Gilmore is a 27 year old who loves to decorate and is an expert on just about everything. At least she likes to think so. Always Consult a Professional Before Starting a DIY Project. Copyright 2010-2011.
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Shabby chic bedroom furniture is a pretty big design trend. Therefore it’s quite expensive. However, since it does look very vintage and worn you can create this yourself and it’s going to really help you to cut down on the expense of getting an entirely new furniture set.
1. Consider Quality.
You’re going to want to stay away from laminate pieces. Instead you need to find real wood furniture which can be very expensive if you’re buying it new. Thrift stores and antique malls are going to be your best bet. Even if it’s not the color you want, you can still work it into the room. In fact it’s going to be to your advantage because you will save so much money compared to the people that can’t see the potential in these items.
2. Choose a Grand Bed
The color palettes are very similar between this style as well as cottage style furniture. However, the difference is going to be the level of elegance and femininity. The shabby chic style usually wins on both of these points. This means that you want to go with a very grand bed and a poster or canopy bed accomplishes this quite easily. Sometimes, sleigh beds can seem a little bit too modern. So you might want to apply wood appliqués in a wreath or a vine style before you paint it to give it more of a vintage kind of effect. Even if you’re going with an upholstered headboard you want to make sure that it’s very grand with a lot of scalloped edging. This will keep it from seeming too contemporary. Really the upholstered headboard is your least expensive option. However, it needs to be quite oversized in scale.
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If you have a smaller iron bed that you really want to keep then it’s important to create a focal point with another one of your furniture pieces. This is simply because these rooms do use so many neutral colors and so if you don’t have a lot of architecture you still need to find a way to create this effect. You can accomplish this with a lot of vintage style armoires or you might even be able to repurpose an old china cabinet and put paper behind the doors.
Even in a kids room you can get an over the top look. Old architectural details are staples of this design style and you can just repurpose them. Instead of going with a faux fireplace in your room you can just repurpose a vintage fireplace mantle into a headboard or at least use some of the architectural details. You can turn the inset into an upholstered version or just a painted panel.
3. Decide on a distressed finish.
Distressed finishes are really imperative for any cottage style decor. However, you want to make sure that you reign yourself in a little bit. You might just have one or two special pieces so that the pattern doesn’t become distracting. Think about it. If you are finding true antiques they wouldn’t all have the same distressed finish on them because they would’ve all worn differently over time and it’s very difficult to find sets. A crackle finish can at times seem a little bit dated so you might just want to use it on paneling or door fronts and then you can keep the rest of your piece in a bright white. This is going to usually feature a lot of black and white elements. However, you can soften the effect by going with ivory as well as gray which brings in a pretty trendy color palette right now.
4. Bring in a funky element.
Sometimes this style looks a little bit too sweet. You can counteract this by going with one really funky piece. You can still have a signature glaze or crystal knobs on it. In fact, you can even make this suitable for a teens room if you just paint the nightstands in a bright magenta color instead of the typical pale blush pink that we often see in this design style.
