Chippy paint, faded roses and a little lace: shabby chic decor is the art of making new things look loved for decades, and these 28 shabby chic decor ideas to DIY get you there on thrift store money. Shabby chic is a soft, vintage cottage style built on white and pastel paint, distressed edges, French graphics and flea market finds. There’s a plain dresser that gets a butterfly in duck egg blue, a $10 garage sale dresser turned French country white, terracotta pots that look a hundred years old after one dry brushed coat (clay soaks up paint so fast there’s barely any waiting) and a fence board clock. The bedroom gets love too, with a ruffled bed skirt and lace curtains hung from a stained wood beam. A few DIY JOY projects with full videos are tucked in too, like a folded book vase and a napkin decoupage jar. My one piece of advice? Sand less than you think. You can always distress more, but you can’t put the paint back. For more soft rooms, see these all white DIY decor ideas and farmhouse decor projects.
1. DIY Tufted French Mattress Cushion
A tufted French mattress cushion gives a plain bench that soft, cottage-store look for the cost of foam and a drop cloth. Cut 2 to 3 inch foam to size, wrap it in batting, then cut the canvas an inch beyond the pattern on every edge that gets pinched. Sew the side corners, then the sides to the bottom, and leave a wide opening for the foam. Hand pinch and stitch the mattress edge, then tuft with an upholstery needle and fabric covered buttons. Plan on a couple of hours and basic straight stitching.
Get the full tutorial at An Oregon Cottage.
2. Chicken Wire Dream Board
A chicken wire dream board turns a chunky vintage frame into a place to clip photos, swatches and notes. Lay the frame face down, staple one cut edge of the wire to the back, then unroll it across the opening and step on it to hold it flat. Trim with snips, leaving a little extra, and staple all the way around, pulling the wire tight as you go. Hammer down any sharp ends. Clothespins and safety pins do the holding. Start to finish, it takes about 10 minutes.
Get the full tutorial at French Country Cottage.
3. Vintage Shabby Chic Nest of Tables
A vintage nest of tables gets a French makeover with two chalk paint colors and a printed wine advert on each top. The three tables were painted in Old White and Paris Grey, sanded back along the carved legs and edges, then sealed with satin varnish. Before varnishing the tops, a Vins and Spiritueux graphic was printed with an inkjet onto water decal paper and transferred to the wood. The largest table is 55 cm tall, so the set tucks beside a sofa or bed.
Get the full tutorial at Touch the Wood.
4. DIY Decoupage Vase Using Napkin Paper
A decoupage vase made with napkin paper gives a plain glass jar a soft, hand painted cottage pattern. Clean the jar and paint it solid white, adding a second coat if glass still shows. Cut the napkin design close to the edges and peel off the backing plies so only the thin printed layer is left. Brush Mod Podge on, smooth the napkin from the center outward and seal over the top. A coat of UV resin or clear nail polish adds shine, and a jute bow finishes the neck.
Get the full tutorial at DIY JOY.
5. DIY French Country Terracotta Pots
French country terracotta pots get their weathered, garden shop look from chalky paint and a dry brush. Barely dip the brush, then sweep paint lightly and unevenly over plain clay pots, and stop before it looks perfect. Because terracotta is so porous, the first color dries almost instantly, so a second shade can go right on top with the same technique. Pairing two colors gives the layered, aged effect. Seal with an ultra matte varnish, especially if the pots will hold real plants or sit on a porch.
Get the full tutorial at Picklee.
6. Antique Coffee Pot Flower Vase
An old galvanized pitcher or coffee pot makes a far more romantic vase than anything sold as one. The source post is a spring diary entry built around a big bunch of pale pink peonies, the blogger’s favorite flower, set in timeworn metal for a soft white cottage look. Fill a dented pot with fresh peonies, garden roses or hydrangeas and let the heads spill over the rim. A grain sack runner underneath finishes the vignette. The same post also shows a salvaged church tin ceiling going up.
Get the full tutorial at Dreamy Whites.
7. Vintage Blue Bottles
Vintage blue bottles turn a few grocery store spray roses into a flea market still life. The source post is a styling find rather than a build: three dusty aqua bottles from a ReStore, scrubbed clean and filled with pale pink spray roses that cost about $4. Look for small, odd shaped bottles in the same blue so the group reads as a set. Cluster them on a chippy bench or down the middle of a table, and scatter a few loose petals for photos.
Get the full tutorial at French Country Cottage.
8. Upcycled Window with Curtains Wall Art
An old window frame lined with floral fabric hangs over the bed like a pretend window, complete with tiny curtains. The source post is a guest room reveal, so it shows the finished room rather than step by step instructions. The star of that room is a homemade tufted headboard with 40 hand covered buttons, mounted snug to the wall with a plain bed frame and no footboard. Pair a salvaged window with a rose print fabric in the same palette as the bedding for the full effect.
Get the full tutorial at Sweet Melanie.
