Furnishing your home in shabby chic style: ideas to copy

Furnishing a home is an important moment. Carefully choosing every piece of furniture, every piece of decoration, fabrics and upholstery, is fundamental to the success of an interior design project.

Every detail in the home must be in perfect style with the look chosen for the interior. The furnishing style must reflect not only the trends of the moment, but also the personal taste of those who will then live in the domestic space. The number of furnishing styles to choose from is almost infinite: from modern to classic, from minimal to contemporary, rustic, Nordic, industrial, shabby chic, ethnic, English, pop (to name but a few) and all the looks born from the combination of these. In short, there really is something for all tastes: all you have to do is understand the mood you like best and your home will become the nest of dreams.

Shabby chic: a romantic and very feminine furnishing style

Shabby chic is a furnishing style in which furniture and accessories are chosen for their aged and worn appearance, which can be authentic or the result of an ad-hoc made-up appearance. The shabby furnishing style has special romantic characteristics that are very reminiscent of femininity: soft, graceful lines with a retro feel are combined with pastel colours and neutral shades that are very elegant and refined. Furnishing a home in shabby chic style means paying attention to details such as textures, upholstery, patterns and natural materials.

But what does shabby chic mean?

Shabby is a term that means worn, worn-out. Clearly, however, the adjective chic indicates exactly the opposite: finesse, elegance, refinement.

Shabby chic therefore means elegantly worn. The shabby furniture style, therefore, is characterised by furniture that looks particularly elegant and at the same time worn. The worn look is given by a damaged varnish, vintage wood, and less than perfect edges.

Furnishing your home in shabby chic style: ideas to copy

The colours of shabby chic

To furnish a house in perfect shabby style, it is necessary to use the right colours: the success of a project depends on the colour. This furnishing style prefers soft, light, dusty colours and pastel shades of sage green, sugar paper and candy pink. The main colour, however, is white. Bright colours are absolutely banned; ivory, beige, dove grey and lighter shades of grey are fine.

Shabby chic fabrics

The fabrics that are the protagonists of a shabby chic home are unbleached linen and cotton. Precisely because of the romantic atmosphere they can evoke, laces are also very popular. Small details in satin or silk are also good. Curtains, cushions and doilies are a must in a shabby home. Plain colours, stripes and flower prints such as roses and peonies are very popular.

Shabby chic furniture and accessories

Shabby furniture is worked, has rounded lines and is rich in decoration. They can be white or in other colours typical of the style: their paintwork is always weathered and sometimes allows the living wood to be seen.

Shabby then, as mentioned, is characterised by vintage objects painted in light colours such as white, cream, ivory, beige, grey, but also pastel shades such as sage green or light blue. Flowers, frames, vases, lanterns and exposed porcelain are the main decorative accessories in the shabby home.

Shabby lighting

When it comes to lighting in the shabby style there can be no mistake: only warm or neutral lights are permitted. No LEDs, no cold colours.

Interior design: designing home lighting to the best

Shabby chic and modern style: how to combine them?

Shabby chic and modern are two very different styles, but it is possible to combine them to achieve unique and aesthetically pleasing interiors.

Modern furniture, unlike shabby furniture, is characterised by essential shapes and clean, simple lines. Combining shabby and modern furniture is possible, but it is necessary to carefully ponder every choice and evaluate every detail so as not to create a confusing and tasteless interior. To do this, it is first necessary to understand which style should be the main one. For modern furniture, focus on wood furniture with a matt finish that brings out the quality of this material.

As far as colour is concerned, light and neutral shades are typical of shabby chic, together with bright and refined pastel shades. The modern, on the other hand, also likes darker colours, black, grey, oak. If modern and shabby are to coexist, then we must focus on white, which is perfect because it enhances both styles and allows them to coexist harmoniously.

And again, one way to combine two different furniture styles, such as modern and shabby, within the same room is to focus on matching opposing furniture and decorative accessories: for example, the combination of modern chairs with a shabby chic table, or vice versa, is a popular and widespread trend.