Shabchic is a design style that incorporates furniture and artwork from older design periods to create an aged yet elegant design scheme. Rachel Ashwell coined the term in the mid-1980s and partnered with Target to create an affordable line of furniture. The style often features wallpapers, wall hangings, paintings, and bedding that mimic the feeling of things being old. The furniture and sheets should look worn, and imperfections are seen as bonuses. Shabchic can be a great style for those on a budget or with children or animals that might damage furniture.
Shabchic refers to a type of design and decorating style that incorporates the use of furniture, sofas, and artwork from older design periods, specifically ones that look a bit worn, to create a pleasantly aged yet elegant design scheme. . Designer Rachel Ashwell coined the term in the mid-1980s and partnered with Target to create an affordable line of furniture that expresses this design scheme. Furniture can be based on a number of different historical design periods, including 1800s French, Shaker designs, and many others. Most of the pieces should look old and worn and may have been passed down through several generations.
To accompany the furniture, the shabchic also often features a wide variety of wallpapers, wall hangings, paintings, and bedding that mimic this feeling of things being old. One of the main ways to make things look older is to bleach or wear out fabrics. The sheets should look worn, even though they are not, and especially the new sheets should be as durable as those that are not prepared in the shabchic style. Buying worn dress clothes is somewhat comparable to people buying new clothes that have been ripped, torn, or stonewashed to look older.
Some purists suggest that the true shabchic should be just that, old furniture and sheets. Perhaps they could be pieces passed down from relatives or things culled from good garage sales and auctions. In this form of design, small imperfections, like a scratch on a cedar chest or dining table, are seen as bonuses rather than tragedies.
There’s a really funny episode of Friends called The One with The Apothecary Table, which first aired in 2000, in which Rachel tries to imitate shabchic by buying furniture like an apothecary table from Pottery Barn. She pretends to have found these items at a flea market to appease her roommate Phoebe, who irrationally hates the store. Phoebe eventually finds out that the items are in fact new, and she too falls in love with some Pottery Barn items. The episode emphasizes the irony of this design philosophy but also its appeal. Although the furniture Rachel buys looks old and full of character, it is actually mass-produced. However, it is still quite attractive, creating a great design in a home.
Shabchic can be a great style to emulate for home decor for those on a budget, or for families that have small children or animals that might not be very kind to furniture. The pieces don’t have to match, and flea market items or estate sale items are just as stylish, maybe even more so, than new distressed furniture. Plus, any damage to furniture from children or exuberant animals can actually add to your shabby chic design scheme rather than mar it.
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