Summaries and Customer Reviews are supplied by Amazon.com

Comfort, the beauty of imperfections, the allure of time-worn objects, and the appeal of simple practical living: these are the cornerstones of what has come to be known as the Shabby Chic style. Like the cosy familiarity of a well-worn pair of faded jeans, the dilapidated elegance of an Italian villa, or the worn grandeur of faded velvets and mismatched floral china handed down from your grandmother's attic, the Shabby Chic 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.

The hundreds of lavish photographs in this book invite you inside the unique world of Shabby Chic. Rachel Ashwell, founder of the Shabby Chic home decor stores, for the first time provides her invaluable and much-sought-after advice on how to re-create Shabby Chic style in your own home. With engaging text and easy-to- follow instructions, Rachel details the Shabby Chic basics in a way that will put even the most apprehensive or novice decorators at ease. From flowers to fabrics to lighting, Rachel illuminates all of the elements essential to this unpretentious yet truly exquisite style.

A behind-the-scenes look at a flea market lets readers in on Rachel's personal secrets of how to cull hidden treasures from flea market trash--an old trunk, its paint peeling around the edges, can be given new life as a coffee table, while a chipped white iron salvage piece becomes the perfect frame for a vintage mirror. This book tells you not only how to restore these pieces but how to find the perfect place for them in your home. Gorgeous colour photographs and accompanying text reveal how this relaxed look works with a variety of different styles, from Victorian to Mediterranean to contemporary.

Average Customer Rating:

Magic and Absolutely Must-Have Book

Customer Rating:

This Book, I would say this dream world, is a must-have for any person who loves true design, home or garden decor, flea-markets finds and/or who has children (or even just one kid). The ideas are great and simple, the style is typically Shabby Chic, as its creator wrote this book, but in a little bolder and more flashy colors than in her other books, as many projects are outside and need to be seen under a very harsh sunlight. It is Rachel Ashwell's fifth book, so, we could imagine it is the same as her four preceding others, but no, she manages to surprise us in it : by remaining true to her palette, we can guess an evolution in her tastes and choices, which are always so chic, so elegant, so British, quite elegant enough for any French Castle, and I know what I am speaking of, as I am French and have been raised in a very chic Parisian family. As you understood, I am a big fan of Rachel Ashwell's design, I only regret she's not more well-known in Paris. So, if you like or are curious of Shabby Chic, this book is more that a must, the kind of book you will keep your whole life. By the way, the pictures are gorgeous, a usually, and the explanations honest and easy to understand, as usually too. I recommend strongly. Yael from Los Angeles

Pretty but useless book; bathroom reading

Customer Rating:

This is one of those books that is great to flip through in a bookstore or friend's house but never buy. And I am quite a fan of Shabby Chic and Rachel Ashwell. So if you don't even like her stuff, nothing in this book will sustain your interest. There is not much copy to read, her "tips" are very generic or just off-the-mark (she says it's ok to buy termite-ridden antiques because "a simple commercially available spray" gets rid of termites - somehow I don't see many women attempting this), and the book is mostly photos. While pretty, the photos are sourced from the same few celebrity homes she knows, so one feels a bit shortchanged.

The "Shcbby Chic" home design	Customer Rating:
This book protrayed the essence of the Shabby Chic home decoration. It has a good balance between the written word and photographs. I did enjoy the book and got a lot of ideas from it.

A total joy!	Customer Rating:
This was the first book I bought when I closed on my country home. My style has always been contemporary and I wanted ideas for decorating a turn of the century farmhouse. This and Shabby Chic Home is to decorating what Betty Crocker is to cooking. You will never go hungry again!:)

Good info

Customer Rating:

I've find the information in the book (text) very useful in creating a soothing, unfussy, shabby environment at home. However I was expecting it to be the otherway around; I thought there'll be beautiful photographs in the book and the text just going to state the obvious... I was expecting more photos of the 'typical shabby' look (white walls, furniture, crystals, pinks, pastel colors, etc.) Instead you'll find a little bit of this and a little bit of that of varous styles mixed with shabby chic(traditional, modern and just a few of that typical romantic style)...so I am a little disapointed about that but on the whole, this book is o.k.