Product Description

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

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1013580 in Books
• Published on: 1996-07-31
• Format: Bargain Price
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 197 pages

From Library Journal
Ashwell, founder and owner of Shabby Chic, a home furnishings chain, shares her secrets on how to obtain the decorating look that suggests "the aura of old money, cushy comfort, and crafted indifference." She covers such topics as how to negotiate a flea market and incorporate the purchases for the home, the types of fabric best suited for this look, and how to use flowers to accessorize a room. Lots of color photographs depict the "shabby chic" look in casual, formal, and contemporary settings. This type of eclectic decorating continues to be popular, making this a wise purchase for most libraries.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About the Author
Rachel Ashwell was born in England and has spent the past eighteen years in Malibu, California. She created the Shabby Chic style in 1989 and is the founder of the Shabby Chic home furnishing stores and the designer of a line of slipeovered furniture, bedding, and fabric sold worldwide under the Shabby Chic by Rachel Ashwell label. She is the author of the bestselling Shabby Chic and Rachel Ashwell's Shabby Chic Treasure Hunting & Decorating Guide, and is the host of E! Style Network's Rachel Ashwell's Shabby Chic on Style.

Amy Neunsinger is a freelance photographer who lives in Los Angeles and New York City. Her work has appeared in numerous magazines and ad campaigns ranging from beauty to travel. She is currently working on a fine art book of flowers.

Deborah Greenfield, Rachel Ashwell's sister, was born in London. She studied art at the School of Visual Arts and Parsons School of Design in New York. She is a cho reographer and an award-winning flamenco dancer She lives in Los Angeles, where she divides her time among illustration, acting, and dance.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
Intorduction

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 coffee table. 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.

Customer Reviews

Take it easy on Rachel..she does have some good ideas
I wish some of the reviewers would be a little more open-minded and polite. I have enjoyed taking ideas from Shabby Chic and mixing them with my own. I never take anything too seriously. But I will tell you this..for those of you who love comfort and old things and fixing them up, stick with it and make it your own. Rachels book provides some great ideas, and you can be inspired by them but you do not have to follow everything. Be your own person. Someone wrote "faded fabrics are out" or something? I am sorry, but for those people who enjoy older, inherited looking items in their home that is something that will never die. This look, whether you call it Shabby Chic or not, will continue to evolve throughout time. Just because all the snotty designers are pusing a more cold, modern minimalist look with bright colors does not mean the classic old look is outdated. It is the one look that is never outdated if you work with it right to please you. And some of Rachels items are not expensive at all. I found her collection at Mervyns Southern California to be very fair priced, especially during the white sale, and purchased a few things that were simply classic and delightful, to mix with my own findings and makings. All and all, this is a nice book for your collection if you like to decorate and you like that style, but again, it is not meant to be followed completely. It is meant to inspire.

Chic is never out of date
Contrary to what one reviewer wrote, while the book is a few years old it is still very much useful in 2001. Maybe one has to have lived in France, rural London or even in Greece to fully appreciate the authors wisdom. And page 141 has the ONLY non-fitting slip cover that could be described as "loose fitting and shabby".

Fact is the 7 Chapters are well written and well photographed. The topics of each Chapter are: Diverse Styles; Rooms; Hidden Treasures & Inspirations; Fabrics; Seating; Lights & Lighting; and Flowers. Have used the crisp and very neat fitting slipcover ideas she has on page 23 and 27 as well as the setting idea on page 27 where two same covered, sofa's are used in the viewing/screening room of a clients home.

Now... I am the only woman/female in this family. So with a husband, sons, male cats and dogs I love to save money as well as have furniture that men like and which looks good as well. Ms Ashwells book wins on all counts. Showing what works and what doesn't and why. She isn't just a woman who pays others to do what she says, she does it herself. The flea market piece and photos reminded me of the awesome Pasadena flea market that is so awesome!

It is also nice that she shows a variety of living styles from country garden homes, to zen simplicity, to more a seaside or Mediterranean mode. She offers wonderful information on choosing the right fabric for the piece of furniture and home environment. And information that even I did not know about picking paint. Appreciated the section on furniture restortaion and the photographs that remind me of my favorite haunts in SF and Oakland.

The book is one that you will actually pull off the shelf and read often. In my opinion it is worth the price.

AN "INSPIRATON" BOOK
Rachel Ashwell's "shabby chic" concept is a creation no different than a painting. Some people will be moved and inspired by it while others will pass it by. Several years back many decoraters both private and professional hailed it as a trend and there were those that rushed out to copy Rachel's look for that reason only. Those are the people that tend to declare things are "dead" or "out-dated." They are the same people that dress to impress. They write reviews or make statements about what's "in" and enjoy being "in." That is their priveledge. However, declaring whether "shabby chic" is in or out is an opinion and not a book review. One would assume that a person that is searching for this book could make up his or her own mind whether "the look" is what is desired. The point of reading a review is to find out whether the book provides the information needed or wanted. That is my job as a librarian. When I read a review, especially a non-fiction review, I want to know if a book is well photographed, informative, clearly written, fairly priced etc. This book meets those requirements, but as an "inspiration" book and not a technical manual. I have read and heard both positive and negative reviews, but paid attention only to the ones in which examples were given to support the opinions cited. Many of my patrons at the library have asked for this book and as we have a limited budget, I make selections carefully. I read many reviews of the book first and chose to buy it based on it's uniqueness. In a small library, we can not have ten books on one subject and we can't afford to purchase books that sit. The patrons of the library have taken "Shabby Chic" out many times and taken ideas from it. There were those that did so because of the trend factor, but to this day, the book still goes out often. Some library patrons found themselves reflected in this look and enjoyed the ideas presented. If you feel drawn to this look, but are unsure about a purchase, I recommend that you go to your local library and request a copy. Many of my patrons enjoyed this book so much they bought their own copies, others wanted the book to be more of a text book than an inspiration book. As for myself, I found in the book a unique and romatic vision of decor presented for inspiration, but it is not a how to manual. Those patrons that tend to be their own person enjoyed it best. Those that were anxious about decorating to make their home appear well-turned and contemporary with others and who were not comfortable with risk or their own styles yet, felt they wanted more of a step by step approach. I am here to order my own copy because the book never seems to be on the shelf at work when I have a chance to take it out!