Shabby chic

Shabby chic is a style of interior design that chooses either furniture and furnishings for their appearance of age and signs of wear and tear or distresses new ones to achieve the same result.

[1] Also popular are pillows made of old barkcloth fabric, vintage bed linens, chenille bedspreads, antique chandeliers, jute, and patterns of flowers, especially roses.

Pure whites, as well as ecrus and worn or bleached-out pastel colors, are favorites, and bleached and faded are typical descriptions, although fabric may also be stained with tea for an antique look.

Recycling old furniture and fabrics has long been an important aspect of the look and was especially popular with the modern Bohemians and artisans who made up a sidelined counterculture movement during the 1980s, when expensive quality décor became very fashionable with the upper-middle classes.

Rachel Ashwell founded a furniture chain called Shabby Chic and in 1996 published a book around the aesthetic, which she described as "the aura of old money, cushy comfort, and crafted indifference.