15 replies to this topic

[tvmaniac]

I did a search but didn't see Shabby Chic listed. It used to run on the Style network in the mornings (where I am anyway). But I haven't seen it recently. However, I have some episodes on tape.

Why am I obsessed with this show and this decorating style?
Where was this style when I lived in all those rented apartments that were all painted off-white?
Is anyone as obsessed with this show and style as I am?

[Miss Clare]

My mom and I like to grit our teeth together and speak with a laconic British accent like Rachel Ashwell. Mama Clare likes Shabby Chic as a design aesthetic more than I do. She likes that everything is light and bright and she could work in all the china she inherited from her mother. I'd give my firstborn for a stainless steel-and-Danish Modern kitchen and an Eames chair and ottoman set to watch TV in, but I could love a master bath done in Victorian-era shoulder-high white running bond tile wainscoting and chair rail with a honeycomb tile floor and a small, antique crystal chandelier hanging above the bathtub.

Personally, I think Shabby Chic is incredibly fussy and contrived and all those antique linens she wants you to use seem like they're destined to tear and get dirty and wouldn't hold up to repeated washings. I did love, though, the Shabby Chic special when Rachel Ashwell took on J.Lo for the design of her restaurant Mama's (that's what it was called, right?) It was like, DIVA! VERSUS! DIVA! WHO WILL PREVAIL?!

[Maybelline]

I haven't seen "Shabby Chic" since I moved to Canada two years ago, but I used to love the show. I find Rachel Ashwell's voice so calming. The "Shabby Chic" style of decorating? Well, it can be pretty. And it can be cloying. I think it's best in small doses, with more white and less floral patterns.

Rachel Ashwell was on "Oprah" this week. I like what she does in her own homes. But I saw an episode of "Cribs" a while back, and Pamela Anderson's house was Shabby-Chic'd from top to bottom. It was so feminine and girly, even her little boys' room. It was a bit much.

I saw the special about "Madre's" as well. It was really interesting, and the end result was quite beautiful.

[KateQD]

But I saw an episode of "Cribs" a while back, and Pamela Anderson's house was Shabby-Chic'd from top to bottom. It was so feminine and girly, even her little boys' room. It was a bit much.

I was just coming in to post about how much I hate Shabby Chic, EXCEPT for Pam Anderson's house! I like that she took the idea and really ran with it, and how the theme really flowed throughout her home. I personally dont enjoy homes that have a different motif in each room, they always feel disjointed to me. Her house I could live in, except for the bathroom but thats more of a privacy issue for me.

[PostToastie]

I saw the special about "Madre's" as well. It was really interesting, and the end result was quite beautiful.

I saw this special. The restaurant turned out beautiful.
Rachel Ashwell also did some design work for the people who own Paul Mitchell hair products (this was on her show). Their house turn out nice too.

[taosgirl]

I love Shabby Chic! Unfortunately I can't stand her voice. I don't see her show on the schedule anymore.

Has anyone checked out her stuff at Target yet? I have pillow shams from her original line that are great, but also bought some of her pillow cases from Mervyns that were made from the most horrible quality fabric.

Sharon Osborne is also a fan and has alot of her stuff. That's one of the reasons I still try to catch "The Osbornes" occasionally.

[tvmaniac]

I'd give my firstborn for a stainless steel-and-Danish Modern kitchen and an Eames chair and ottoman set to watch TV in

Hee! Hey Miss Clare, if you run into Mama tvmaniac at the Scan store, tell her I said "hi"! She loves the Danish Modern. Me, not so much. Plus, I have a lot of stuff from my grandmother, great-aunts and stuff that fits in with the Shabby Chic aesthetic. Plus I am addicted to yard sales/tag sales etc.

I know what you mean about the fussiness. The first time I saw the show, I thought all that white was destined to show stains. But I guess her point is, you can bleach a white slip cover, live with a few stains or rips, or if you didn't pay much for it in the first place, chuck it and buy another at a tag sale.

Maybelline, I'm glad to hear I'm not the only one who finds Rachel's voice calming. I like her show better than her books. I think her voice really sells it.

I missed seeing her on Oprah, but maybe I'll catch it in the reruns that run late at night where I am. I wish her well, but I'm sort of sorry to see her go so corporate. I thought the point was to pick things up cheap at tag sales, not ready-made at inflated corporate prices. Though it's getting harder to find Shabby Chic kinds of stuff at yard sales. I haven't seen a chandelier or marble lamp in ages.

Sort of makes sense that Sharon Osbourne likes the style. It's sort of "England meets California" which is very Osbourne, if that makes any sense.

[DeepRed]

I took something different away from watching the Shabb'ed-Up Madre's Makeover. The end result looked nice (though too fussy for my taste, I admit) but highly impractical. I don't see those fabrics and antique china standing up to repeated washing or handling. Sheer organza skirts on tables and chairs? They'll get ripped in no time. Vintage china in a restaurant dishwasher? Uh uh. Vintage occasional tables? i doubt if if they can stand up to the bumps and bangs harried servers dish out (no pun intended) on a daily basis.

