The Shabby Chic Home

by Rachel Ashwell

Overview

Shabby Chic designer Rachel Ashwell shows readers how to turn any house or apartment into a comfortable, functional, beautiful, and stylish home, in this bestselling guide to getting the most out of flea-market finds and vintage treasures.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780062030849
Publisher:	HarperCollins
Publication date:	10/12/2010
Sold by:	HARPERCOLLINS
Format:	eBook
Pages:	208
Sales rank:	892,752
File size:	69 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

The Living Room & Dining Area

Every window in my house has a view, and one wall of my living room is entirely glass--windows, a French door, and the entrance door. The glass wall brings the colors of the pool and the garden into the house. The turquoise drops on the chandelier are the same color as the pool; before installing it, once I would have unpicked every turquoise drop and replaced it with clear glass, and I probably would have tried to do something about the gold paint as well. Now I leave it all as is, thanks to the colorful inspirations that surround me. The rest of the room is lit by sconces, lamps, and candles.

The living room is sparsely decorated: just a few paintings and some family photographs on the walls and propped around; the room depends on the outdoors for its decor. As the seasons change the flowers in the garden, I change my slipcovers in the living room. It is the best room in the world for a rainy day. And, of course, there are no curtains.

Editorial Reviews

The Queen of Shabby Chic invites us into the renovation of her home. Ashwell's initial assessment of the house was "dark, spooky, witchy," and she passed on it. Unable to get the house out of her mind, she returned for another look. What she saw was its great "bones," its wide-planked floors, and all its potential, so rather than gutting the place, she went to work on it. The result is an airy and open home, a testament to her Shabby Chic style.

bn.com

Ashwell (Shabby Chic and Rachel Ashwell's Shabby Chic Treasure Hunting & Decorating Guide) shows how she transformed her own Malibu home, a 1920s natural-wood dwelling built by a Swedish boatbuilder, into a reflection of the "Shabby Chic" style that she has popularized with her home furnishings and fabric lines. Taking a house with "good bones," she dramatically changed the look of the house with simple adjustments, such as using lots of white paint. (To those who protested her painting the natural wood, she replied, "Oh, well.") Given the continuing tendency to gut or tear down older homes, her recommendations are refreshing. A good purchase for public libraries. Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information.\

Library Journal