Shabby chic

Shabby chic is a form of interior design where furniture and furnishings are either chosen for their age and signs of wear and tear or new items are distressed to achieve the appearance of an antique.

Description

Shabby chic items are often heavily painted with many layers showing through obviously worn areas. The style is imitated in faux painting using glaze or by painting then rubbing and sanding away the top coat to show the wood or base coats. Fabrics tend to be cottons and linens, with linen being particularly popular, inspired by old French linens. Whites and worn or bleached out pastels are favorite colours. Fabric is often stained with tea to give it the look of old fabric. Bleached and faded are terms often applied to the style.

The essence of shabby chic style is vintage and antique furniture painted white (or another soft pastel color) and distressed at the corners by sanding.

Popular decor items are pillows made of vintage barkcloth fabric, vintage linens, chenille bedspreads, vintage chandeliers, and anything with roses on it. It is a soft, relaxed feminine romantic way of decorating that looks comfortable and inviting. Also called cottage style.

History

The style started in Great Britain and evokes the type of decoration found in large country houses where there are worn and faded old chintz sofas and curtains, old paintwork and unassuming 'good' taste. The end result of shabby chic is to achieve an elegant overall effect, as opposed to the sentimentally cute Pop-Victorian. Recycling old furniture and fabrics is an important aspect of the look and was especially popular with modern Bohemians and artisans that made up a sidelined counter-culture movement during the 1980s when expensive quality decor became very fashionable with the upper middle classes. The original shabby chic interiors were usually considered in themselves works of art.

The early forms of shabby chic were rather grand but the style has evolved taking inspiration from many forms of decoration. These range from 18th century Swedish painted decoration, the French Chateau as well as the American Shakers where simplicity and plainness was essential.

Other names for shabby chic(shabby doo), in the context of furniture, include distressed, rustic, and traditional furniture styles.

Origin of word

The term was coined by The World of Interiors magazine in the 1980s and became extremely popular in the US in the '90s with the revival of cult boho films such as Chocolat, Moulin Rouge! and a certain eclectic surge of decorating styles with paints and effects, notably in metropolitan cultural centres on the West Coast of America, such as LA and San Francisco, with heavy influences from Mediterranean cultures such as Provence, Tuscany and Greece.

Shabby chic is also a general term which can be used to refer to a person who is stylish rather than fashionable, where their style reflects quality as opposed to newness.

This style is now commonly associated with French country or Louis style furniture and Gustavian furniture.

Trademarked brand

Designer Rachel Ashwell founded a company in 1989 called Shabby Chic and currently has two stores. The first store opened in Santa Monica, California, and another store opened in New York City. According to the Shabby Chic website, the "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."

Ashwell has also trademarked the term Simply Shabby Chic in reference to a line of products available at Target department stores.

See also

• Distressing
• Faux painting
• Shabby Chic website