Jamies, if you post pics you can get some specific advice for your style home. Don't be afraid. It's not impossible to pull of Shabby Chic in a newer home when you understand the basic principals behind it. Shabby Chic is about personalizing the space. You can get ideas here and then run with them putting your own twist on it. The main thing that will propel you decision is the style of the house itself. If it is very Modern and you own some pieces that are too rustic, you may have to mix some metal pieces in so the furnishings do not have a disconnect to the house. It won't be pure Shabby Chic but may be a look you are happy with. And don't forget Fabric. Shabby Chic uses lots of fabric. The dining room above could be made more Shabby Chic by showing it with and abundance of fabric curtains on the windows and maybe even a Chantilly lace tablecloth. Yeah crazy, I know. It's a look people where will either love it or hate it. Memorable. Not boring. People will talk. You may be able to dress up your rustic cabinet with fabric inserts in the doors or something to soften the rustic look. When you look at a rustic piece being considered for your Shabby Chic look you may have to think about softening it with fabric or a sheer wash of paint to make it fit in your scheme. OR transform a formal piece into something more gritty, like replacing the velvet on dining room chairs with grainsack or sailcloth. If your home is Modern and you do not want painted furniture consider using some vintage Danish Modern pieces in natural wood for a Shabby Chic look: Danish Modern in natural wood with elements of Shabby Chic like the white linen curtains. Picture this with vintage floral china instead of the modern china used in this photo.

pupwhipped - getting the type of aged appearance that you are speaking of is fairly easy. For the rubbed back look some things that you can do are the following: After you have a base coat on and prior to putting a top coat on - choose which areas that you want to have that 'rubbed back' look. They will be areas that are naturally handled, touched and bumped over time. Don't think too hard about where these areas are (too many people over think this and end up w/ pieces that are over done) - just simply pretend that you are walking by or putting something in a drawer - where did you just naturally touch or handle the piece? Now grab a candle and simply rub wax on that area. Use whatever topcoat you are using and paint over top. When it's dry buff back where you waxed over the base coat w/ a soft cloth or brown paper bag. I've always found that it is much easier to control how much top coat I take off by using a paper bag. It will also buff up to a nice subtle sheen and knock done any raised brush strokes. DH uses brown paper bags at work too when he's working on a piece. Glazes are nice over top to age a piece. If you are not using a top coat (for instance you just want your white or cream basecoat to look aged) after you paint your base lightly sand back to the raw wood in the areas that you want to rubbed back and use a glaze, stain, shoe polish (whatever you are using) and paint all over the top. The raw areas will hold the topcoat more than the painted areas and give a nice aged look. The shinier the base caot finish that you choose the more stain/ glaze top coat will come off and you can build up your 'aged look' to how dark you'd like it to be. Matte paint sucks up the glazes a bit more right away. If you use crackle medium there's a bunch of tips that I can give for that too if you'd like. The worst think in the world is when I see an entire pice w/ crackled paint on it. No piece EVER ages like that. EVER! But that's a whole 'nother pet peeve of mine. Use a phillips head screw driver to replicate a small patch of worm holes. Sometimes I'd go into my dad's shop when he was aging a piece and he'd use a heavy chain to make dings here and there. They would also use a handful of keys wrapped in an old t-shirt to make smaller dings. Making dings follows the same principal as rubbing back: Think carefully about where the piece would get naturally knicked over time. Don't ding it all over. I hate when I see that too. Sometimes I'll take a hammer to a piece (w/ a lighthanded approach of course - not everywhere!) and ding the edge here and there. My dad has a friend who makes beautiful reproduction furniture - some of it aged - some not (he will never divulge all of his secrets to me but I've gotten some out of him since I've known him since I was a child and he worked for my dad) and he used to tell me how they would tie brand new chairs together part way through painting, and throw them in the running creek behind the shop and just let them bob around and bang into rocks and smooth down from the running water. Then they'd haul them out and finish them up. He is so good at aging furniture that he has a reputation for fooling antiques dealers and has been named to the Fine Woodwoking magazines top 200 list for the past 10 years. Use as many or as few of some of these ideas as you'd like to get the look you want. It's so much fun!

LOL I thought you'd kick out of that. I only looked at the thumbnails. Our two year old grandson was here today. I'll have to go look at them. One of my hubby's sister's hubby lives out in the boondocks of central Iowa, nothing wrong with Iowa. It's my Home Sweet Home state, and he has a garage/outbuilding that's his man cave, though I can't see him calling it that. It's unfinished on the inside so it's more garage and storage for his muscle car, but does have tables with his stuff on them. Nothing fancy, not messy either. Just a place to get away from the house when the guys are over to watch Nascar or football. Just a country boy at heart. The best thing that happened to my SIL. Now I'm going to take a few minutes to check out the man caves. LOL

Joyce, I don't know if Cheeptrims.com has craft ribbon or not, but I use them and ribbonsandbowsohmy.com for ribbon and trims. Good Luck, Susan