Shabby Chic Style with Dark Furniture

Shabby Chic Style

Rachel Ashwell coined the name Shabby Chic in 1989 in Santa Monica

where she sold white slipcovered furniture on overstuffed pieces.

It was a super popular look that was all white and light

giving the feeling of easy SoCal living with a prettiness.

It went out of favor and she went bankrupt after 20 years in business.

Since then she has reinvented her business and her brand in 2011

 and Shabby Chic has returned with a narrowed popularity.  Its still

light and breezy with vintage florals added to the mix.  Whites and pastels

used in home decor decorating are often referred to as being Shabby Chic.

And so this guest bedroom I reworked is the topic of todays blog post.

My client, Mary,had a guest room that she started 

to decorate in the Shabby Chic style,

but called me in to finish it up as she wasn't sure how to incorporate

all the heavy furnishings in dark wood.  She did not want to paint anything,

which of course I would have done, were it in my house~but this is for

those of you who may want a lighter look but have dark furnishings.

Lets take a look at a couple of before photos.  To start with the room

had a pretty aqua blue wall color and white woodwork. 

 That was a great place to start.  To try to Shabby it up, Mary had

her husband add a little white chandelier with pink shades from the ceiling fan,

and she purchased a mirrored chest from HomeGoods.  Then she used a ruffled

white bed duvet and shams along with a white shag rug. But the furniture

was large and things didn't feel quite finished.

This shows the guest room in the middle of Mary's decorating.

I planned to use as much of Mary's things as I could to keep costs down.

The white ruffled bedding on the dark wood bed was a good place to start. 

The room felt awkward with the mirrored chest between the two windows.

So the first thing I did was to rearrange the furniture.  Our goal was to work

with what we had~so I shopped the house for a lot of the changes that went

into this room.  That meant things came out of the closets, and I used a coverlet

for the bed from the master bedroom that just had received a makeover recently.

 White sheers were hung from simple iron rods from HomeGoods. 
 A dark grey coverlet was laid over the white duvet. 
The mirrored chest came over toward the entry side of the 

bedroom, which lightened up the overstuffed feeling of the room.  
A few little touches made all the difference. 
 A beautiful embroidered pillow in aqua repeated the wall color as

did the pretty decorative shopping bad that I hung on the armoire door knob.

Don't over look the decorative box and gift bags 
when looking for inexpensive ways to bring color into a room.  

See the pretty gift bag?  What an easy style tip for a bedroom!
A large basket added to the top of the armoire filled the empty space.

It is stuffed with extra pillows, but really the basket adds needed warmth

and texture to the mostly white room. 
Which reminds me...when you shop the gift bag area in HomeGoods, they 
have beautiful gift wrap papers too.  Look how I used an aqua chevron paper
to cover books in this room I recently did~so don't overlook that section as
a great tool in inexpensive home decor!

Pretty book covers created by using gift wrap!

See how it can repeat the colors in a room?

From the rug to the pillows to the books in the bookshelf!
Repeat your main accent color....
(This image has over 650 repins on the HomeGoods Happy by Design board!)
Anyway, I digressed a bit...back to Mary's guest room.
 The soft sheers hung up at ceiling height bath the room in filtered light, 
and the iron rods repeat some of the dark tones.

Too much white and pastels and the room would have been too sweet.

A look at the bed shows how simple yet pretty 

it is dressed in white, aqua and grey.

The mirrored chest became the star of the room, placed by 

the entryway, it is not to be missed.

A whimsical painting from HomeGoods in all the colors of the room capture the 

Shabby Chic style.  I used all of Mary's accents and only added one

picture frame and a decorative paper box in aqua. The bathroom was next!

  The adjoining bathroom was standard faire~how to Shabby Chic this 

space up and give it a coordinated feeling was my goal.  

And it had to be on a budget of course!  Mary had a white linen

drapery panel she wanted me to use.  It was floor length and that is

not everyones choice for a bathroom curtain, but it can be lovely.

The towel hanger and the toilet paper hanger were both underneath the 

window, so that had to be taken into consideration for this quickie makeover.

 Again, lots of white was added for the Shabby Chic style.  

The bathroom vanity and countertop were dark and traditional looking.

I painted the mirror to look like distressed driftwood in white and grey.

Sorry~no closeup, but just lightening the mirror made the space feel 

larger and more airy.  The panel was hung at the ceiling and then

gathered in the center with a length of ribbon and a faux peony then

pinned to the ribbon for a little touch.

 You can always use things you have around the house for 

an interesting curtain tieback.  A piece of jewelry or hair band or pretty ribbon

can all work to coral a long drapery.

The toilet paper and hand towel are all accessible, and Mary has her

elegant flowing curtain in the bathroom.  Oh, and just maybe you can get a 

peek of the Shabby Chic mirror treatment!

 So lighten and brighten with white even if you have dark woods.

You will love the result!

Note: This post is partially sponsored by HomeGoods as part of my participation in the designer program on Pinterest, Happy By Design.  

To see more designer tips from HomeGoods please visit our designer Pinterest board here.