Shabby chic provides all of the rustic and homey feelings that you can’t help but love. Embracing a worn, lived-in look, it provides comfort and beauty in a variety of ways.
It may seem tricky to find the perfect shabby chic floors for your home. Thankfully, 50Floor can help you find the ideal floor with this simple guide to shabby chic home design. Learn how to choose the right style, colors and materials for a shabby chic floor that will bring your vision to life and make a statement.
What is Shabby Chic Interior Design?
The shabby chic style is straight out of the 1980s as an alternative to the popular looks of shiny brass and sleek designs. It gave homes the ambiance of being lived in, complete with antique features, worn furniture and peeling layers of paint. Such components add lots of character and a natural appeal, thanks to their homely and warm details.
Celebrating vintage and reclaimed materials, a shabby chic home can easily be adapted and changed as needed. Because it has a certain eclectic flare, it allows homeowners to express their personalities throughout the entire concept.
An ideal shabby chic interior will easily allow you to update your space as you see fit. You may decide to use a lot of scrollwork at one point while incorporating more cottage-style details at another.
Patterns also contribute to the final look of a shabby chic design. Some of the most popular patterns include floral prints, faded calicos and Victorian-era designs. Be selective in the number of patterns you choose to incorporate in your space. It can be easy to go from shabby chic to chaotic if there are too many things going on at once. Less can sometimes be more.
Wall color, furniture and accessories are just the beginning of a successful shabby chic home. While a shabby chic-styled interior can be a lot of fun to plan and design, it also needs something to help complete the entire look. Choosing the perfect flooring can help tie it all together for an exceptionally unique and modest home.
The Perfect Color
When searching for shabby chic modern flooring options, color plays a huge role in the final outcome. Most popular for this particular style are pastel hues and earthy tones, making it an extremely versatile color palette. Working with muted tones and faded colors such as sage green, pale yellow and cornflower blue can really help make a statement for a classic yet stunning shabby chic style.
Lavenders, whites and grays can also help you get in touch with the shabby chic modern style. In some cases, however, you might find vivid shades of turquoise, especially with painted antique furniture. When pairing a soft color palette with comfy fabrics like linen and cotton, it makes for a charming, cozy and inviting space for guests and family members alike.
Floor tiles come in many patterns and colors that look lovely in your home. Look into designs inspired by the terracotta mosaics of France or those with neutral colors and rough textures inspired by the artisans of Italy.
Since tile flooring is durable, functional and available in a wide range of materials and styles, it’s easy to find the perfect shabby chic design for your home.
Reclaimed Shabby Chic
Reclaimed wood can tie your shabby chic home design together. Depending on the size of your space, you’ll want to select the right plank size to complement the room. If you’d like to optimize your room’s size, choose wide planks instead of thin, narrow ones. Narrow planks can make a space feel smaller or even more crowded in some cases.
Wide and chunky planks can make a statement for shabby chic spaces. Reclaimed wooden floors provide unique details and colors that make them the perfect choice for an authentic shabby chic home.
The quintessential shabby chic floor is light-colored, distressed and vintage. Lighter hardwood floors such as birch, maple and white oak look stunning with an antique finish. You can buy these hardwood floors new, allowing you to achieve the look of reclaimed wooden floors without the cost of actual reclaimed wood.
Cozy Carpet
It’s easy to overlook carpet as a shabby chic flooring option, but one of the best things about it is its versatility. It comes in a wide range of textures, colors and patterns. It’s also warm and cozy, creating a shabby chic atmosphere you might never want to leave.
You can achieve shabby chic with carpet in a variety of ways. Combine the charm and homey vibes of a handmade rug with vintage furniture to really create a sweet and cozy ambiance. If you prefer hardwood or tiles over carpet flooring, area rugs make an excellent choice and can complement other flooring types, adding layers and depth to the space.
If you’d rather have wall-to-wall carpet, go for a floral print carpet in popular shabby chic shades, or opt for an all-white carpet for a simplistic and neutral look.
Extra Vintage Vibes
A vintage-style floor can set off an entire shabby chic look without a hitch. Distressed wood patterns can be found in durable, laminate flooring, making it perfect for kitchens and even bathrooms. Water-resistant and known for longevity, laminate floors can be found in a range of colors and designs.
