Romance at Home: Shabby Chic Living Room Ideas

The shabby chic style is formal and informal at the same time. Yup.. Here is a good example: a chair. The style will be more French – formal looking and decorative, but it will be painted in a light pastel color and possibly chipped. Below I’ll go over more shabby chic living room ideas to give you a good idea on how to style your space.

When it comes to the color palette of the room, try and keep it to white, off white, cream, and pastel shades. Just like the swatches in the mood board above.

Fancy Storage Ideas

White wicker baskets, just like in picture (2), are great for grouping items, storing blankets and extra pillows, holding magazines, and kids toys. Wire baskets also work as storage containers and create that shabby chic look. Another idea would be to lean an old wooden ladder against the wall and use it as a magazine rack or to hang up blankets.

A great way to add some greenery is to use vintage glass bottles as planters. Check out my post here for more ideas on using vintage glass bottles as decor pieces around the house.

Sitting Down

A style to borrow from when it comes to shabby chic living room furniture would be French. It is decorative and ornate. In terms of color, the best would be either white or a pastel color. Chipped furniture adds to the shabby chic style and this can be done at home DIY style – check out the steps for doing so here.

A white coffee table (3) will look good surrounded by your shabby chic furniture. Other shabby chic coffee table ideas include using a trunk (4).

Whimsy and Lighting

You can create a romantic ambience in the living room by using low down lighting. So avoid using the ceiling lights at night and go for some table or floor lamps. On the coffee table have some lanterns and use candles or battery powered candles.

A must have if you really want to create a flawless shabby chic style is a chandelier (5) or a mini one. This will be a feature piece, hanging down in the middle of your living room.

Lightweight drapes can be wrapped in LED string lights to create an elegant soft glow in the room. You want to use LED lights because they give off less heat making them safer to use with fabric.

Accenting with Decor Pieces

A large painted French style mirror adds to the style of the room just like in picture (6) and makes a living room feel larger and more spacious.
A good way to hack the shabby chic style is to put a chipped painted, reclaimed door in the living room as a decor piece – just look at the living room in picture (7). Reclaimed windows work too.
When it comes to decorating ideas for the seating area, lace pillows and even burlap pillows (8) with a printed graphic on it works. A blanket with lace edging or a quilt (9) can also be draped over the couch to add a shabby chic touch.
Curtains tend to make up a large portion of the living room walls – so the right style here can make a big impact on the look of the room. The way to go would be with more traditional style curtains – like using lace, or decorative drapes just like in picture (10). Don’t forget to use tie backs to create a formal look. One DIY idea is to use vintage door knobs as hooks to tie back the curtains.
Have some vintage pieces decorating the living room like a skeleton key, botanical prints, or an antique looking clock.
Add some pink and white flowers to the mix (11) either in a galvanised buckets, enamel containers or a ceramic serving jug. You can always wrap these containers with lace.

If you want to go that extra mile to create the shabby style, look at creating textured walls. Either with rough plaster, stucco, or even with textured paint techniques seen here. 1/2/3/4/5/6/7/8/9/10/11