Shabby Chic Bedroom Ideas To Resurrect Vintage Style

A unique style of feminine florals and intentionally distressed decor made famous by designer Rachel Ashwell, the shabby chic style is an easily achievable theme for any room. Mixing elements of vintage with slightly dated luxury items, the shabby chic look can take any space back in time to a cozy, old English country home. In this blog, we will explore some of the best shabby chic designs and provide tips for how you can enhance your own space.

Decorating With Shabby Chic Decor

One of the key elements found in shabby chic spaces is upcycled furniture. One thing that makes this style so unique is that many people will put time into distressing or altering certain furniture pieces to make them look more vintage. While some stylists will shop at antique markets to find their vintage pieces, others will enjoy a project like staining a simple armoire, turning it into a pastel pink wardrobe.

This room also features an older looking nightstand — one piece that visitors may never know whether it is true vintage or simply an upcycled side table.

Pastels and floral patterns are probably one of the first things that shabby chic stylists reach for when designing an area. Perhaps two of the most common elements of a shabby chic space, flowery fabrics and baby pinks are what give these rooms their ultra-feminine feel. Almost rustic-Victorian in nature, the two elements, whether they are found as physical decor or just as photos printed on fabrics, are almost always associated with a shabby chic style.

 

 

 

Obviously, most shabby chic rooms will incorporate the iconic floral duvet and shabby chic bed dressings, but other textures are just as defining. Ruffles and paisleys are also commonly seen incorporated into vintage-style comforters and shams. Another often overlooked texture is glass and ceramic. Some of the best older looking shabby chic rooms display antique perfume bottles and small ceramic figurines to create corners of the room much like you were sure to have come across in your grandmother’s room during your childhood.

The distressed details are arguably the most trendy element of shabby chic rooms. While some larger furniture pieces are DIY-ed to give them their antique feel, other, sometimes smaller details offer just as much of a style enhancement when altered. Just like the headboard in this outdoorsy room, purposely distressed elements can give any shabby chic room a boost of character and dimension.

Of course, the thing that sets this style apart from purely antique rooms is the “chic” side of things. By utilizing details like crystal chandeliers and intricate metallic frames for photos and mirrors, you can take a dull, lifeless looking room full of vintage furniture and turn it into a glamorous space with a dash of antique character.

Modern Chic

Modern shabby chic takes the ruffles and pastels and replaces them with more sophisticated tufted comforters, farmhouse vibes and a cozy atmosphere. If you’ve ever wanted to combine a love for antiques with a modern style, this just be the way to do it.

This sweet and simple room features calming yellow tones, an iron rod bed frame and a darling vase of daffodils, creating a.modern day version of an English cottage bedroom. The tufted bedspread adds sophistication while the single accent pillow keeps the design to a minimum.

This white and gray room mixes a chandelier and ruched duvet with a farmhouse-style distressed pallet headboard. Minimal, while still exhibiting designs from both shabby chic and modern day trends, this bedroom is a near perfect mesh of the two styles.

 

When I envision modern styles, I immediately think of blacks, whites, and minimalistic yet warm geometric accents. While the first room looks like it could have come straight out of a Magnolia lookbook, the subtle vintage details such as the wall lamps on either side of the bed, keep the style floating in the realm of shabby chic. The chandelier in the second photo is a dead giveaway that, paired with that distressed window sills-turned-headboard, this is a modern shabby chic space fit for anyone who loves the vintage look almost as much as they love imagining how cozy it would be to wrap up in that to-die-for chunky knit throw blanket.

Grandmother Chic

Like mentioned earlier, it’s no surprise that your first time seeing decor like this was at a sleepover with your grandparents. Because many of the elements are taken from old trends, they often show up in those rooms time and time again. However, with the right amount of added glam, a lifeless bedroom can be turned into a shabby chic masterpiecee.

A distress wooden day bed in front of these glossy accented walls is a darling addition to this pastel, natural-light filled room. With golden accents, a crystal chandelier, and vase of fresh flowers, it’s almost as if you can smell fresh linens upon walking in the door.

A shift from the traditional pastels of shabby chic decor, this beachy area features a dull blue wall accented with antique plates, a vase of dark-colored flowers and a vintage bird cage. As if we needed one more feature to define the style, the antique telephone that sits atop the romantic, detailed white tablecloth is the cheery on top to this shabby chic decor.

