Chi Chi's Guide to French and Shabby Chic Chests of Drawers
These French chest of drawers are so stunning you might not want to keep it hidden from view in your bedroom. In fact, many of our clients are looking for a shabby chic chest of drawers to act as a functional and attractive piece of furniture to brighten up an entrance hall, lobby, office, or even in the living room.
With the wonderful selection of colours and finishes, these sets of drawers really are eye-catching and we’ve got a good range of sizes too, from double drawer console table type chest of drawers, to elegant tallboys with seven individual drawers, so whatever space you have, you are bound to find just the right drawer chest to fit.
As for what you can use these French styled chest of drawers for, the list is endless. If it’s to be a centerpiece of your hallway they are perfect for keeping all those bits and pieces tidied away, from telephone directories to keys and umbrellas. A set in the more traditional setting of the bedroom is perfect for arranging those undies and clothes – but be warned, you’ll love your French chest of drawers so much you won’t want to share it, so you may end up buying a matching pair!
The larger, multiple-drawer storage chest style pieces are also really popular in lounges and dining rooms, as they work really well for arranging everything from paperwork to candles and knick knacks – basically anything that you need to keep handy, but you don’t want on show.
In French a chest of drawers is known as a ‘commode’, the name given to these pieces of furniture in 17th century France, a long time before the English word commode came about in Victorian times when it meant a certain piece of furniture associated with washing and personal hygiene! You will see several of our pieces are called commodes as they reflect the prominent 17th century French designs of these chests of drawers.
Many of our shabby chic chest of drawers designs are quite elaborate and all are based on classic styles. One of best sellers is the Bombe style. Bombe refers to the bulging, curvy side wall shapes of the chest, that gives it a ‘nipped at the waist’ look, closely related to the popular Rococo style. This is such an attractive look and works well on sets of drawers.
Other styles in our collection include the Bordeaux, which is a slightly more rustic version of the shabby sort chic seen in chests of drawers. There are also some delightful colours in this range, with teal blues, French greys and ivories.
The classic Louis style of shabby chic is ever present in our chest of drawers range too, with those delicate curves and intricate mouldings that make for an extravagant and very regal piece of furniture. Similarly, the Parisian style is just a splendid, but boasts a slightly more ‘distressed’ look to the finish.
To give all these classic French styles of chests of drawers a modern twist, you’ll find we have created some rather extraordinary colours to really make the pieces stand out. A bright fuschia pink is perfect for that princess look in a bedroom and the sultry black surround with contrasting lime finish on the drawers is sure to get the piece noticed. We also have all the classic shabby chic colours for these chest of drawers including silver, gold leaf, black and distressed ivory.