Shabby Chic Bedding Essentials

From a Shabby Chic design standpoint, your bed is the most important item in your bedroom and will be the design centerpiece for it. You want to design your bed so that when you look at it, your bed will project a soft, comfortable, cozy feeling. You’ll need to focus on the two main parts of your bed – the furniture and bedding – to bring cozy comfort and stylish flair to your bedroom.

The furniture components of your bed consist of the headboard, frame, and sometimes posts and a footboard. It is most commonly made of wood but can be made of iron, wicker or faux wood and still be considered Shabby Chic. These can be painted either white or a pastel color, and should be slightly sanded to give it an aged and distressed look. Of course leaving the components in their natural aged wooden or metal state is an option as well. If you’re not adding any color to the room by painting the walls or using pastel-based wallpaper, you can warm the furniture up by spray painting it with a low metallic gloss spray paint such as bronze or pewter, but avoid anything that is too glitzy.

Your bedding consists of all soft items such as sheets, quilts, blankets, comforters and pillows. Oversized pillows and large, fluffy blankets and comforters provide an important Shabby Chic trait and invite a warm, cozy feeling, especially in the winter. These components should be predominantly light-pastel based colors. The colors don’t have to match, and should be a combination of solid colors and imprinted designs. Ideally mismatched colors should at least be in the same color family. For bedding, good imprinted designs include floral patterns, stripes, and polka dots. These imprinted designs should look somewhat faded to give more of an aged look. If you have extra pillows, these can be darker colors to accentuate the soft colors which dominate the bed.

By focusing on the looks of both the furniture portion of your bed and your bedding, you can seamlessly combine vintage aspects of yesteryear with the modern styles of today, creating a versatile look for your bedroom that is free of any time depictions. You want to provide variety and simple elegance in the style of your bedding. The variety of colors, patterns and hues in your bedding should be intended to mix and match to a wide array of looks, whether they are romantic, eclectic, or classic.