Shabby Chic Meets Rustic

When we moved into our new home just north of Charlotte, North Carolina, I knew one of our renovation projects was going to be our powder room. This half bath was filled with boring builder-grade fixtures. The Designer in me just couldn’t handle all this blah…

In my home, you would find decor that has a mix of antiques passed down through our family, modern transitional furniture, a little bit of farmhouse, and a mix of rustic charm. I call it Shabby Chic meets Rustic!

Shabby Chic consists of feminine decor, while Rustic style often appears masculine. Both are casual styles with an antique look and feel, making it easy to blend the two.

Blanket used for wall color inspiration.

My husband and I both agreed on using blue as an accent color throughout our home. We chose Sherwin Williams Granite Peak SW6250, which I color matched to one of our living room throw blankets. We used this paint color for an accent wall in our living room as well as the interior side of our front door. It’s gorgeous and works well with our Sherwin Williams Agreeable Gray SW7029 walls and mixed wood-tone LVT flooring.

Interior side of our front door painted SW6250.

Powder rooms are areas where you can go BOLD and make a statement. We decided on painting the walls the Granite Peak Blue and update the boring builder-grade fixtures.

Below are my 2D Vision Boards for our bathroom. I put this together as a way to visualize our bathroom fixtures before we committed to purchasing items. This also allowed me to explain my overall concept to my husband and make sure he was on board with my ideas.

Click here to find out more information about our eDesign services

The Plan

When I first started planning out this bathroom design I came across a farmhouse sink furniture style vanity with a beautiful marble top. The white cabinetry contrasts the dark blue walls and fills the awkward space much better than the original pedestal sink. The farmhouse sink set the stage for the overall concept of blending two styles together.

The widest wall in our bathroom to the right of the toilet needed something amazing to fill that space. We originally found reclaimed wood that we considered installing, but after researching the heck out of this process and calculating the costs, we felt that the wood accent wall would be too time-consuming and expensive for a space that is not a main living area in our home.

Side note, it’s important to coordinate your fixed fixtures in any bathroom to create cohesion and show thoughtful intention while designing. “One thing that’s true about ‘matchy-matchy’ decorating is that the fixed finishes in your bathroom – in ot… — *Side note*, it’s important to coordinate your fixed fixtures in any bathroom to create cohesion and show thoughtful intention while designing. “One thing that’s true about ‘matchy-matchy’ decorating is that the fixed finishes in your bathroom – in other words, anything that you can’t just pick up and take out of the room – should in actual fact, match.” - source Maria Killiam

Plumbing

We coordinated the new Moen Halle faucet with the Moen Halle towel ring and toilet paper holder all in brushed nickel.

Light Fixtures

I chose two different styles of light fixtures to further blend Shabby Chic and Rustic together. The vanity light has a rustic Edison bulb mason jar feeling about it while the orb mini pendant light is elegant and feminine. Both fixtures are brushed nickel driving home the juxtaposition of the two different styles.

Accents

Mirror: The vanity mirror is elegant with curvy lines contrasting the straight lines of the farmhouse vanity. I could have kept the original oval mirror and it would have worked out fine, but I really wanted to have a showstopper mirror!

Artwork: The flower canvas painting was the very first item I purchased from the Going Out of Business sale at Pier 1. I liked the colors and knew that I wanted to use a shade of blue in the bathroom, so this painting really served as my inspiration piece.

Wall Shelf: The wall shelf has a natural-colored wood tone top with distressed white metal corbels. I thought this shelf worked well because it of its overall size, it adds a natural wood element to the room, and could be used in either a Shabby Chic or a Rustic setting.

Shutters: The two white primitive shutters were locally sourced at an antique mall. I instantly fell in love with them and knew they were the perfect solution for the widest wall in our awkwardly shaped powder room. I think the bright white chippy paint accentuates the vanity cabinet nicely. The straight lines found in the diamond shapes are interesting and contrast nicely against the curvy lines of the vanity mirror and orb pendant light.

So what do you think about Shabby Chic and Rustic design styles working together in this Powder Room?