9. Shabby Chic Chair Cover
A ladder back chair gets the full shabby chic treatment with white chalk paint, wax and sandpaper. The paint covers dark wood without a primer and dries fast, so a third coat usually is not needed. Apply clear wax sparingly, since a little goes a long way, then sand the edges until wood peeks through. The same post shows a piano bench in white with a gray dry brushed top and a stamped image, a trick that also suits the ruffled chair cover with its crown stamp.
Get the full tutorial at Sissie's Shabby Cottage.
10. DIY Book Flower Vase
A book flower vase turns a worn hardcover into a centerpiece that looks straight out of a vintage cottage. Open the book to the center, draw a line down the middle and count 12 pages on each side. Slide cardboard under the marked page so the blade stops there, cut along the line on both sides and tear away the top. Tape the cut pages together in groups of three, then fold each group toward the middle and tape it down. Fill with dried lavender or paper flowers.
Get the full tutorial at DIY JOY.
11. Shabby Chic Vase
This shabby chic vase is a plain drinking glass covered in craft sticks so it looks like a tiny picket fence. Paint the glass first, since glue grips paint far better than bare glass. Glue the wooden sticks around the outside, then brush everything with homemade chalk paint. A decoupage motif, like a fleur de lis or a rose, goes on last. Hot glue works, but a glue made for glass holds longer. Fill a few with garden roses and line them along a windowsill.
Get the full tutorial at Hjerter og Hvite Liljer.
12. Fence Board Clock
A fence board clock is really a big round wood sign with a clock movement in the middle. Screw strapping boards across the back of old fence boards, draw a circle and cut it out with a jigsaw, ideally with a new, sharp blade. Paint the face white with chalk paint and distress it with 180 grit sandpaper. Hand paint the graphics in gray and the Roman numerals in black, using tape to mark the rings. Buy a movement made for 3/4 inch thick boards and long hands.
Get the full tutorial at 4 the love of wood.
13. Antique Door Headboard Shutter
A skinny antique door becomes a headboard, and a pair of old shutters become wall mounted nightstands. Scrape and sand the peeling paint rather than stripping it, so the old layers stay. Test old doors for lead first. Attach an arched trim piece to the top with small L brackets, and screw table legs to the sides. For the nightstands, cut shelves from an old mantel to the width of each shutter, support them with wood brackets and sand everything back so every piece looks cohesive.
Get the full tutorial at The ragged wren.
14. DIY Book Page Paper Flower
Book page paper flowers are the thrifty bonus that comes with making a book vase, since they use up the pages that get cut away. Each daisy needs half a page snipped into a fringe, a yellow sticky note fringed even finer for the center and a skewer to roll a paper stem. Tape and hot glue wrap the yellow center around the stem first, then the printed petals around that, and a gentle press opens them up. Keep the slits evenly spaced so the petals fan out fully. A few minutes each, no special skills needed.
Get the full tutorial at DIY JOY.
15. Wicker Covered Glass Bottle Vase
A wicker covered glass bottle gets a shabby glam makeover with white paint, burlap ribbon and a vintage button. The source post is a tour of a vintage booth rather than a tutorial, and the closest match on the page is a vintage demijohn dressed up with shabby glam accents. To copy the look, dry brush white paint over a wicker wrapped bottle so the weave still shows, tie a burlap bow around the neck and glue a button or brooch at the center. A few faux roses finish it.
Get the full tutorial at Sweet Inspirations by JP designs.
16. Gray And White French Painted Cabinet
A dated cabinet with a Formica top becomes a gray and white French linen cupboard with chalk paint and stenciled laurel wreaths. The body got two coats of a warm white, while the back wall, shelves and top got two coats of gray. The trim details got gray brushed on and then wiped back, so the color settles into the carving. Prep was just scraping and washing, with no sanding or priming, even on the laminate. French wreaths on the doors finish it.
Get the full tutorial at Serendipity Refined.
17. Vintage Tole Candelabra with Birdie
A vintage tole candelabra with a little bird perched among painted metal roses is the kind of thrift find that sets the tone for a whole shabby chic room. The source post celebrates the find rather than building one, so treat this as a shopping and styling idea. Look for Italian tole pieces with chippy paint, rust and timeworn patina in all the right places. Hang one on an old shutter or a white wall, add white taper candles and a tuft of moss in the nest.
Get the full tutorial at ChiPPy SHaBBy.
18. Duck Egg Butterfly Dresser
A plain, flat front dresser is the perfect blank canvas for a French butterfly graphic. Paint it with two coats of a soft duck egg blue chalk paint, then add a free French wreath and butterfly graphic in a creamy white. Distress the edges heavily so the wood shows, and seal with wax. The original brass hardware stays, since white pulls would compete with the painted image. It suits a girl’s room or works as a slim console in an entry.
Get the full tutorial at Sophia's.
