Chic or Shabby?
By Christa TerryThis room reminds me strongly of one of my first apartments. I wouldn’t say that flat was a put together as this one — in fact, it was rather cluttered due to a wackadoodle roommate — but it had the same shabby chic feel. Of course, for many people shabby chic is just not something that exists. In their minds pits, dings, scratches, and paint less than uniformly applied are defects rather than features. Old things that haven’t been perfectly preserved are fit only for junking, and charming little cottages crammed with threadbare settees and chipped teacups simply don’t exist in real life.
I suppose I fall into the pro camp when it comes to shabby chic, and I can easily imagine a younger version of me settling comfortably into an apartment that includes this room (styled by Emma Thomas). The peeling walls might drive me a bit batty after a while, but who knows how long it would take considering that my own kitchen is currently sporting a rough area where I steamed off an ugly wallpaper border along with a great deal of paint and then just stopped. What do you think, dear reader? Is shabby chic a valid decor style or simply a way to excuse imperfection?
February 1st, 2010 at 1:28 pm
I think it’s a valid decor. It honors the wear and tear of actual use, the history of the pieces, the lives of the people who (literally) touched them.
Really, it’s a version of Goth. Goth is about valuing the downsides of life, including decay; shabby chic is the happy loligoth version of decor.
February 1st, 2010 at 5:40 pm
I like it. I am more comfortable with walls and floors and furniture that could handle another scuff or two and still look decent–since I am clumsy and likely to add more dents and dings! Plus shabby chic looks lived in and real. It’s honest.
February 1st, 2010 at 5:58 pm
Shabby! Everything you own doesn’t have to be new new new, but do you really want to live in a space and with stuff that looks like you never botheref to care for it?
February 2nd, 2010 at 6:05 pm
Mixed! I see the charm, and lean heavily toward RomantiGoth myself, but I also perfectly understand Kre Alkalyn’s reaction; why WOULDN’T someone want to take care of the things she values? There’s the “love it even if it’s tattered” crew, and the “I love it, so I’ll mend it to keep it from tattering” crew. I don’t object to things being old or imperfect (considering that I qualify for both!), but my first instinct is “take care of your stuff”. I manage to overcome my instinct a lot, though; either that, or I just think of cat hair as “additional veneer”.
I could certainly make a home in a place like the room above – but I’d be inclined to swath it in a LOT of exotic fabrics.
OK, I confess: I’d paint. Or I’d like to. But the florals – especially the BLACK florals – I LOVE. And the wooden floorboards. The room needs an antique sofa upholstered in weathered red velvet, too. But as long as it doesn’t leak, I’d be pretty content.
February 2nd, 2010 at 6:13 pm
Cr@p. I went and looked at some of her pictures.
I now live in a little brick house with low ceilings. It’s much cheaper to heat than pretty much anyplace I’ve lived before.
I would SO MUCH rather be living in the place Smith photographed. I miss high ceilings. I miss the architectural detailing. I miss the tall windows. Thanks to buying just BEFORE the housing bubble burst (and before the various financial incentives recently offered to new home buyers), I will probably spend the rest of my life where I am now. I will do what I can to suck it up and make the best of it, but it’s really alien to me.
C’est la guerre.