Shabby Chic shelf and side table: 2 instructions for Shabby Chic furniture

A conventional wooden shelf looks boring and unspectacular, but it works Colors in colorful pastel tones can be used to create a stylish shabby chic shelf. The “shabby chic” trend involves painting modern furniture in subtle colors and sanding it to create artificial wear and tear.

Who the furnishing trend into your own four walls If you want to get one, you only need a basic color, such as white or brown, and colorful chalk colors – but only in subtle pastel tones, because bright colors are not part of shabby chic.

In these instructions on Heimwerker.de we show how you can transform a conventional wooden shelf into a chic and colorful vintage shelf in a shabby look transform. In principle, the procedure is not only suitable for one shelf, but for all living room furniture. It’s best to buy simple and cheap ones Living room furniture and then give it an individual touch with our instructions. There are no limits to creativity and you can design shelves, chests of drawers, coffee tables or side tables as you wish in a single color, with floral motifs or colorfully according to your personal preferences.

An advantage of Shabby Chic: With the shabby look, individual pieces can be combined with old vintage and modern furniture as desired. Your living room will stand out from the crowd of run-of-the-mill furniture and will have its own character.

IMPORTANT: Although paints come from manufacturers who are members of the Association of the Paint Industry (VdL) have to meet strict requirements and ensure that the smallest possible amounts of critical ingredients are present in the paint, the origin of the paint is often unclear on cheap furniture. Therefore, use a mask and only work in well-ventilated rooms or ideally outdoors when working with paints.

1.1. Sand the shelf and paint it white

A simple, modern wooden shelf should become a stylish shabby chic shelf. In order for the chalk paint to adhere well, old paint applications must first be removed 120 to 150 grit sandpaper be removed.

If the wood is untreated, this step is not necessary and the chalk paint is applied directly. In these instructions, a white color was chosen as the base color.

The base color later shimmers through the other colors in the worn, “shabby” areas and can be chosen as desired. Paint all edges and surfaces and allow to dry completely – preferably overnight.

1.2. Design vintage shelves with chalk paint

Once the paint has dried, the Base coat treated with wax. This seals the surface and ensures that the white paint is not completely sanded off in step 3. Use less wax in areas that you want to look more “shabby”. The chalk wax must then dry.

• View furniture wax on Amazon.de »

Then the creative design of your shabby chic shelf begins: light blue, pink, delicate yellow and green pastel tones characterize this style as well as floral and playful patterns. Let your creativity take over your mind and body.

The individual wooden elements do not have to be painted perfectly. Irregularities are characteristic of shabby chic design.

Tip: For original color combinations, you can paint over and mix the individual shades. Splashes of color can also be retained.

1.3. Sand the shelf for a shabby chic effect

Finally the real work begins: the dried paint is added Sandpaper sanded downto create the shabby chic effect.

Areas that are particularly heavily used, such as shelves, edges and frames, often show wear and tear, so you can sand the colorful chalk paint more until the base tone, protected with wax, becomes visible.

If you stop work while sanding and the shabby chic Look at the shelf from a few steps awaythere are places where a stronger shabby effect would show off the piece of furniture better.

In the last step The fine sanding dust is removed with a damp cloth. For a long-lasting shabby design, the shelf is finally sealed with wax.

Here’s how to transform a traditional unfinished wood side table into one using paint and sandpaper stylish shabby cabinetwhich creates a romantic furnishing concept as an elegant side table or as a small chest of drawers with modern and vintage furniture as well as a few playful accessories.

You can also use these instructions to restore old and antique furniture and redesign it in a shabby chic style. To do this, you only need to completely remove old coatings beforehand.

In these instructions, a nut-colored base tone was chosen, which shows through in step 4 after sanding. You can freely choose the colors according to your personal taste.

2.1. Glaze the side table

Before glazing, everything is cleaned first Handles and buttons removedto protect them from splashes of paint. The glaze can be applied directly to untreated cabinets. If the cabinet has been varnished or painted, the old paint must first be sanded off with sandpaper or removed with paint stripper.

The glaze is then stirred thoroughly and applied sparingly with a brush. The paint will dry after about four hours.

Tip: Leave the drawer box free, otherwise millimeter-thin layers of glaze and varnish can have a negative effect on the sliding behavior.

2.2. Paint the nightstand gray

Next, the small side cabinet is given a gray coat of paint. To do this, transitions and edges of all visible areas are first painted with a brush before the large areas are painted with a paint roller.

While the color approx. Dries for 5 to 6 hoursbrushes and paint tray should be thoroughly cleaned under running water.

If you want knobs or drawer knobs to have the same color, you can also apply the varnish with a brush.

2.3. Paint the cabinet white

As soon as the first coat of varnish has dried the second color applied. As in the previous step, apply it with a brush on the edges and with the roller on larger areas.

If you want a rustic shabby chic side table where only the glaze shows through, the second layer of varnish is omitted. After a Drying time of another 5 to 6 hours this paint has also dried.

2.4. Sand off the paint for the shabby chic design

In the last step, you give your homemade vintage side table the typical shabby chic style. Use sandpaper to sand the paint down to either the gray paint or the nut brown glaze.

Over time, this becomes particularly noticeable on shelves, outer edges, doors and drawer fronts Traces of wear and tearwhich is why these areas are particularly suitable for a strong sanding.

The more often an area is sanded, the more noticeable its shabby look becomes. Finally, the fine sanding dust is removed with a damp cloth and the shabby chic bedside cabinet can be decorated with vintage candle holders, a picture or an older bedside lamp.

Tip: Stop sanding occasionally to look at the piece of furniture from a short distance. This will give you an overview of which areas still need to be worked on.

Images courtesy of ADLER-Werk Lackfabrik.