These thick floral satin bed dressings are a sign of the times, taking this shabby chic room back in time to when these were trending everywhere. Reintroducing them with crystal-accent lampshades and distressed nightstands is the perfect way to get these romantic bedspreads back on the shabby chic designer’s radar.

Luxury Chic

Without the chic, there would be no shabby chic! Sometimes, however, one outweighs the other. In these glam rooms, we see a handful more of a chic than shabby and we are big fans of this style.

 

This simple bedroom is open, flooded with natural light, and features floral details everywhere. The refreshing atmosphere of this room and romantic roses on the wall mural will make you feel like you’re going to sleep in the most coveted designer bedroom.

This luxurious shabby chic room features not only the typical pastels and satin ruffles on the bedding, but it also uses an intricate canopy-style decor with short, crystal-accented drapes over the bed. From the matching window curtains to the details in the furniture, this shabby chic room is one for the books.

Fit for royalty, this shabby chic room is overwhelmingly luxurious and features a large, flowy bed canopy as well as a golden bed. The flowers strewn across the floor are just a reminder that the tufted headboard and romantic atmosphere can be used just as nicely in a more sophisticated style of design.

Rustic Chic

Shabby chic rooms traditionally have a hint of rustic design, but some styles embrace the trendy modified Western decor in their shabby chic space. From wood panels to Southern accents, these rustic chic rooms are the perfect hug of vintage rustic with a touch of glam.

This first rustic chic room really takes advantage of the wood panel shabby chic design rugs. Its most defining decor is the hanging mural featuring a lamp and a pitcher with lavender in it —  if there were a better way to merge rustic with shabby chic. The chic aspect is not lost here either. the gold accented frame portrayed by the wall art above the bed gives the room just enough glam to make it feel slightly upgraded from your favorite woodsy cabin.

This rustic chic room falls on the more elaborate side of styling, featuring a thick floral bed canopy tucked behind the headboard and an unusual brass chandelier. The put togetherness of this room, while it lacks the iconic “cluttered” style of shabby chic, presents the theme in a whole new sophisticated way using luxurious fabrics and a less glamorous chandelier. The modified shabby chic style of this neutral rustic room is a refreshing take on traditional shabby chic style.

Pastels and a crystal-accented chandelier immediately show off the shabby chic style in this room, but at a closer look, the rustic style is also incorporated. From the flower-detailed dream catcher to the mirrors with hand-dressed frames, the antique look intertwines with subtle rustic decor for a bedroom that belongs in any antique lover’s farmhouse.

It’s no surprise to see wood panels portrayed as rustic accents in this room, because yet again, they remain such defining aspects of the rustic style. However, paired with flowers and a unique rug featuring a vintage-era velvet couch, this neutral shabby chic room embraces multiple different directions of the shabby chic style.

The cowboy boots and decorative wheel in the background of this shabby chic bedroom are a dead giveaway of its rustic secondary design. With alternating decor between the flowers, the unique vintage mannequins, the ruffled bedding, and upcycled bed, and the boots and steel lighting fixture, this room couldn’t be a more perfect mix of shabby chic and rustic. From the antique rug and open brick wall to the stained teal bed details, these stylists created a perfect rustic chic atmosphere.

Flower bedding

Floral details are a traditional and iconic part of shabby chic decor. From photos of flowers to floral patterns to vases with a real fresh bouquet, these blooms are a necessary addition to any shabby chic room. Lucky for stylists, florals come in countless colors and styles so that every room can feature the flowers that best exhibit they’re own style.

From pastel lilacs to deep lavenders, purple florals are a less common but still fantastic addition to a unique shabby chic room. From the patterned shabby chic window curtains to the photo of magenta blooms on the wall, this shabby chic room is full of life and vibrance — a refreshing change from the traditional pastel shabby chic palette.

the romantic combination of pinks and yellows are likely seen in most shabby chic bedrooms. A peaceful and aesthetic mix, pinks and yellows often bring an air of tradition to shabby chic rooms, utilizing an older mindset of styling and decorating shabby chic spaces. Both yellow and pink fresh flowers work beautifully and for added character, you can toss them in a white porcelain pitcher.