Inspired by chic vintage pieces and rustic design, the shabby chic furniture is quite popular and gives your home décor a classic, vintage look. The shabby chic style emerged in the 1980s when English bohemians and artists started recycling old furniture. Shabby chic means ‘worn out or ‘damaged’ in the language of Shakespeare. It is the art of sublimating the beauty of imperfection. The best way to achieve a shabby chic look is with wood furniture and a few coats of paint. Read on to find out how to DIY shabby chic furniture.
How to Create Shabby Chic Furniture
The shabby chic furniture is chipped and aged: it shows signs of being old and vintage. The paint is aged to simulate years of wear. There are different methods to achieve this look.
If you love the shabby chic look but aren’t sure where to start, here are some tips for you. We will tell you what you need to know to DIY shabby chic furniture style. By following this procedure, you’ll be able to give your furniture a sleek and minimalistic look in no time.
Tools Required for Shabby Chic Furniture DIY
You won’t need a lot of materials to decorate a piece of furniture in a shabby chic style. Here’s everything you’ll need:
- Old newspapers
- Apron
- Plastic goggles
- Protective gloves
- Detergent and cloth
- A bucket of hot water
- Sandpaper
- Large brush or soft cloth
- Two colours of a single coat of matte emulsion paint: glossy white for the first coat and your main colour for the final coat
- Three brushes (one for each colour to save cleaning)
- Decorative satin clear varnish
- Putty knife
How to Paint Furniture Shabby Chic
There are five steps to follow:
- Prepare the furniture
- Clean the furniture
- Sand the furniture
- Paint the furniture
- Distress the furniture
Tip: If this is your first experience, start small with a chair or a simple piece of wood. Small objects mean you’ll finish faster, they’re easier to handle and work with. You can also do this practice on second-hand furniture available in Dubai.
Prepare the Furniture
First of all, disassemble the furniture before you start giving it a shabby chic look. For instance, remove the hinges, fittings and handles from the furniture.
Clean the Furniture
Washing the wood before performing any material-straining operation is essential because you need to be able to see what kind of effects you can give to the furniture with paint.
- Wear gloves and protective clothing and apply the detergent to the surface of the furniture.
- Scrub the furniture as much as you can so that you won’t leave stains.
- Rinse everything with hot water then let the furniture dry completely before moving on to the next step.
Sand the Furniture
Before repainting furniture, you will need to sand off the existing paint or varnish with sandpaper. Both techniques give the same effect.
- All parts of the furniture should be coated with varnish or paint to protect it.
- If you don’t sand first and just paint over the finish, the paint won’t stick to the wood well.
- You can use an electric sander if the furniture has a heavy coat of gloss to regain its original surface.
- If your furniture is only painted, coarse sandpaper will work.
- Take care when sanding and try not to damage the surface of the wood.
- It is best to start with an electric sander and then finish with medium-grit sandpaper to achieve the desired goal.
- Don’t worry about this roughening of the wood, it allows the wood to paint properly and it will achieve a better finish.
Tip: Consider the degree of wear you need to apply to achieve desired results. When painting on the surface, think about how to apply it and the thickness of the brush. Also, try not to obscure any subtle detail with too much heavy coat of paint.
Paint the Furniture
Once the furniture has been sanded, use a brush or cloth on the surface to remove small wood particles and dust before painting.
- You need to apply a thick coat of white emulsion and try to avoid drips.
- You can then apply the paint in a thicker layer. Don’t worry, you will be sanding it down later.
- Leave to dry according to the instructions written on the paint can.
Tip: From satin, matte, gloss and emulsion primer, in one coat and with an undercoat, the list of available paints seems endless. Go for single-coat paint, if possible, as they are thicker and don’t require undercoats to generate a bright, well-defined colour.
Distressing the Furniture
You need to sand and scarp the furniture again to achieve the shabby chic style. It might seem a little weird to do this right after giving the furniture a fresh coat of paint, but this is how you can give your furniture a vintage shabby chic look.
- Once the paint is dry, use a putty knife to scrape the paint off carefully.
- Start slowly and without excess.
- Try scraping around the edges and corners to get the shabby, worn, faded look.
- If you get paint peels, try not to pull them off, but rather cut them with a putty knife. You can also use sandpaper to smooth them out.
- Now sand the scratches with the help of sandpaper just to smooth the edges.
- Take a dry brush to get rid of all the little residual bits and dust.
- Apply a coat or two of clear varnish to finish or use furniture wax. It provides a subtle shine to the finished piece.
Now you know how to DIY shabby chic wood furniture. The shabby chic decoration stands out with light or pastel tones such as powder pink or shades of beige that go perfectly with the bleached wood. Moreover, if you already have shabby chic furniture at home then try these traditional Arabic home decor ideas to elevate the interior.
The advantage of the shabby chic style is that the paint does not have to be perfect. If you make mistakes during application or sanding, don’t worry. Ultimately, you are looking for an uneven finish similar to the effect caused by the wear of time.
Besides, you can browse through second-hand antique furniture in the UAE and find a range of pieces to give them a unique shabby chic look.
However, if your apartment doesn’t have enough space where you can keep your favourite items then it’s time to move out. You can browse through these apartments for rent in the UAE and find the perfect place for you.
Stay in touch with the UAE’s leading property blog for more shabby chic DIY furniture ideas.
