How to Use Silver in a Shabby Chic Room

Shabby chic design is often a favorite decorating style for homeowners who desire a vintage-inspired, romantic decor. By combining rustic and chic design elements, a room often takes on a weathered, elegant look. Shabby chic decor is created with many items, such as white, distressed furniture, soft, pastel colors and elegant crystal accents. Silver-themed walls and accessories also highlight the refined side of shabby chic decor. By incorporating metallic-silver elements, such as mirrors, frames and pillows, a shabby chic, timeworn appearance is timeless as well.

Walls and Trims

Incorporate silver-hued wall treatments. Use silver gray, metallic-accented wallpaper on an accent wall, such as behind a couch or bed. Choose fresh, updated styles with large-scale patterns featuring tone-on-tone damask or floral prints to accent the shabby chic decor. Incorporate white, distressed moldings around the doors and windows to give the room a shabby flair. Paint the other three walls a soft, silver-gray hue or use rustic, white, weathered beadboard panels to complement the focal-point wall to create a backdrop for the room's design.


Use silver-trimmed mirrors. Add a large, silver-accented mirror on a focal-point wall. Paint the frame of a vintage mirror with metallic-toned, silver paint, and hang it on the wall behind a dining room sideboard for a shabby chic antique touch to the room. Choose a silver-tiled, mosaic-framed mirror, and hang it above a bed for an accent with shabby chic flair. Take a weathered and chipped vintage mirror, and hot-glue silver brooches on the top, front area to accent it with silver shine. Mirrors reflect natural light and create additional dimension, which is a bonus for any room.

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Create a silver-accented, gallery wall. Take silver-plated frames, and fill them with black and white photographs. Choose frames with an ornate, vintage-inspired look to amplify the shabby chic appearance of the room. Mix a few time-worn, white, rustic mirrors in the display for a shabby element. Hang them on a wall in a grid pattern to add an additional, romantic, silver accent to the space.


Add silver-themed lighting. Shabby chic design is a mixture of rustic and elegant elements. Highlight the elegant side of the decor with a silver-trimmed chandelier. Select varieties that have silver metal details, and hang them from a high ceiling in a bedroom, living room or dining room. Use mercury glass lamp bases topped with rustic burlap lampshades for table lamps. Take white, chipped-finish table lamp bases, and top with silver-metallic, fabric lampshades for an alternate look. Place several silver-metallic votive holders filled with candles on a white, distressed tray to add a soft, romantic glow to the room.


Accent the shabby chic decor with silver accessories. Place silver-gray, sequin pillows on a couch or bed for an elegant look. Add several shabby pillow styles that feature faded rose fabrics and tattered lace details as well. Because roses are a quintessential shabby chic icon, fill a silver vase with fresh roses, and display them on a coffee table to add a romantic element to the room. Add a gray-colored throw on a couch or chair. Choose a throw that has silver-metallic threads running through it. Include a silver tea set on a dining room sideboard. Display a silver-accented, antique dish collection in an open, distressed, white hutch. Silver-themed accessories add a final, elegant touch to the entire decor for a home with shabby chic visual appeal.



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