03.03.2014

Shabby Chic Elegance

03.03.2014

Shabby Chic Elegance

I became a blogger through my love of interior design and shabby chic.

For those of you who don’t already know, shabby chic is a term that refers to a style based on vintage or well-worn materials.

The term shabby chic appeared for the first time in the 1980s, in the prestigious English magazine ” The World of Interiors”, and was used to describe a trend that was in vogue in England at the time.
Shabby chic originated as an nonconformist style of interior design, taking its inspiration from old country houses, with their antique furniture and faded upholstery, to create sober and elegant interiors at affordable prices.
Shabby chic was thus born of a love of the old and the antique, or more precisely a love of market stall antiques, those of little value, reinterpreted in a style guided by the following rules:

– furniture and accessories must display signs of use and ageing… operations of restoration and decoration are designed not only to restore the integrity of an object, but also to preserve or artificially recreate these signs of use of ageing;
– the function of any object may be freely reinterpreted;
– the dominant colour is white, followed by grey and pastel tones.”

(from La Magia del Bianco-lo stile shabby chic in Italia)

In Italy too, over the past few years, there has been a growing interest in this style, in particular in its more elegant and refined version, almost French-like in taste, which, indeed, we could refer to as “French chic“.

And is precisely this mood which is the inspiration behind the house which I photographed recently and whose images are featured here.
It is a 19th century house of the high bourgeoisie, brightened and lifted by the milk-white colour that the owner has used in her personal restoration of most of the furnishings and accessories.

It is very much a ‘work in progress’: there are new things still to find and put in and some of the items of furniture, especially in the dining room, still retain their dark and austere look because the previous occupants – the current owners’ parents and in-laws – are very reluctant to see them painted white.
It will be a gradual process of persuasion which will, slowly but surely, bear its fruits.

My favourite room is the kitchen: it is large space, divided into two distinct areas by a work surface that was originally a shop counter and by a ‘decapitated’ kitchen dresser.
The cooking area is contemporary, though it is evocative of the old French country kitchens, and a large brick fireplace provides added warmth to the room.
The dining area is very romantic, with a large round table and beautiful chairs cushioned and covered in natural linen.

Most decidedly shabby chic is the little sideboard with etagere, literally saved from the scrapheap and repainted by the owner of the house.

The large door with glass panes and moulding provides an elegant division between the dining room and the living room.

In every room you get a feeling of the ‘family home’, thanks in part to the little items of clothing, toys, photographs and other much-loved objects that remind us that three children live here, the youngest just one year old.

Adorable little boys’ rooms, decorated with love of a mother who creates her own intricate embroideries and finely handcrafted objects.

To photograph the rooms, I used a wide-angle 17-50 mm f 2.8 zoom lens, with a 7.1 aperture, in order to get a good depth of field, though it wasn’t fast enough for me to take ‘free-hand’ shots.

Therefore, I placed my Canon 7d on a tripod with a quick-release ball head. The best solution would have been to have taken the shots with a remote control but, not having one available, I set the shutter to a two-second delay.

For details, on the other hand, I used a high luminosity 50 mm f 1.4 lens, which enabled me to obtain a suitably blurred background.
I love detail photography because it’s precisely in the detail that you find the difference!

Mari

Interior designer, blogger and photographer. Expert in luxury décor and trompe l’oeil, combining her passion for photography with her love of décor and furnishings, in particular shabby chic style.
Co-creator, together with Cinzia Corbetta, of the book ‘La Magia del Bianco, lo stile shabby chic in Italia’ (The Magic of White; shabby chic in Italy), in which she was responsible for the photography.
She loves people and adores taking pictures of them in their daily lives, as well as during important occasions, such as on wedding days.

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