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Overview
Valuable flea market finds...
A peeling, antioue vanity in muted sea green...
An elegant, cracked chandelier...
An enormous, slipcovered sofa with deep, cushions...
Comfort, the beauty of imperfections, the allure of time-worn objects, and the appeal of simple practical living: these are the cornerstones of what has come to be known as the Shabby Chic style. Like the cozy familiarity of a well-worn pair of faded jeans, the dilapidated elegance of an Italian viIla, or the worn grandeur of faded velvets and mismatched floral china handed down from your grandmother's attic, the Shabby Chic style is a revived appreciation for what is used, well-loved, and worn. It is a respect for natural evolution and a regard for what is easy and sensible.
The hundreds of lavish photographs in this book invite you inside the unique world of Shabby Chic. Rachel Ashwell, founder of theShabby Chic home decor stores, for the first time provides her invaluable and much-sought-after advice on how to re-create Shabby Chic style in your own home. With engaging text and easy-to- follow instructions, Rachel details the Shabby Chic basics in a way that will put even the most apprehensive or novice decorators at ease. From flowers to fabrics to lighting, Rachel illuminates all of the elements essential to this unpretentious yet truly exquisite style.
A behind-the-scenes look at a flea market lets readers in on Rachel's personal secrets of how to cull hidden treasures from flea market trash--an old trunk, its paint peeling around the edges, can be given new life as a coffee table, while a chipped white iron salvage piece becomes the perfect frame for a vintage mirror. This book tells you not only how to restore these pieces but how to find the perfect place for them in your home. Gorgeous color photographs and accompanying text reveal how this relaxed look works with a variety of different styles, from Victorian to Mediterranean to contemporary.
Product Details
| ISBN-13: | 9780062191502 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | HarperCollins |
| Publication date: | 02/21/2012 |
| Sold by: | HARPERCOLLINS |
| Format: | eBook |
| Pages: | 208 |
| File size: | 62 MB |
| Note: | This product may take a few minutes to download. |
About the Author
Rachel Ashwell is the creator of the Shabby Chic style. In 1989, she founded the Shabby Chic home furnishing stores and then later, the Rachel Ashwell Shabby Chic Couture stores. She is the author of Shabby Chic, Rachel Ashwell's Shabby Chic Treasure Hunting and Decorating Guide, The Shabby Chic Home, and Shabby Chic: The Gift of Giving.
Amy NeuNsinger is a photographer whose work has appeared in numerous magazines and advertising campaigns ranging from beauty to travel.
Read an Excerpt
Comfort, the beauty of imperfection, the allure of time-worn objects, and the appeal of simple, practical living: These are the cornerstones of what has come to be known as the Shabby Chic style. Shabby Chic, the home furnishings label and retail chain I founded in 1989, is now recognized not only as a brand name, but as a decorating style. Though some may find the phrase "shabby chic"--the idea that something "shabby" (faded and dilapidated) can be considered "chic" (elegant and stylish)--paradoxical, the two elements go hand in hand. Shabbiness, in its shunning of what is too new, modern, or ostentatious, as well as in its rebellion against perfection, is precisely what makes this comfortable look so alluring. The cozy familiarity of a well-worn, beloved pair of faded blue jeans--versus the starched stiffness of a new pair--is the appeal of Shabby Chic.
I didn't invent this relaxed style. Europeans have long appreciated this approach to living: Witness the dilapidated elegance of an Italian villa, French castle, or English country estate whose owners can easily afford new furnishings, but prefer the worn grandeur of faded velvets and peeling vanities handed down from their ancestors. Shabby Chic represents a revived appreciation for what is useful, well loved, and comfortable, for those things that some might perceive as being too tattered and worn to be of use or value.
Collecting important, rare, or costly objects meant to be seen and not touched is not part of the Shabby Chic philosophy. My philosophy of decor is that nothing should be too precious. A child should feel free to put her feet on the sofa, a guest, his cup on the coffeetable. I believe in cozy, not fussy; relaxed, not stiff. I believe in living in, on, and around one's things, not merely with them.
A roomy, slipcovered chair big enough for a child and a dog or two, with slightly wrinkled, worn fabric and ample arms perfect for plopping your legs over; an old trunk, its paint peeling around the edges, given new life as a coffee table; a vase of roses from the garden, a bit wilted, a few petals missing; a vintage mirror, framed with a white floral iron piece salvaged from an old gate and chipped in places, but still charming; a slightly rusted flea market chandelier; a scratched-up coal scuttle used as a bread box; an array of vanilla-scented candles adding a warm glow to a cozy room--these are some of the elements of the effortless, inviting look I prefer. Colors in keeping with this way of living tend to be soft, palatable tones such as seafoam, mint, and celadon greens; dusty roses; pale sky blues; and ivories, creams, and grays that appear to be muted by age, or crisp, clean whites that blend with everything. Brighter or darker colors can occasionally be a part of the look if they are treated with subtlety, combined with white or light colors, or if they appear to be faded by time.
But Shabby Chic goes far beyond the stereotype of a few tea-stained florals and some cushy chairs. Some have called this shabby yet elegant look "a marriage between the laid-back, breezy ease of Los Angeles beach life and the romantic prettiness of English country life at its most casual." Others have described it as having "the aura of old money, cushy comfort, and crafted indifference" or as "the merging of a romantic, old-fashioned, aesthetic appeal with modern functions." To these qualities, I would add that the style suggests things that are inherited rather than store-bought and handcrafted rather than mass-produced. It is also a style that is appreciative of the beauty of process and evolution.