Shabby Chic Style Refinishing....It's All The Rage

And for good reason....it's an easy way to make a dungheap into something really special. Probably

the most attractive aspect of this finishing method is that it normally doesn't require stripping the finish off.

In this tutorial, I'll show you step by step how I took this well worn dresser and completely transformed it with a

Custom Shabby Chic Style Finish.

So what is Shabby chic in the first place?  Shabby Chic is what I refer to as a decorating style that incorporates furniture with

older traditional styles that are given a mildly aged or distressed finish to give it the appearance of an older finish, yet at the

same time, a soft, minimalistic, and feminine feel is emphasized to differentiate it from regular vintage decor.

Shabby Chic Style covers a pretty broad spectrum of styles, and probably needs to be a little bit more refined.  When I'm

doing a Shabby Chic finish, I let the style of the piece dictate the finish I apply.  To me...Shabby Chic is NOT the same as a

primitive finish. Shabby Chic is not intended to look like a "real" antique finish.  The "chic" part is added to the name because the finish is meant to reflect some degree of style and elegance.  If it's a true "time worn" finish we are looking to achieve, I refer to

that finish as a primitive finish.

So now that we have an understanding of what Shabby Chic is.....lets get down to the business end of how to do it.

Lets Get Started.....

We begin this Tutorial with a dresser that screams out Shabby Chic to me.  It's too beat up and not special enough in design to

warrant a total strip & refinish. A single color paint is (yawn) boring, and the style doesn't lend itself well to a primitive finish.

Shabby Chic doesn't mean White....I see examples of what people are calling Shabby Chic all over the net as furniture

painted white and the edges sanded through. While that may be Shabby Chic in it's most simplistic form, don't limit yourself to that vision alone.  With this project, I used my clients wall paint and a suede chair as my inspiration and color palette. 

To get you inspired, here is what our finished dresser looks like at the end of this Tutorial

Nice, right?  And very simple to do.  To begin this project, I choose to strip just the top of the dresser.  For

more information of how to strip a top, visit this tutorial.  Since I wanted to create a slightly more sophisticated finish

for this client, I choose to keep my distressing to a minimum. The top was badly worn,  and that just didn't fit within

my vision of the finish I wanted to create.

After a quick strip and sand of the top, we are ready to get to the fun part........

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