Shabby Chic Bedroom Style

You do not necessarily have lots of money to create a shabby chic bedroom. However, you do need plenty of self assurance if you are going to combine successfully a selection of apparently incongruous elements in the same room. While magazines might suggest that anything goes in shabby chic, what separates the sheep from the wolves is one person's ability to see which faded fabric will work with which piece of distressed furniture, and which ancient mirror would add the appropriate sense of faded grandeur without looking self-conscious. 

Do not try too hard or you may find that you have created a disastrously unkempt effect instead. To produce the look that makes old and worn look rich and welcoming, you need a good eye for design - and enough historical knowledge to ensure that you use styles that are sympathetic to each other.

It may be the acquisition of an antique mirror, or a vast wardrobe (closet), or even some chintz curtains originally designed for windows much larger than yours that tempts you to consider opting for a shabby chic bedroom. What do you do with this kind of legacy? You must experiment. Now is your chance to luxuriate in quantities of antique fabric that would otherwise be totally out of your financial reach Indeed, if you have none, you should search for antique curtains that you can use for bed hangings as welt as for your windows, alternatively you could unstack them and transform your bed by making a new bed cover with a halt tester, or adapt them to drape in great swathes over a simple four-poster frame. If there is still fabric over at the end, you could cover a cushion or re-upholster that little chair welt-worn fabric will never look brash or out of place.

Employing strong and impressive pieces of furniture in a bedroom can be more difficult because they can take over a room. Any reservations you might have about mixing antique with modern furniture should be dispelled if you choose pieces of similar line and proportion. You can emphasize this visual link by employing a distressed paint finish or an appropriate fabric to unify the various items. A linen press of armourer is ideal for clothes storage, and just right for a shabby chic look, but if bedroom space is at a premium, perhaps it will have to stand on a landing - an item of furniture to be admired.

You can read: Country Style Bedroom

Shabby chic is ideal for wandering travellers who arrive home from exotic lands laden with ethnic acquisitions, these textiles and objects tend to combine much more happily with faded and worn furniture and textiles than with brand-new upholstery and a self consciously designed scheme. 

For the budget-conscious decorator, for whom buying a property stretches resources to the limit, shabby chic can conserve funds. You can still put together a wonderfully theatrical effect. You can make a considered decision not to invest in 'bright and shiny new' but to celebrate 'well-built and old' instead. What does it matter that an arm of a chair is worn or that your sagging shelves are propped up on piles of books? The chair must be comfortable, and a straight line is less important than surrounding yourself with books.

The overall look of shabby chic, from Subtly coloured distempered. peeling walls to big, cozy furniture that seems to have been there for ever, even the mellow lighting, is inviting; the room feels well lived-in.