I wonder if this was RA's first commercial design. There's a real art to designing stuff for restaurants that's practical and sturdy, yet still manages to look elegant and refined. RA should stick to home furnishings and leave the restaurants to the pros.

[Maybelline]

You have some very valid concerns about her design for Madre's, DeepRed. If I remember correctly, (it's been a while since I saw the special) the whole affair was thrown together rather hastily. My impression was that Rachel Ashwell was given the job of putting together a fabulous design for the opening night of the restaurant, the fabulous celebrity-studded premiere. It never occured to me that all of the decor she picked out would become permanent fixtures in the restaurant.

I mean, she was buying the china at a flea market! Flea market china is cheap, but it's much more expensive than buying dishes through a restaurant-supply. And, as someone who has worked in many restaurants, I know that dishwashers break a lot of dishes. Every night. Which have to be replaced. So, is Rachel going to be trotting over to the flea market to replace the china every week? Somehow I don't think so.

I wonder what Madre's really looks like today, after a couple of years. I agree that Rachel Ashwell is not a qualified commercial designer. But can you imagine a wedding planned by her? It would be gorgeous!

ETA: not to mention the problem of theft. Those sweet little teacups fit nicely into a handbag, and fans love a J. Lo souvenir.

Edited by Maybelline, Apr 16, 2004 @ 4:51 PM.

[KateQD]

Here is the link to Madre's. If you just let it sit on the home page, the pictures of the inside scroll through, I didnt find the actual pictures page to be either working or helpful, I'm not sure which it was, I couldnt enlarge any of the pictures and the other shots were of JLo outside on opening night.

[PostToastie]

I wish her well, but I'm sort of sorry to see her go so corporate. I thought the point was to pick things up cheap at tag sales, not ready-made at inflated corporate prices. Though it's getting harder to find Shabby Chic kinds of stuff at yard sales. I haven't seen a chandelier or marble lamp in ages.

I like her one of a kind finds, but they don't have big flea markets like that here. It is nice to be able to have the look - even if everyone who shops at Target has the same stuff.

[tvmaniac]

It is nice to be able to have the look - even if everyone who shops at Target has the same stuff.

That's true. Also, I guess if you know you need one particular thing (like a tray), it's nice to be able to run into Target and get it in the Shabby Chic colors, rather than wait and hope one turns up at at flea market.

[Center of Attention]

I was just coming in to post about how much I hate Shabby Chic, EXCEPT for Pam Anderson's house!

Word. I dont like Shabby Chic at all, but I love Pam's house. I watched that episode of Driven on VH-1 recently just to see if there were any shots of her in her house (there were). Her house looks comfortable as opposed to the froo-froo designs Rachel sometimes puts in other houses. Put a hottub instead of that bathtub in the back yard and that would be my dream house.

[stlouischili]

I really miss this show although Shabby Chic is really not my style.

Some of her stuff was really cool, especially all the floral fabrics. I think all her fabrics are really pretty.

Although I am not an antiques person, the visit to the warehouse with tons of antique doorknobs and other fixtures was REALLY cool & interesting.

Some of the things she did made me actually laugh out loud.

For instance:
The "child-friendly" living room with the all-white slipcovers.

The tacky Chinese house-shoes as party favors for a little girls' tea party.

Many of the antiques with chipped paint, threadbare upholstery, and various other flaws. Excuse me, not flaws...with "lovely patina".

The most valuable thing I learned from Shabby Chic is to choose a color palette and stick with it throughout your house. That can apply to any palette/theme, not just pink-aqua-white. I think that is a good decorating tip.

[tvmaniac]

Re: the practicality of Shabby Chic -- O.K. stlouischili, I guess I began to see your point when one of Rachel’s friends said she’d never fix the broken woven seat on one of her chairs because then it would be “new” (Horrors!). So instead she keeps a broken chair that no one can use?!?!

Nevertheless, I thought the show had some great tips, good episodes, was organized well and served as a great resource. You have a good point about the color palette.

As I recall, before they stopped showing them on Style, they ran two episodes in the morning, one where Rachel either helps someone decorate their home in the Shabby Chic style or goes through a home already decorated in the style. The other episode usually had a more general "theme": clothes, fixing and cleaning old furniture, how to shop at a flea market, flowers, parties, etc. I liked the "theme" shows better than going through the homes.

Any one know if there’s ever been any talk of releasing the show on a DVD set? I’ve read some of Rachel Ashwell’s books, but frankly, I thought the show was better than her books. I would buy a DVD set. How many DVD sets do they have to sell to make it worthwhile? Are releasing DVDs more expensive than publishing books?

[Quag]

I think Shabby Chic is incredibly fussy and contrived

That's pretty much what I think. I'm more of a clean lines/block furniture kind of girl; but I enjoyed watching RA's show (which I haven't seen in ages), which made me have serious love/hate feelings for shabby chic.

I wouldn't mind visiting somebody else's shabbily chic'ed up house, but I wouldn't want to live in a shabby chic house. Too fragile, to precious, to twee. Nothing seems durable.

I also lost interest when it became Teh Style. It went too mainstream for me.