English Country Style Or Shabby Chic Decor

English Country Style or Shabby Chic Décor

English country style emphasizes coziness and our relationship with nature. Elements are drawn from English country homes that often feature steep, thatched roofs, manicured grounds and effusive gardens.
The decor can be casual or formal, and the focus is on function rather than flair. Furniture is traditionally styled and the rooms are full of color. Whether the home is a small cottage or sprawling estate, English house decoration exudes warmth, comfort and a love for family.

• Color
Color abounds in English country decorating. Hues are pulled from nature, such as the pinks and yellows from roses in an English garden or the greens from the rolling hills of the countryside. The colors can be vibrant or muted and the style features plenty of patterns, especially floral. The color palette usually features three or four colors and should make the room appear cozy, inviting and lived-in. Although English country kitchens frequently feature white cabinets, color is usually added in the countertops and accessories.

• Furniture
Furniture styles are traditional, such as Queen Anne or Victorian, and the predominant material is wood. The wood can light or dark-colored, or even painted, stenciled and distressed. Tables, dressers and bookshelves are typically made of oak, mahogany or pine. Sofas and chairs tend to be deep-seated and upholstered with patterned fabrics. Throw pillows soften the look and feel of wooden chairs and window seats.
Display racks, built-in bookshelves and china cabinets emphasize the functionality of furniture and pieces tend to be well-worn, yet sturdy.

• Accessories and Details
English house decoration features plenty of accessories such as beamed ceilings, wainscoting and wood floors. Fireplace is common with large family portrait hung over the mantle or prominently displayed on a wall. Lamps, candles and traditional chandeliers are used. Fresh flowers from the garden or baskets of dried flowers are scattered throughout the home. Flea markets and garage sales are excellent places to search for English collectibles accessories. English country style should not look planned or designed, but rather the result of generations living in a home.

Decorating Tips
• Home improvements could be enhanced with second-hand furniture, paint it and then sanded lightly to give it a distressed look.
• Slipcovers for sofas and chairs when doing interior decorating brings the English country style patterns and color into the room without buying new furniture.
• Small family snapshots can be enlarged and framed to hang on a wall.
Decorating in the English style can be formal, traditional, and stuffy or as fresh as a country cottage done in garden florals. English cottage style furniture was designed to be practical, comfortable and above all affordable.
Wood such as oak, beech, ash, pines, cherry, willow and elm are used. Furniture made from pine was the cheapest and probably the easiest to work but because it lacked the patina of the beautiful hard woods many pine pieces of furniture were painted.
As with all décor pick your colour schemes carefully to complement your English cottage furniture, making sure there are plenty of nature's tones on the walls, floors and upholstery. Shades of pink, rose, brown, yellow, rust and green are perfect for the English house decoration but still maintain the antique, aged and cosy feel that is appropriate for this style. Be sure to stay well away from sleek, highly polished and modern furniture; even one inappropriate piece can destroy the whole balance of a room.
Nothing has to match, and if it doesn't, so much the better. The overall effect you want to achieve is a look of charm and distinct comfort. Anything that you have found or bought that is a bit worse for wear can be painted or covered with new fabric to help it fit into your overall scheme.
English Country Style surpasses fashion, creating interiors that stand the test of time.

One style that is becoming more and more popular today is Shabby Chic. But what actually is it and where did it come from?
The actual shabby chic style began in Great Britain, where this type of decor was meant to imitate the look found in old country houses.
In most cases Shabby Chic uses many layers of paint where the top layers are worn through giving that aged look. In some cases people actually use old furniture but the majority of chic is new furniture made to look old.
Shabby chic décor balances well-designed and beautiful objects with old, worn out and sometimes tattered items. It includes soft delicate colors with creamy white being predominate in many simply shabby chic schemes. Rachel Ashwell doubted as the queen of Shabby Chic is credited for giving the style its name.
Shabby chic's early beginnings included plenty of white painted objects which are still used today. Wooden furniture found at garage sales, flea markets, and even in the attic can be spray painted white. Since shabby chic decorating is also about distressed surfaces, add character to furniture by roughing it up a little--lightly sand the corners for a worn look.
Rachel Ashwell Shabby Chic encourages visits to flea markets and garage sales, to find vintage furniture that can be given new life with a simple paint job. Rachel's color of choice, of course, is white. White provides a blank canvas on which to express your personal creativity.
Rachel Ashwell, white washes nearly everything. This is to blend different pieces together that may be made of different styles of wood. Rachel occasionally will leave a piece with it's original paint if it is of very soft pastel shades of buttercream yellow, baby blue, sage green, or a soft pink. These subtle tones add style and graciousness to the antique white that is the normal color of shabby chic furniture.

Frankly, today’s post is to distinguish between the English house decocoration style with that of the Shabby Chic. Colors play the important role to describe each concept. In the English house decoration it mixes the varieties of wood natural colors in the furnitures whereas in the Shabby Chic white predominates in most of its furniture.