4 Shabby Chic Home Decorating Ideas for Spring
Mar 8, 2018
Spring is right around the corner, which means it is time to sweep away the dust bunnies and brighten up your living space! Whether you are looking to start the season fresh by redecorating your entire house or just brightening up a few rooms, consider adding shabby chic décor to your home. The style mixes antique and vintage elements with floral and pastel elements, making it the perfect home style for spring.
What is Shabby Chic?
Shabby chic is a contemporary take on the classic cottage style. The décor trend has been around for years, with the term “shabby chic” being first coined by World of Interiors in the 1980’s. While some have embraced the style for years, there has been a recent resurgence of the mismatched, homey design style in the past few years. The look has remained popular throughout the decades due to the timeless aesthetic created by upcycling old furniture and accepting vintage items as new treasures. Due to the eclectic nature of shabby chic, adding new pieces without changing the overall style is almost effortless.
Shabby chic home décor relies on light, neutral colors as a base color palate for walls and larger pieces of furniture, such as couches and beds. Rustic style doors and whitewashed or distressed accent furniture often complement the softer features to create the iconic aged element of the style within a space.
From there, designers will add in mixed and matched pieces from various design trends, such as contemporary-farmhouse, or feminine-industrial, to develop a bohemian aesthetic in the room. Typically, the style incorporates vintage finds as much as possible. Yet, shabby chic design can still be achieved by using a mixture of furniture types, even if they’re not truly vintage. A similar look can be achieved by having two different styles of chairs at a table or using furniture for reasons other than their intended purpose – like a dresser as a nightstand. Having details in a mixture of colors throughout the room will create a more distinctive look, while staying within the same color scheme can create a feeling of more cohesion between the mismatched items.
Finally, the look is completed by introducing lace, floral patterns, and small bursts of pastel colors to brighten the space. Varying elements in the room, such as fluffy rugs with sleek side tables, or a lace placemat on a wooden table, will add dimension and visual interest to the space. Flowers and knickknacks in colors like robin’s egg blue, lilac, mint green and pink champagne, will pull the look together and create the perfect setting for spring!
Shabby Chic Decorating Ideas
Whether you are looking to refresh your space with small décor touches, or you are ready to redecorate an entire room, the shabby chic look is timeless and can be easy on your wallet. Here are 4 simple ways you can create a shabby chic interior within your home.
1. Whitewash Furniture
Whitewashing is a staple of the shabby chic décor trend. Whitewashing is easy and when applied to large furniture, or even just small accent pieces, will make your space feel distressed and perfectly imperfect.
How to whitewash:
- Sand down the surfaces you wish to whitewash. If using an unfinished piece of wood, you can skip this step.
- Mix white paint and water.
- Paint a thin layer of the mixture onto unfinished wood surface.
- Let the paint dry then apply another coat. Repeat until you reach your desired look.
To create a more distressed look, gently sand down the surface in-between paint applications.
2. Mix and Match Patterns and Fabrics
One easy way to embrace the eclectic nature of the style is to mix and match patterns, fabrics, and textures throughout a room. When decorating, consider utilizing a neutral color as a base for larger items, then add floral and pastel color accents to brighten the space. Be sure to include accents in varying textures, such as pillows with lace and soft knitted blankets with long tassels, to add more visual, and physical, interest to the room.
3. Upcycle Vintage Accessories
Shabby chic is all about making the old, new again. Rummage through all your old accessories and think about how you can upcycle them into something new. For example, old nobs and leftover baseboard pieces from your last remodel can be reutilized as a cute jewelry organizer or a coat hanger for your entryway!
4. Create Small Rustic Touches
Adding touches of twine and burlap throughout the room will add more texture and highlight the natural roughness of the shabby chic style. Easily introduce a small rustic touch to your space by turning glass jars into flower vases. Simply wrap twine around the neck of any jar or vase to elevate the glass from simple to shabby chic in one easy step. Add your favorite spring blooms to create the perfect accent piece in your home!
How to create twine wrapped vases:
- Clean and remove any labels from glass bottle, or jar.
- Hot glue the tip of the twine to the top of the glass.
- Wrap the twine down the neck of the bottle, or jar.
- Cut and hot glue the end of the twine to the glass.
Looking for more ways to update your home for spring? Check out our Pinterest boards for more ideas and inspiration!
