Coun­try Shabby Patch­work

Shabby Chic Daybeds

Author: Mitch Endick

If you are like me, dec­o­rat­ing for com­fort rather than style is impor­tant. Mis­matched fur­ni­ture, quaint coun­try wall hang­ings and hand sewn com­forters seem to find their way into our home like a lit­ter of lost pup­pies. I will take an old, over­stuffed easy chair over a mod­ern recliner any day. Our guests are wel­comed with snug and com­fort­able sur­round­ings where they can put their feet up and relax.

Whether you call it cot­tage decor, French coun­try or bohemian, warmth and infor­mal­ity per­me­ates the room that some may describe as shabby. It is in fact shabby chic. From pas­tels to tea stains, shabby chic has long been an eclec­tic favorite in inte­rior design. Well, per­haps design is not quite the right term.

The con­cept of shabby chic prob­a­bly has less to do with a par­tic­u­lar style and more to do with reflect­ing a lifestyle. Soft pas­tels col­ors, lacey fab­rics and old fur­ni­ture with sub­tle signs of wear are char­ac­ter­is­tic of the look.

Many inte­rior design schemes focus on adher­ence to the con­cept that form always fol­lows func­tion. I think that shabby chic turns this con­cept on its head. Design forms that empha­size some level of high style would be out of place in a room that looks more like it has been thrown together than well though out. Mis­matches in fur­ni­ture styles and the use of hand­made or home­spun types of fab­ric would hardly be con­sid­ered high style.

My own home reflects a level of shabby chic. The fur­ni­ture does not match, and room accents such as art­work and light­ing fix­tures do not come together in some grand plan. In con­trast to Early Amer­i­can or say French coun­try motifs, my home might accu­rately be described as Early Sec­ond Hand. Sim­plic­ity is the rule in our home, sim­ply used and func­tional with­out the empha­sis on form.

To achieve a shabby chic look, a new item of fur­ni­ture is some­time inten­tion­ally made to look worn. The process dis­tress­ing has been used for years, on every­thing from fur­ni­ture to wood floors. I have seen installers take a per­fectly new wood floor and beat it with heavy chains to give that gen­tly used look.

The prac­tice of antiquing is another way to give oth­er­wise new fur­ni­ture an old look. Tea stain­ing is a process of treat­ing new fab­ric mak­ing it look gen­tly aged.

Now you may think it a waste to take a new item of fur­ni­ture and inten­tion­ally turn it into an old item of fur­ni­ture. The sim­ple beauty of shabby chic is that there are no rules, no strict tenets of inte­rior design.

Of course, there are ways to achieve that gen­tly used, shab­bily chic look. Fur­ni­ture and room accents that have aged nat­u­rally are pre­ferred. Like flaws in fine leather, cer­tain dis­tress fea­tures can add value to an item of fur­ni­ture. Most antique experts advise against refin­ish­ing antique fur­ni­ture. Dam­age can be done to the patina of the wood greatly dimin­ish­ing the items value.

Since daybeds have such a long his­tory, you can use your daybed as a focal point of the room. Daybeds can fit quite well into a shabby chic envi­ron­ment. Even if the daybed is new, the daybed cover can be used to attain that shabby chic look.

You can eas­ily achieve this pop­u­lar look through var­i­ous choices of fab­rics and col­ors. Pinks and other light col­ors, lace trims and patch­work fab­rics are all avail­able to trans­form your daybed by sim­ply chang­ing the daybed cover.

Shop­ping online for shabby chic day bed cov­ers is a great way to cre­ate a look and feel that is com­fort­able, infor­mal and inviting.

About the Author:

Mitch Endick is a short arti­cle writer for the pop­u­lar daybed site: http://www.daybedcovers.com. He pro­vides infor­ma­tive advice on pur­chas­ing qual­ity daybed cov­ers and ensembles.

Arti­cle Source: ArticlesBase.com — Shabby Chic Daybeds