English Shabby Chic
 If you dream of a stately, garden - retreat…. then English Country is your Shabby Chic Style. English country is all about creating the outdoors indoor but with an aristocratic touch to it. This style is a blend of the comfortable with the elegant. Since England is notorious for its many gray days, English people have created a style that makes them feel as if the warmth of the sunny countryside is indoor, evoking summer romance all year-round. To create a room that lifts your spirit use a variety of floral fabrics that you will group together with other accent to create individual vignette, this trick will lead the eye around the room in delightful discoveries. The first step when creating an English style room is to head to a fabric store and pick up a floral fabric with a motif that exudes dreamy English countryside in its hue and pattern. The fabric of choice here is Chintzes: the fresh, crisp cotton with a polished finish. You can use this fabric to make covers for your main piece in the room: the couch. Start with one pattern that contains all the hues in your desired palette and let the other fabrics that will be used as accents such as pillows, floral arrangements and accessories, take their color cues from it. These other color cues should be used to build the color pattern for the whole room, including the paint for the walls. The second point to keep in mind is to think about comfort. English people have invented the wing chairs because they enjoy sipping their tea while relaxing sitting down on their chairs and sofas. So think of a big rolled arm for sofa and a big wing chairs for your room when starting this project and heading out for your major investment: upholstery or slip covers. When planning an English style cottage, the point to keep in mind is to reverse the way the color white is used. Here you need to keep the floral colors on your sofa and on at least one big chair, then use the color white (off white or ivory) on the accent pieces such as cocktail table, side tables, bookshelves, and curtains. (In the other chic styles it is the opposite: white on the sofas and chairs and floral on the draperies, pillows and others) To help the floral pattern from being overbearing, DO NOT use ONLY floral fabrics. Mix and match patterns using checks and stripes in the hue that you take from your main fabric. Vary the scale from large to medium to small and keep the color consistent. |  Accessories The proper placement of accessories is what makes any room come alive while conveying a personalized and professional touch to it. To recreate the illusion of an old well-to-do-family home with heirlooms –passed down from generations to generations-it is important to mix furnishings and accents with some antique treasures here and there. Visit some of your local antique dealers, flea market, thrift shops (or even Home Goods stores) to pick some “vintage” china, decorative plates , trays, and trinkets that can be placed as a display arrangement on a wall, on a fireplace mantel or on a cocktail table. The hue in your china should be taken from the color pattern used throughout the room. Floral arrangements should abound in this room and can be placed in beautiful china vases. Quilts can be used as throws on chairs or couch to emanate cozy feelings. The window treatment can be in off white or ivory lace tapped with floral valances. Rugs can be needlepoint or thin- soft wool. Nothing too heavy here. Candlesticks and picture frames should abound here too. Use crystal, silver or washed white wood–any of the three will work for this style. Hope you enjoyed this posting. Blessings -Cristina- |
