The Shabby Chic Life

You may have never heard the term “Shabby Chic” before, but if you’ve ventured outside your home in the last ten years or so you’ve definitely seen it in action.  That brand new yet vintage, antique, or distressed-looking item paired with a brilliant chandelier or similarly polished piece…classic shabby chic.  You could’ve come across it anywhere from a posh lounge or coffee shop to a commercial store like Anthropologie.  Although it has a tendency to be a little muted for my taste and not always polished enough for my Mom, there are definitely some aspects of this look that we really love.  Shabby Chic is somewhat of a phenomenon, and once you know how to pull it off it’s one of the most easily achievable high-end looks.  For a full understanding of just what this look entails check out any one of Rachel Ashwell’s 10+ books- she’s essentially the modern day authority on the subject.  I read ‘Shabby Chic Interiors: My Rooms, Treasures and Trinkets” cover to cover and I’ve gotta say, she has an interesting point of view.  Ashwell’s emphasis on comfort, functionality, the allure of time worn objects and the beauty of imperfections is very appealing to me.  In Ashwell’s estimation, an item you find at a flea market can be a hundred times more beautiful and special than an expensive designer piece.  If you like the idea of creating a comfortable and creative environment for your family but the thought of anything second hand makes your skin crawl than check out a few of these traditional shabby chic products and spaces.

Rachel Ashwell’s Simply 

Shabby Chic for Target

For the most inexpensive of all Rachel Ashwell’s lines, check out her Simply Shabby Chic for Target brand.  Her low-keyhydrangea and rose duvet cover is less than $100 and textbook Shabby Chic, especially when paired with any of the other neutral furniture and drapery her line offers.  Personally, we’re afraid a space made entirely from this collection could get boring so don’t be afraid to mix it up a bit!

Not Too Shabby

When going for a Shabby Chic look it’s important to play up the ‘chic’ as much as the shabby.  This five arm sage green Elizabeth Chandelier from Not Too Shabby was our favorite item on the site, but there are also plenty of area rugs, beds, fine linens, furniture and other lighting options available to play up the elegant factor of a room.   

Styled Spaces

The most fantastic pillows we could find are handmade on Etsy for $22 a piece.  Their burlap fabric contrasts starkly with the ornamental pattern they’re adorned with, a key (no pun intended) element of the shabby chic fashion.

Happy Earth Day

Not long ago if you said you wanted your house to be green you were referring to a color palate, not a lifestyle.  We’re fortunate to live in a time that values environmentally friendly living- as an old Native American proverb says “We do not inherit the Earth from our ancestors, we borrow it from our children”.  The truth is we’re all better off if every person makes a reasonable effort to better our environment.  Simple choices like the decision to recycle don’t have to be political or even a big inconvenience, and if we all get on board we really can have a major impact on the future of our planet.  The best way to celebrate the 40th anniversary of Earth Day is to make a few eco-friendly purchases for your home.  Here are a few companies that are doing their part to help us all minimize our ecological footprint in style.  

Amenity

Amenity offers a wide variety of eco-friendly home items from bedding and pillows to table linens and nursery decorations.  Visit their site soon to take advantage of their Earth Day sale- they’re offering an additional 50% off everything in their sale section today through April 25.  Our favorite find in the sale was this limited edition large-scale printed duvet cover.  Each image is printed with eco-friendly dyes onto organically grown and processed cotton.  Not only does Amenity offer environmentally friendly choices, they’ve got great prices.  Buy this duvet during the Earth Day sale and the price is $157 down from almost $400.

We also loved these gorgeous linen pillows printed with non-toxic, water based dyes and filled with a high-quality polyester fiber generated from spun recycled bottles.  They were originally $79 each, but they’re on sale for $30.  That means if you catch the Earth Day sale, you can get them for $15 a piece!

Inhabit

Every piece you see on Inhabit is designed by a husband and wife team dedicated to creating unique products from their original sketches, thoughts and ideas.  They offer bedding, pillows, art, and customizable lamps with 1,607,045 different possible combinations. 

We loved their stretched canvases made of 100% sustainable recycled polyester and environmentally-friendly inks, and were particularly smitten with their Bamboo in Grass and Tree in Chocolate creations.  Prices vary from $72 to $330 depending on size. 

Metro Sofa

Metro Sofa begins the process of creating their sofas with recyclable or antique wood frames that otherwise would be crowding a landfill.  From that point, they carefully select paints, fabrics, cushions and finishes with eco-friendly production and manufacturing in mind.  

         

There’s no strange smells, materials or finishes, so you get an “old”, yet brand new piece.  Metro Sofa has obviously assembled an incredibly innovative team, because we’d love to own each and every one of a kind piece we looked at on their website.  

