Shabby Chic Mirrors

Shabby Chic mirrors are basically mirrors that look old and rundown. The interior design style started a little while ago and it has run like wild fire. It is the use of old stuff to decorate your new home. The colors used in Shabby Chic furniture and decorations are white and light pastels. There are no other colors or color combinations, and the things must look old and used. Many vintage decorations and mirrors are also considered in a Shabby Chic design.

Shabby Chic started in Great Britain and was originally directed towards the use of furniture taken from vacation cottages in the countryside. Later on it became general and included all kinds of old furniture and fabrics. Shabby Chic mirrors are generally white and worn down. They do not have chipped or cracked mirrors, the frames have to have the appearance of use and specially time. This is the most important issue, time, they look like they have been painted many times over and the wood frame is chipped and worn down.

Originally the style included only large mirrors which in times long gone sat in the halls and rooms of great country homes. Their main characteristics were massive wooden frames and Italian glass mirrors. The original mirrors were extremely heavy and uncomfortable to manipulate. When they were made, houses had plenty of room for four or five men to move about with the mirror until the lady of the house decided where she wanted to hang it.

Copies are not heavy and cumbersome; they are made with light woods and normal modern mirrors. They are designed taking into account the present and not the past. Recently however other mirror styles have been added to the Shabby Chic fad. Vanity mirrors and bathroom mirrors have had great acceptance and have dimensions that may be more in accordance to your apartment size. These vanity and bathroom mirrors can be hanged anywhere in the house.

If you are interested in a Shabby Chic mirror, you must take some precautions when buying it. Keep in mind that it is very easy to age and treat a frame made yesterday so it will have the appearance of many years of neglect. Just because the salesman says that the mirror is original, it doesn’t mean it is. Check the mirrors weight, even a small vanity mirror will weigh more than one bought even five years ago. Back then, carpenters would use brown paper to seal the spaces between the frame and the mirror. Look it over, look at the nails holding the frame and mirror together, they should be worn down and some rust must show on them. Woodwork was done by hand with a saw, not like today when we have electric saws and the like; if the mirror is original there should be cutting imperfections somewhere.

Do not pay more than you have to for a Shabby Chic mirror. Dishonest people trying to make a fast buck will try to swindle you if they think they can. Take your time and look at the details, not the big picture.