How to Design a Shabby Chic Toddler's Room

Paint the bedroom walls with flat paint in a pastel color. For traditional, gender-specific colors, use blush pink for a girl room or light sky blue for a boy. Shabby chic wall colors appropriate for either gender include French blue, mint or celadon green, pale gray and buttery yellow. Paint the woodwork with a soft, marshmallow white in a satin or glossy finish.

Paint a vintage, twin-sized bed white for a girl’s room, then distress the finish with sandpaper or sepia-colored glaze. For a boy’s bed, opt for soft gray paint or a light wood stain. Wrought iron, Jenny Lind, panel or cottage-style beds suit the shabby chic style.

Dress the bed with white cotton sheets, then top it with a vintage or vintage-inspired cover. Consider a floral chenille bedspread for a girl or a patchwork quilt for a boy. Add washable, white cotton pillow shams bordered with shirred welt or box-pleated ruffles. If your bed covering doesn’t reach the floor, add a shirred, cotton dust ruffle. Try a pastel floral for girls or subtle ticking stripes for boys.

Add a glossy coat of white or pastel paint to a vintage nightstand and to a dresser or chest. Eastlake, Victorian, English country and Federal styles look particularly charming in shabby chic rooms. Painted or natural wicker also suits the style.

Dress the windows in your toddler’s room with white curtains made of dotted Swiss, seersucker or plain cotton fabric. For a girl’s room, consider tie-top panels with big, floppy bows and a narrow, shirred ruffle along the leading edge. For a boy’s room, fasten tab-top curtains with covered buttons that match your wall color.

Accessorize the room by hanging framed storybook illustrations on the walls. Display a collection of vintage toys on the dresser. Hang a petite chandelier in the center of the room. Look for a gilded, crystal covered chandelier for a girl or a spindle chandelier with a distressed finish for a boy. Soften a wood floor with a rug, perhaps a braided rag rug for a boy or a floral hooked rug for a girl.