A trend that suits the wallet
Shabby chic, sometimes also called cottage style is the perfect design if you are looking for old country vintage look. What's so great about this style is that it does not have to cost a fortune. With a bucket of white paint you can transform your old and ugly furniture into the trendy and very hot shabby chic look.
Or by going to yard sales or second hand stores you may find furniture that will suit both your wallet and make great shabby chic pieces that will give your home the genuine vintage country feeling.
Go for the distressed look
The shabby chic style is easy to get by faux painting using a glaze, or by painting, preferably with a white or off-white color. After the color has dried you will be sanding away some of the top layer coat specially on the corners to get the distressed look to show the wood or base coats.
Change the chair covers to a nice fabric that matches your color scheme in the room. Finish it of by nail tacks or matching ribbon.
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| Go vintage with tea |
Go vintage with leftover tea
No country-style is complete without an abundance of old vintage lace and antique fabrics such as cotton and linen. If you do not have any worn fabric, you can easily carry out the vintage look by staining the fabric with tea to give it an antique look.
No country-style is complete without an abundance of old vintage lace and antique fabrics such as cotton and linen. If you do not have any worn fabric, you can easily carry out the vintage look by staining the fabric with tea to give it an antique look.
Searching for accessories
Take a look up in the attic or in the basement. They could turn out being gold mines when you are looking for accessories to your new, cottage-style home.
A rusty and worn bucket may look great and fashionable in one corner. An old clock may be just what you needed, to fill up that space on your distressed, white-painted table. A mirror with a very ugly frame, could be transformed into an eye-catching wall decoration, only by spray-painting the frame with silver paint.
With some fantasy
You may find old books and bibles that have been hidden under a layer of dust, that will now find a place on a table and be admired for their aged beauty.
An old door could become a rustic and charming coffee table. A wooden old fruit-box could be a great bookshelf.
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Empty wine bottles turns into an art-form! |
Drink your wine!
If you're not fortunate enough to have an attic or a basement you could roam your own cupboards, and find empty wine bottles and glass jars. By painting them white and decorate them with silver beads or stencil them, they will be great centerpieces on a shelf or beautiful accessories in the bathroom.
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With some silver the ugly mirror becomes very chic and trendy |
A natural simplicity
The result of shabby chic country-style, is to make an elegant overall effect. Try to give a prominence to the light and open spaces. By no means make it cluttered or overly garnished, by that I mean "frilly".
Give your home a natural simplicity with natural colors as white, off white, ivory and soft gray. The accessories such as pillows, rugs and table runners could make a dramatic flair with bold colors like purple, honeysuckle, beet-red, turquoise, yellow and brown.
This chest used to be pine-colored before its new Shabby Chic look
Be creative and have fun!
As you can see, with some imagination the possibilities to make your home into a romantic country home are endless.
As always, it's very important to make a home that will show your personality. After all, it's you who is going to live there! So chose whatever inspires you, be creative and have fun designing your shabby chic cottage home!
As always, it's very important to make a home that will show your personality. After all, it's you who is going to live there! So chose whatever inspires you, be creative and have fun designing your shabby chic cottage home!