Get Thee To a Museum

The past few days were filled with perfect company, perfect activities, and even the ever elusive gift of perfect timing.  My Dad and I went on one last adventure just before taking the sad journey to the airport and spent the afternoon visiting The Frist Center for the Visual Arts.  There are few things I’d rather do than explore a museum, and The Frist certainly didn’t leave me disappointed.  Their Masterpieces of European Painting and Heroes: Mortals and Myths in Ancient Greece exhibits had all the ingredients of a museum experience tailored to…well…me or someone identical to me (though I suspect the former as I can’t imagine the world could handle two of us).  Luckily we happened to catch these two traveling exhibits just days before they moved on to their next destination- quite providential if you ask me.  There’s so much I took from what I saw today- color combinations that made for a masterpiece, pictures that push the boundary in size and scale and content, and classics of every variety.  The most fun and helpful thing I could possibly encourage you to do is to go to your own local museum to see what jumps out at you!  Click  here to find the one closest to you.  Thanks to the world wide web, even if you can’t get to a museum for whatever reason you can still browse their gift shops!  One of my favorite museums in the world, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, has an amazing online store that offers limited edition prints, rugs and other unique items, all inspired by their remarkable exhibits.  While you may have to side step the occasional novelty item, there are plenty of classically beautiful finds that would add to any home.  Here are our favorite pieces on the site.

Birds, Orchids and Banyan Tree Panel- $175

This beautiful reproduction of an early 20th century Japanese painting from the Taisho era is a two-fold screen in ink and color on paper.  It comes ready to hang and mounted on a wood panel.  We appreciated it’s tranquil nature, and it’s potential to introduce an element of overtly Asian art to a room without making the space kitschy in any way.  

Museum Shapes, Colors, 123 and 

ABC Deluxe Set- $54.95

It’s never too soon to introduce the little one in your life to the world of art.  This set of books was developed and published by the Museum and designed to just that.  It features works of art from ancient times to the present and helps readers of all ages find new ways of looking at images.  It’s a great, albeit advanced, way to teach colors, shapes, numbers and the alphabet.  The good news is, when your toddlers start identifying Botero, Cezanne, Degas, Hiroshige, Lichtenstein, and Monet the world will know they’re as much of a genius as you suspected from birth.  

Frank Lloyd Wright Oak Park Frame- $90

                  

While this square frame itself wasn’t created by Frank Lloyd Wright, it is adapted from an art glass window he designed for his Oak Park studio.  Wright worked in Oak Park from 1889 to 1909, the same time he developed the Prairie style of architecture.  Many famous buildings were designed in this studio including Robie House and Unity Temple.  It’s like having a teeny tiny piece of history in your home. 

Peter Lik

What do Justin Timberlake, George Bush Sr., Cindy Crawford, Bill Clinton, Celine Dion and Shaquille O’Neal have in common?  Believe it or not, there’s no punch line here…the answer is they all collect Peter Lik Photography.  Who is Peter Lik?  Why, thank you for asking.  He is arguably the very best landscape photographer in the world.  People sometimes have a tendency to put professional photographers in the same category as the guy who plays the cymbals and chimes in the New York Philharmonic symphony orchestra.  It’s not that they’re not impressed….it’s just that they’re pretty sure they could be just as good if they were given the proper training and equipment.  One look at Peter Lik’s work and it’s clear he has talent beyond what any amount of instruction could accomplish.  The man has a gift.  

I was first introduced to his work when I wandered into one of his galleries in Miami Beach.  I took one look around and immediately added “own one of these magnificent photographs” to my bucket list.  He’s famous for his dramatic colors, vivid lighting, panoramic images and his commitment to get the shot.  Several of his photographs required sitting in the same place outside for 12-24 hours to determine the best natural light and angles- which means what you see is what he saw…no Photoshop, no artificial saturation of color…just God’s creation at it’s finest.  If you’re looking to invest in artwork for your home, check out the Peter Lik Gallery closest to you.  Here are a few of our favorite selections.

If, like me, your budget doesn’t allow for an original Peter Lik just yet then pick up one of his books for your coffee table, or give one as a gift to someone you really like a lot.  

Our favorite is his 192 page Spirit of America book that captures every state in our country.  It took Lik five years to get every shot and the artistry on every page is astonishing.

Another impressive collection of photos is his book Australia, a tribute to the beauty of Lik’s native land.  My first order of business after flipping through a copy of this gorgeous book was to look for a cheap plane ticket to see this incredible country myself…unfortunately cheap and Australian airfare don’t really mesh.  In my wildest imagination I couldn’t fathom scenes so beautiful and I very much enjoyed the adventure of seeing this far off land through his eyes.  For more of his collections, click here.  Prepare to be impressed.

Picnic Time...Surry on Down

A few months ago I decided I wanted to transfer some of our old family home videos to DVD.  I gathered a stack of videocassettes, searched the house for our one remaining VHS player, and started sifting through the tapes in an effort to choose the best ones.  The afternoon played out like an episode of This Is Your Life…I laughed, cried, and felt invigorated revisiting memories that I could only formerly recall as a whisper.  In one particular home video I’m about four years old and asked if I have anything I’d like to say.  Never one to turn down the opportunity to have a word, I proceeded to ramble on for a bit and concluded with “I love my parents, I love my brother, I love my cousins, but most of all…most of all…most of all I love my Daddy”.  Twenty years have come and gone since that moment in time, but I’m no less of a Daddy’s girl now than I was then…which is why I’m so excited that my Dad is in town visiting me for the next couple of days!  I’ve got quite a few fun activities on the agenda for while he’s here, but I’m particularly excited about the picnic we’re planning tomorrow at a local vineyard.  There’s something about a Spring picnic that equals guaranteed fun to me, if you haven’t taken one recently you really should put it on your to-do list!  And because we want every space you occupy to be as lovely as possible, we picked out some perfect picnic gear for you.  Here are our finds.

