DIY painting in the style of Shabby Chic

The interior in the old style always looks beautiful and unusual. And in order to create it, it is not at all necessary to have large funds and buy expensive antique furniture. Interesting gizmos, for example, do-it-yourself paintings in the style of Shebby Chic, will fit perfectly into such an interior. In addition, you can create beautiful things from old grandmother's dressers, shelves, stools and sideboards - all this can decorate a room. In this article you will find some interesting ideas about this.

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What is shabby chic?

This style originated in England. Unlike other well-known directions, it even has a real creator - this is designer Rachel Ashwell. She had a special love for antique furniture, but even more she liked to give the furniture a look of even greater antiquity.

The main attribute of Shabby Chic furniture is the artificial aging of surfaces. Moreover, not to the state of classical antiques, but quite a bit - so that the furniture resembles objects of the 50s of the last century. Furniture of this style has frayed surfaces through which the pattern is slightly visible.

Also, furniture in this style is distinguished by the following:

• Pastel shades.
• Ease.
• Convex ornaments.
• The presence of vintage elements.

Important! Provence should not be confused with Shabby Chic, as the second option is elegant furniture, which is created using expensive materials, especially when it comes to textiles. While for Provence, inexpensive and outwardly simple materials are used. In Provence, there are no angels and roses, although there are small floral ornaments, but in Shebby Chic, these are your favorite decor options.

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Pictures in the style of Shabby Chic

To correctly enter decorative details in such an interior, consider the following:

• Pictures in the style of Shabby Chic can be painted in watercolor, oil. With your own hands to create such a masterpiece will not be difficult, because you just need to catch inspiration and create. No one here requires technical skill from you, and the topic doesn’t really have anything to do with it.
• Actual motifs are flowers, but these should be bouquets, always very light, airy and lush. Draw peonies, roses on a white or silver background.

Important! Embroidery with threads, pictures in the Shebby Chic style from fabric that you can create according to the flight of your imagination will also be appropriate. Embroidery is usually done on a standard canvas. And as a basis for gluing the fabric, both dense cardboard and a suitable size piece of foam are suitable. Only they must first be painted in the corresponding background color.

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What colors to choose for furniture?

If you decide to make something out of Shabby Chic furniture with your own hands, then you should choose the right color. Furniture for this style can be safely painted in the following colors:

• All pastel shades of pink.
• Bluish colors.
• All delicate and pastel shades of green.
• All shades of white - cream, creamy, boiling.

Important! Pastel colors must be complemented with bright accents. Otherwise, the decor will be too boring. Decoupage, bronze paint and gilding are encouraged.

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Necessary tools and materials

In order to make a thing in the style of Shabby Chic from an ordinary bedside table, stool or dresser, you need the following:

• Acrylic and oil paints in suitable colors.
• Ammonia.
• Stain.
• Matt lacquer.
• Foam sponges.
• Brushes.
• Brush with metal bristles.
• Sandpaper.

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Surface aging

There are three ways to make a DIY surface for making Shabby Chic furniture.

Chemical way

With this method, the surface of the furniture is treated with stain, ammonia or special craquelure paints:

• Ammonia is capable of imparting a grayish coating that occurs on an old tree.
• Stain is pretty easy to use. She gives a basic tone. To get an aged surface, it is necessary, until the stain is completely dry, in some places, just wash it off with a wet sponge, creating frayed spots.
• It is also very simple to get the effect of the old surface if you use craquelure paint or varnish. For this, the product is painted in the desired color, and coated with white paint on top. After complete drying over the surface, the products are brushed with a metal brush in order to get transitions from one paint to another - as if the furniture was repainted several times, and old layers of paint shine through new ones. Then craquelure varnish is applied, again covered with paint - cracks appear, similar to peeling paint.

Thermal method

With the thermal method of aging the surface, a blowtorch must be used for the appearance of a texture pattern.

Important! You can use this option only if you are confident in your skills. Otherwise, the furniture may be irreparably damaged.

Mechanical way

In the mechanical method, the surface of the furniture is treated with a metal brush. This is how the illusion of old age and unevenness is created. After that, the furniture is treated with sandpaper and polished so that there are no sticking out torn fibers or an ugly texture.

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Decoupage

To decorate furniture in the style of Shabby Chic with your own hands, it is best to use the decoupage technique. The most important thing here is to pick up beautiful plots of pictures.

Images of angels, roses and other delicate flowers are ideal for this style. Where to get them? - In modern needlework stores, a huge number of all kinds of ready-made pictures for decoupage are sold, among which you will definitely find the right one.

Important! Ready-made pictures for decoupage can easily be replaced with improvised means. You can use wine labels, pictures from magazines, beautiful napkins, or print your favorite picture on a printer.

Decoupage is applied to things after the general background has been prepared. That is, furniture of this style should already be painted and aged to the necessary stage. Only after this can you begin to choose a place for decoupage elements.

The procedure is as follows:

• Glue pictures to selected places. For this purpose, apply PVA glue previously diluted with water. Glue the picture itself and fix it in its place.

Important! Gently smooth the image with a piece of cloth or foam, so that no bubbles or dents remain.

• Let the pictures dry completely.
• After drying, coat the surface with a matte varnish to give the decor resistance to environmental influences.
• You can also use craquelure varnish, which will give a cracking effect, and beautifully decoupage pattern.
• And to emphasize the effect of a seasoned surface, a special aging wax will help, which is applied after all the manipulations and complete drying of the varnish.

Important! To enhance the effect, a couple drops of dark paint can be added to the aging wax.

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Other effects

Furniture in the style of Shebby Chic with your own hands can be made more effective if you cover the ends or legs with gold or bronze paint. Using the above techniques, gilding can be aged, achieving the effect, as if in some places it has already begun to peel off, exposing the main background.

In this case, they act according to the same scheme:

1. First, the furniture parts are painted with the main paint.
2. Then, on top of the dried layer, bronze or gilding is applied.
3. Not allowing the paint to dry completely, in some places it is lightly washed with a wet foam sponge, achieving a translucent effect.

Important! Everything must be done with extreme care so as not to erase too much paint.

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Stock footage

It’s not difficult to create an interior with furniture by yourself. The main thing here is not to overdo it and correctly combine all the decor items with each other. Only then will the room look cozy, fresh and romantic.