthetic brushes with acrylic water base paints, but it really depends on what type of paint you choose to go with. What ever you choose it will all be a learning kerb to discover what is best for you.
To distress your wooden piece of furniture, you will need a fine grit sandpaper and gently rub over the parts that you want to distress and on corners of the wood that you'd like to go back to bare wood, if this is the look that you require. Once you are happy with the desired look you could actually go a little bit further if you have any ornate carvings on your wood, you could use a coloured wax in bronze, silver, gold what ever colour you fancy. This can then be applied with your finger tips or a soft cloth to make these areas really stand out.
Lastly we need to add wax to your new masterpiece. Fully wax the complete piece of your furniture. You can do this using a soft cloth in circular motions working into your furniture and buffing up your furniture piece to become your first piece of Shabby Chic furniture.
There are so many variations that you can do once your comfortable with your first Shabby experience. You can even add dark finishing wax over the clear and rub away leaving the dark in all the crevices, this looks fantastic over shades of pink.
So get practising you'll have so much fun and it's very addictive.
Why not try Sandi Hands this would probably make your life much easier to get in every little groove you can purchase these from homerevivalinteriors.co.uk at £10.50