Baskets    

An orthodox picnic-er would tell you picnic isn’t a truly a picnic without a basket.  This one from Crate&Barrel is on sale for $11.95 down from $19.95.  It’s cute, affordable, and perfect for an afternoon in the park.  

      

When I think about a perfect picnic, the basket in my imagination looks a lot like this red gingham lined Festival Basket for two.  It comes with with plates, mugs, and utensils and a 100% lifetime warranty (I’m not even sure what that means in terms of picnic baskets, but that’s what the website says!).  It’s $40 and straight off picnicbaskets.com- what more could you ask for?

               

For the ultimate basket experience, you’ve gotta have a Longaberger.  This particular basket will cost you about $140, but you can sleep tight knowing you’re the proud owner or the Ferrari of the basket community.  Longaberger is dead serious about their baskets...going so far as to build their seven story, 180,000 square foot office building in the shape of one of their models.  Unbelievable as it is, the picture below is no joke.

Blankets

               

This $20 classic red tartan blanket by Sutherland is waterproof, cushioned, and folds into a convenient carrying case.  It’s designed to be an outdoor blanket, so while it won’t keep all of you safe from rain, it will at least protect your bottom side.

If you’re itching to go on a picnic, don’t have an appropriate blanket and can’t wait 5-7 business days for your online purchase to arrive, than run by Sears and pick up this $35 tote and blanket set.  We loved the fact that it’s machine washable, so you can use it in the great outdoors and snuggle up in it on your couch all in the same afternoon.

The most comfortable, outdoor friendly option we found were these Mambe blankets.  They have all the best features of the other choices we’ve shown you- 100% waterproof nylon lining, a machine washable material, super soft fleece...the works.  They’re $109, but worth the investment if you’re looking to picnic like a king.

Buy This, Not That

I’ve got good news and bad news.  Good news first: the items you choose for your home don’t actually have to BE expensive to look expensive.  Like a chic outfit paired with really good costume jewelry, people will make assumptions based on your overall taste level and the details they see….same goes for your home.  The bad news?  When you don’t know what to look for, you can easily spend your hard earned money on something that looks (gasp) even less expensive than it is.  That’s not what we want.  I took a field trip to Home Goods today- everything there is quite affordable, but here’s what separated the luxury-looking items from the bargain bin ones.  

Basic Style

Homegoods is an absolute goldmine for great finds, but sometimes they interpret styles too literally and end up with merchandise that looks more like a novelty item than a chic piece.  If you’re going for a nautical look than by all means, incorporate some blue and white strips in your design aesthetic.  Add accents of red, maybe even accessories or furniture made from driftwood.  But do not buy a lamp shaped like a lighthouse, or a large captains wheel that says “welcome aboard”…that’s just taking it too far.  

The lamp above, for example, costs about $130.  Even if you’re really committed to a nautical feel there’s still classier options, like this Lantern Accent Lamp.  

They’re $30 each, which means you could literally buy three of these stylish lamps for the price of the obnoxious one.  

Fabric

There’s so much to consider when selecting a fabric for your sofa, chairs or pillows.  Luxury choices tend to set themselves apart with detailing like embroidery or tufts, and of course high-end fabrics.  Every material gives off an impression, so be sure to study what it’s saying before you make a purchase.  Here’s an example for you.  

These chairs are exactly the same in every way, except the first one looks dated and cheap, while the second one reminds me of these $2,000 chairs from Anthropologie.

Even if I was able to get past the particularly bad Zebra print of the first chair, the fabric itself looks shiny and plastic.  Know what trends are in (read: check Design Muse often), and you’ll always have the upper hand in your selections.

Furniture Texture

If I could warn you of one thing only, it would be to stay away from anything wood grained that looks too synthetic.  Cheap “wood” is as bad as it gets…it screams poor quality.  If you have a pre-existing bad imitation wood condition in your home and you can’t afford to make a change, consider painting whatever the object may be.  A high lacquer gloss in black, white, or even a bright shade creates a statement piece, while a more matted paint will help it blend in.  If you can avoid cheap looking wood altogether, that is- of course- the best case scenario.  As far as other furniture textures go, mirrors, high quality wood and embossed metals tend to look more expensive. 

We found this unimpressive Nightstand at Biglots for $169.99.  

Compare that to this gorgeous Glass Accent Table from Target that’s about half the price at just $89.99.  The moral of the story is simple: chose your purchases thoughtfully and you can make a simple budget look like a million bucks.  Fail to do so and you’ll detract from your home’s value.