Wednesday, November 28, 2018

Shabby Chic


It took a couple tries of my family moving to finally get a feel for what they desired in a destination. After I was born, my family and I moved to Oregon where we lived for about a decade. My mom was always a beach lover, my dad used to say she was born to be at the beach. My mom and her sister grew up living on the beach, which had an influence on their style choices. They both fell in love with the shabby chic style. Shabby chic is known to be an eclectic style that intertwines distressed antique-like looking furniture, pastel and neutral colors (for example: whites, creams, greys, light blues, pinks, greens, yellows), floral prints, shiny details, lace-like features, and vintage collectables. Shabby chic can also be known as country chic or vintage chic, but overall this style creates a delicate and dreamy look to anyone’s home.






 I remember walking into my childhood home and being greeted with light airy colors and rustic wood features. My mom strived to feel like she was at the beach every day and how she showed it was through her decor in our house. She kept the walls all white and decorated each room with mostly whites and greys but would have slight bursts of soft colors. She loved to transform pieces of furniture by refurbishing them and making them look distressed and rustic. To this day she still carries her love for shabby chic, in the house my parents are currently living in she has completely remodeled the interior. She painted all the walls with light colors including the fire place. She used vintage aesthetics to compliment the beach-like colors. Also, she chose a light blue and white rug to tie in the wood floor and the painted walls and fire place.



My moms fire place                       My sisters fire place                 
   Photo taken by Me                       Photo taken by my sister               


Her taste in style rubbed off tremendously on my sister and me. My sister lives the shabby chic fantasy, she upcycles furniture by purchasing vintage pieces and gives them a make over (painting, distressing, etc.). She keeps her walls white that way she can accessorize with pastel colors. Detail is extremely important to her when it comes to decorating. She often hosts “get togethers” at her house; this is an opportunity for her to show off the exquisite aesthetics she creates with her décor. A common “get together” she hosts are tea parties, she goes into detail with her design on the table setting by using floral table cloths, antique china, flowers, silver napkin holders, glass goblets, and many more eclectic items. Her “get togethers” always turns out breathtaking. 



A couple table settings my sister has accomplished
Photo taken by my sister 



As for myself, the layout of my apartment reminds me of a beach condo. This automatically kick started my love for shabby chic, the walls are all white which gives me the opportunity to do just about anything with the design for my apartment. I am currently in the process of making an abundance of my furniture out of pallets. Once I finish all the furniture I am making, I will be painting them light neutral colors with an added distress to the look. Keeping the big pieces of furniture neutral such as, the couch or tv stand, provides me the ability to spice things up with light pastel colored aesthetics.



Shabby Chic living room
Drawing by Me



Shabby chic style is aesthetically pleasing to the eye. The designs are usually simple in color but flamboyant in detail. This gives designers the opportunity to capture an eclectic feel and have fun with the details.  


Sources:



18 Interior Design Terms You Should Know. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.invaluable.com/blog/design-terms/

1 comment:

  1. I like how you described the style of your family. It really painted a pretty picture.

    ReplyDelete