Explore options with red or yellow finishing tones for an extra vintage look. You can complement a room full of neutral tones and pastel shades with textured laminate flooring. Imagine how beautiful a room featuring sage green, lavender and gray will look with a white-washed, distressed-style floor.
Not to mention this flooring pairs beautifully with rustic chandeliers, china, antique furniture, distressed metallic frames, drawer pulls, knobs and other vintage decorative accents. You can’t go wrong using laminate flooring in your shabby chic home design.
Flooring to Avoid
Knowing which flooring styles don’t mesh as well with shabby chic homes is as important as knowing which ones do. Here are some flooring types we recommend avoiding when designing your shabby chic space:
- Smooth hardwood with minimal graining: A smooth surface with minimal wood graining and variations produces a more formal and elegant feel, which doesn’t exactly complement the shabby chic aesthetic. Go with hardwood that showcases all of its natural beauty and texture, highlighting every swirl, knot and graining detail.
- Dark flooring: Flooring colors like charcoal, ebony and black are striking choices for an elegant and exotic aesthetic. However, they’re not as ideal for a shabby chic home. We recommend sticking with light or medium tones instead.
Shabby Chic Flooring Inspiration
If you need some stylish shabby chic flooring ideas, here are some great options to consider!
1. Hardwood
Revealing as much character as possible in your hardwood flooring creates a rustic, casual and homey vibe. Solid wood species like cherry, pine, oak, birch and maple feature prominent graining and bright tones, making them ideal for a shabby chic home. Go with engineered hardwood if you want something sturdy and less costly than solid hardwood.
Brown hardwood flooring stains like walnut, cherry and mahogany create a warm, relaxed vibe for your space, while lighter stains like gold and off-white impart an open, airy feel.
Remember that smooth, uniform planks provide a sleek and luxurious feel for your flooring, which isn’t necessarily the goal here. Try using wide planks, or vary the widths randomly, for a more rugged and laid-back appearance.
2. Tiles
Tile flooring is a classic option for shabby chic kitchens, bathrooms and foyers. Choosing tiling with a neutral color scheme — like gray, beige or a mix — and rough texture adds to the distressed appeal. Alternatively, you can take inspiration from heritage-inspired designs and terracotta mosaic tiles for a wonderfully vintage flair.
Whatever style or color concept you choose, make sure you look for natural materials and unique details that reflect the shabby chic look. Porcelain or ceramic tiles can imitate various materials, from stone and slate to terracotta and marble.
3. Carpet
Pattern carpet in a floral design and soft pastel color scheme speaks to the shabby chic style. Another option is frieze carpet in a light or medium color. Its shaggy, messy appearance makes for a cozy, inviting bedroom or living room.
If you don’t want to carpet the entire room or you plan to change up your interior style in the future, you can always pair a colorful area rug with versatile hardwood or tile flooring.
4. Laminate
Shabby chic laminate flooring makes a stylish addition to your living room, bedroom or office — all at a fraction of the cost of solid hardwood. Laminate flooring can mimic a variety of flooring materials and colors, so whether you prefer the look of hardwood or tile, you can find the ideal laminate for your shabby chic interior.
Redefine Your Space With Flooring to Match Your Shabby Chic Home Design
With over 40 years of combined flooring experience, our team at 50Floor is dedicated to providing our customers with affordable and unbeatable quality flooring that enhances their homes. We offer a wide variety of flooring options, including tile, vinyl, carpet, laminate and hardwood. You’re sure to find something to complement your home, no matter the style you desire.
When you choose 50Floor, you choose the best. We offer a variety of benefits, such as:
- Competitive pricing
- Flooring warranties and one-year installation warranty
- Free at-home appointments with samples and floor measurements
- Professional and speedy installation process
We pride ourselves on delivering unmatched customer service. If you ever have questions or need assistance in choosing the best flooring solution, our experts at 50Floor are always ready to help.
We will guide you along the way with suggestions that suit your design and functionality requirements as well as your budget. Schedule an in-home consultation to start discovering your perfect flooring solutions.
