Before getting into the specifics of this fabulous coffee table that you are going to create, some people out there may want to know: what exactly 'shabby chic' means? Well, it is the term used to describe a style of decor that started in Great Britain, the name for which was coined in the 1980s.
It was inspired by the furnishings of grand old manor houses whose worn, faded furniture and old paintwork had seen better days, and yet, as the individual items were originally beautiful pieces in their own right, the overall design scheme still oozed elegance.
So, shabby chic is simply a method of making your decor look worn deliberately.
Pieces of furniture are fully painted with several layers of paint and then scuffed or purposely sanded.
This reveals the lower layers of paint and the raw wood beneath which gives the impression of normal wear and tear.
Fine linen fabric is often used in this design scheme, with plenty of pastel colours which are bought worn or purposely bleached.
White fabric is frequently used and is stained with tea to make it look old.
The point is to buy elegant pieces of furniture and then to distress them to make them appear old.
So, how do you create your own shabby chic coffee table? The first step is to visit flea markets, car boot sales, yard sales and junk yards for inspiration.
You need to find a low-cost coffee table that matches the design of your chosen room.
Make sure you know what size space you have, or whether you need it to have a magazine shelf, or whether you are just going to create a smaller occasional table.
The goal is to revive a solid old coffee table to a new level of shabby chic sophistication instead of buying a cheap, poorly made modern piece of furniture.
Once you have chosen your table, you should lightly sand its surface so that your new paint will take.
Once the table is sanded, you can choose to glue on decorative wooden trims to help create a more elaborate design.
It is better to use an eggshell paint that can be wiped clean, with a water-based white acrylic undercoat.
The water based paints are easier to clean up afterwards as you just need soap and water, rather than white spirit.
You could apply the paint with a roller or a natural bristle paint brush.
As always, paint in the direction of the wood's grain and try to use complete strokes from edge to edge.
Typical shabby chic paint colours include muted blues, greens and shades of white.
Depending on how seriously you are going to distress the paintwork, and on how much wear you expect the coffee table to bear, we suggest that you apply two coats of undercoat.
You might not want to spend that much time on the project, but we assure you that undercoat paint is at least forty per cent cheaper than eggshell paint, so using more of the white undercoat means you need less of the expensive eggshell paint as it lightens the wood quickly.
At this point comes the 'shabby': take some fine grain sandpaper and gently wear away your beautiful new paint along the corners and edges and add scuffs to the legs or top and anywhere else you would expect to see wear.
There you have it; your very own shabby chic coffee table worthy of the best furniture catalogues.
It was inspired by the furnishings of grand old manor houses whose worn, faded furniture and old paintwork had seen better days, and yet, as the individual items were originally beautiful pieces in their own right, the overall design scheme still oozed elegance.
So, shabby chic is simply a method of making your decor look worn deliberately.
Pieces of furniture are fully painted with several layers of paint and then scuffed or purposely sanded.
This reveals the lower layers of paint and the raw wood beneath which gives the impression of normal wear and tear.
Fine linen fabric is often used in this design scheme, with plenty of pastel colours which are bought worn or purposely bleached.
White fabric is frequently used and is stained with tea to make it look old.
The point is to buy elegant pieces of furniture and then to distress them to make them appear old.
So, how do you create your own shabby chic coffee table? The first step is to visit flea markets, car boot sales, yard sales and junk yards for inspiration.
You need to find a low-cost coffee table that matches the design of your chosen room.
Make sure you know what size space you have, or whether you need it to have a magazine shelf, or whether you are just going to create a smaller occasional table.
The goal is to revive a solid old coffee table to a new level of shabby chic sophistication instead of buying a cheap, poorly made modern piece of furniture.
Once you have chosen your table, you should lightly sand its surface so that your new paint will take.
Once the table is sanded, you can choose to glue on decorative wooden trims to help create a more elaborate design.
It is better to use an eggshell paint that can be wiped clean, with a water-based white acrylic undercoat.
The water based paints are easier to clean up afterwards as you just need soap and water, rather than white spirit.
You could apply the paint with a roller or a natural bristle paint brush.
As always, paint in the direction of the wood's grain and try to use complete strokes from edge to edge.
Typical shabby chic paint colours include muted blues, greens and shades of white.
Depending on how seriously you are going to distress the paintwork, and on how much wear you expect the coffee table to bear, we suggest that you apply two coats of undercoat.
You might not want to spend that much time on the project, but we assure you that undercoat paint is at least forty per cent cheaper than eggshell paint, so using more of the white undercoat means you need less of the expensive eggshell paint as it lightens the wood quickly.
At this point comes the 'shabby': take some fine grain sandpaper and gently wear away your beautiful new paint along the corners and edges and add scuffs to the legs or top and anywhere else you would expect to see wear.
There you have it; your very own shabby chic coffee table worthy of the best furniture catalogues.
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