Shabby Chic Bathroom Styles

Identify

• Shabby chic decorating styles make the use of many of the items that others throw away. According to writer Nikki Willhite on the "All Things Frugal" website, shabby chic is a form of "secondhand stylishness." Its real value to the home interior decorator is that this style allows you to save money as you decorate your home. It fits in all rooms of the house, including the bathroom.

Colors

• Shabby chic embraces white as a staple color and enhances it with soft pastels of pink, blue and green. You can utilize these colors in your shabby chic bathroom in a number of ways. Hang a shower curtain that features soft pastel flowers with mint green leaves on a white background. Decorate your towel racks and shelves with fluffy white bathroom towels, and put up wall hooks to hang up your white terrycloth robe. A rug of green or pink underfoot provides a place for your feet to dry after a bath, and soft pastel-colored candles burn in the corners of the bathtub during a soak in the tub.

Mix and Match

• Shabby chic bathroom styles allow you to bring together a hodgepodge of furniture styles and accessories. A turn of the century basket, an antique set of shelves, a wrought iron sconce, a Victorian mirror and an old chair from a dining set long since broken up and sold for parts all find a spot in your shabby chic bathroom. To make these items work together, add a coat of paint in a common color like white.

Old Furniture

• Sometimes the accessories you use in your shabby chic bathroom were not intended for bathroom use originally but lend themselves to the style's casual, secondhand appeal. If your bathroom doesn't have enough cupboard storage space, turn a piece like an old pie safe or a dresser with chipped paint into a space where you store towels, washcloths, extra soaps and other bathroom necessities. A vanity dresser gives you a place to sit and put on makeup. You have the option of painting the pieces, but "as-is" works as well or better in the shabby chic bathroom because the style itself embraces things that look old and a bit beat up.