19. Ruffled Spiral Pillow
A ruffled spiral pillow is a round pillow covered in one long, continuous ruffle that winds from the edge to the center. Cut fabric strips selvage to selvage, twice the finished ruffle width plus seam allowance. About nine 4 and a half inch strips, roughly a yard of fabric, covered this pillow. Join the strips end to end, press them in half lengthwise and serge the raw edges if the fabric frays. Gather it with a ruffler foot, then sew or hot glue it on from the outside in.
Get the full tutorial at girl. Inspired.
20. Driftwood Necklace Holder
A driftwood necklace holder keeps chains untangled and on display with nothing more than a weathered board and a few knobs. Mismatched knobs from a Habitat for Humanity ReStore can cost under $1 each, so mix glass, metal and ceramic. Measure and drill holes along the wood, screw the knobs on through the existing holes and hang the piece on the wall. A long piece of beach driftwood holds the most, and a dozen knobs covers a big collection without the tangles.
Get the full tutorial at Visibly Moved.
21. DIY Shabby Chic Shower Curtain
A layered lace shower curtain brings French farmhouse romance into even a small bathroom. Start with a plain curtain panel as the base, then use spray glue to hold the first band of lace in place instead of pins, and sew it on. Keep adding rows until the layers look full. Burlap rosettes add more shabby charm. For an extra long curtain, attach the lace farther down the panel and hang two rods, a lower one for the liner and a higher one for the curtain.
Get the full tutorial at Hallstrom Home.
22. Chicken Wire Hutch Door Wall Display
Three old hutch doors with chicken wire panels hang side by side as a display wall in a vintage girls’ room. The source post is a room reveal, and the doors came off a dining room hutch headed for the burn pile, with only the doors worth saving. Hang them on the wall and use clothespins to clip up art, notes and flowers, with small chalkboards and a fabric bunting personalizing each one. A chippy white finish keeps the look soft. Old cabinet doors work too.
Get the full tutorial at Namely Original.
23. Vintage Inspired Lace Wreath
A vintage inspired lace wreath is built from layered lace rosettes, scraps of trim and little treasures from the sewing box. The source post is photo only, so the shapes come from the picture: gathered lace flowers in white and cream, pearl and wooden buttons at the centers, twisted cord bows and Scrabble style letter tiles spelling a word. Gather lace strips into rosettes with a running stitch or hot glue, then build them up on a foam or wire ring, tucking in buttons and bows as you go.
Get the full tutorial at Vintage Inspired.
24. DIY Shabby Chic Gate & Sign Wall Decor
A white iron garden gate hung on the wall becomes a place to clip postcards and dried flowers, with a Farmers Market crate sign below it holding roses. The source post is mostly a home decor shopping story, so treat this as a styling idea built from flea market or home store finds. The same post shows fabric scraps and old pillowcases applied to a pantry wall with Mod Podge, an easy, renter friendly way to add pattern. Clothespins on the gate rails do the holding.
Get the full tutorial at Trois Petites Filles.
25. Wood Beam and Lace Curtains
A bed tucked into a sleeping nook, framed by a stained wood beam and sheer lace curtains, is about as dreamy as a cottage bedroom gets. The beam is a 1×4 screwed to the ceiling with two 1×6 boards stained in Minwax Classic Gray nailed to its sides, leaving the bottom open. A cheap PVC pipe hides inside as the curtain rod on closet pole brackets, with one center bracket to stop the sag. Antique gold hooks hold the lace back during the day, and sunlight filtering through it is the whole point.
Get the full tutorial at Love Grows Wild.
26. Ruffled Bed Skirt
Store bought bed skirts always seem skimpy on fabric and never quite reach the floor, so this ruffled bed skirt is made to fit. A cheap flat sheet becomes the hidden deck between the mattress and box spring, and the skirt panels here are cut from blue and white plaid tablecloths (already hemmed, which saves a lot of work). Loose, random pleats pinned along the top give it that full, soft ruffle. There’s a no-sew route too, with fabric glue or fusible webbing for the hems. Just don’t skip the ironing, since crisp folds are what make it look custom.
Get the full tutorial at Miss Mustard Seed.
27. French Country Painted Dresser
Ten dollars at a garage sale, about $26 all in, and this dresser went from blah to a bright French country statement piece. The old hardware holes were filled, then two coats of a soft custom white chalk paint went on with no sanding or priming, sealed with a matte clear top coat. The drawer interiors got painted too, using an inexpensive color matched sample quart. Bronze cup pulls finish the vintage look (and they’re the detail everyone notices first). White paint really is a miracle worker on a tired piece, and this one is done in a weekend.
Get the full tutorial at Bellewood Cottage.
28. Shabby Paint Finish Dresser
An old dresser buried under layers of paint doesn’t need stripping to look beautiful, and this shabby paint finish works with every one of those layers. Random coats of green, cream and white go over the existing pink, with sanding between each, then a light final coat of soft green is sanded back so all the colors peek through. White and cream are dry brushed on top, and light and dark brown wax add that deep, aged look. The drawer fronts get a soft paint wash that turns their imperfections into charm. Free furniture, saved!
Get the full tutorial at Designed Decor.
