Flea market or brocante shopping in Paris

Looking for shabby chic furniture and accessories in Paris is a joy. One of the best pastimes when visiting the city is raking through the various stalls in the street markets or ‘brocantes’. There are lots of them through out the year, if you know where to look. In the next few weeks there are:
11/06/11 MOUFFETARD – PARIS V

17/06/11 AVENUE DES TERNES – PARIS XVII

25/06/11 VILLAGE ST PAUL PARIS 75004

26/06/11 MAUBERT – PARIS V

02/07/11 RASPAIL – EDGAR QUINET PARIS XIV

09/07/11 RUE CLER – PARIS VII
For the latest dates have a look at La Société Parisienne d’Animation et de Manifestation (I know, someone should tell them what that word means on the internet. However being French they probably don’t care!)

Shabby Chic New London Style?

Is there such a thing as New London Style and just how does it relate to Shabby Chic?

Looking through Chloe Grimshaw and Ingrid Rasmussen’s book New London Style recently I started to wonder if there really is a distinctive ‘London’ style and if there is how would you describe it. One thing is for sure there are unmistakeable elements of Shabby Chic and Vintage, maybe even a bit of Kitsch.

The book is arranged by postcode and gives a flavour of some of stylish London homes. It reminds me a bit of an old favourite from long ago An English Woman’s Wardrobe as it gives you glimpses not only of where but how people live.

The egg vintage chair

New London style seems to be a quite eclectic mix. It doesn’t quite have the elegance of classic French Country or even Parisian Shabby Chic. There’s more humour here and a definite touch of irony.

Furniture is often re-upholstered with quite random fabric, rather like the Egg Chair from Squint.This gorgeous piece of expensive nonsense  (£3000+!) takes a vintage design classic and then plays with it in quite a whimsical way.  Swatches of random wallpaper or fabric may be used on walls or even on furniture. There’s decoupage but never ‘cabbages and roses’, maybe skulls and roses though. It has an edgy, urban quality, though there is often the odd item that looks as if it’s been looted from the parental ‘country house’. More likely it has been picked up at one of the London street markets. London style is quite knowing, it’s saying “Oh yes, we know this is a major design classic, or even a potential antique, but we can still have fun with it” It plays with styles from all eras and from all over the world.

Squint  is one of my favourite places to see this style in action.

Squint -New London Shabby Chic

Squint New London Shabby Chic

Of course the book New London Style is not brand new any more and the fickle  style gurus have probably moved on. Still this way of playing with design and achieving a sort of Bo-ho, designer Shabby Chic look is moving into the mainstream and cheaper copies are making this style accessible to those of us without £3000 to spend on a chair.

So grab a copy of New London Style for some inspiration and then have a go at recreating the look yourself.

This is what you can win - a Union Jack throw

When someone from Harvey’s furniture store contacted me and offered a competition prize for one of my UK readers I was a little unsure. Harvey’s, in case you don’t know sponsor  Coronation Street and  they wanted to tie the competition in with that. Now Shabby Chic and Cornonation St are not perhaps an obvious pairing but the prize is really nice soo… I had a think.

Shabby Chic comes in all sorts of forms and one of the big things at the moment is a retro shabby chic style that harks back to the 60s. Back then Britain was ‘swinging’ and we were all backing it. The Union flag went pop along with everything else.

Recently there has been a bit of a revival of this style with the flag appearing on everything including gorgeous designer cushions, re-purposed trunks and even painted furniture.

Shabby Chic Union Jack furniture via Andy Roberts

Now I think this style is great fun and I love the whole mix of Shabby Chic with retro and kitsch.

And let’s face it there’s nothing more kitsch than the set design on the older episodes of Corrie. If you don’t believe me just go and search youtube for old episodes, say anything before 1980? Don’t be surprised if you lose a few hours in the process though. They certainly knew how to pack the drama in in those days! I had great fun and saw some real retro furniture gems in the backgrounds of some of the scenes.

Never mind all that, back to the competition!

How do you win the throw?

Leave a comment here before October 3rd 2010 answering the following question:

What piece of furniture from the Coronation St set, past or present, would you like to have in your home and  why do you want it?

The competition will run from today, September 18th 2010 until October 2nd 2010.

I will pick the winner on Sunday October 3rd

Terms and Conditions – read these before you comment please!

1. Only one entry per person please.
2. You must leave me a comment here on the blog to answer the above question to enter the competition. (Tweets, Facebook comments etc will not count.)
3. The winner will be selected by me, Linda of Shabby Chic Furniture, on October 3rd 2010. My decision is final.
4. The winner will receive a Union Jack throw. The prize is supplied by Harvey’s the Furniture Store and is non-negotiable.
5. Offer is open only to UK residents aged 18 and over.
6. The winner will be contacted by Harvey’s who will handle the sending out of the prize.

Thanks again to Harvey’s Furniture Store who sponsor Coronation St and have donated the prize.

The Question Again:

What piece of furniture from the Coronation St set, past or present, would you like to have in your home and  why do you want it?

Answer in a comment and you might win the throw.

The heart of Lille is Vielle Lille, the old quarter, is a treasure trove for Shabby Chic enthusiasts to visit at any time of year with it’s pretty red and mustard Flemish style buildings, quaint shops and delicious cafes and restaurants. During the Braderie though the whole of the city of Lille is converted into Shabby Chic heaven.

Of course this is France so there will  also be lots of excellent food. The restaurants compete to see which can build the biggest pile of mussel shells so you should expect to eat moule and frittes at least once over the course of the weekend. Apart from that there will be all sorts of street food and don’t miss a visit to the epitome of Shabby Chic, The Molinaire Tea Room. Have a reviving tissane, or what about a bottle of specially brewed Braderie beer? Just don’t have too many though, as the beer is very tasty and refreshing but incredibly strong.

What is a braderie? It is a huge  French/Belgian flea market and Lille is just about the biggest of them all. The Braderie takes over the whole city with stalls crammed into every space.

People are travelling from all over Europe and beyond to be at Lille Braderie. If you are there you can spot where the best bargains might be found and if you are not there maybe it will just inspire you to be there next year!

If you can’t get to the Braderie this gorgeous book is one of my favourite and it might just give you some inspiration and an insight into Braderie style:

Buy Vintage French Interiors: Inspiration from the Antique Shops and Flea Markets of France

photo credit: dangermain

Happy Shabby Chic Easter

Shabby Chic Furniture -The Flea Markets of France

This gorgeous little book tells you all you need to know about 30 French flea markets, including times, dates, special things to look out for. It also gives you advice on where to eat and other things to do in each area. Not that where to eat is ever really a problem in France! The book is small enough to pack in your suitcase yet big enough to give the armchair traveler (Hello, me too ) plenty to dream about. Practical and inspiring. Go on treat, yourself to a bit of affordable luxury – it’s on special offer just now at only £6.74!

Buy The Flea Markets of France

Gorgeous Shabby Chic Mirror

I think it is totally delightful, in a European opulent shabby sort of way.  The colour is quite hard to define, a slatey, pewtery greeny blue with that lovely pockmarked gold. The glass has been aged as well.(Sighs contentedly!)

Now you are asking the price, aren’t you? Well, it’s not cheap at £399 but it’s not outrageous either as it is huge. The mirror is nearly 68″ high and 36″ wide. (That’s over five feet high and about a yard wide!)

It would take hours and hours to create something like this yourself. Of course you might prefer to do that and if that’s the case just enjoy this for inspiration.

You might think you’d need a big room for a mirror this size but big mirrors work remarkably well in small rooms. All that reflected space and light can really help a small room feel less cramped.

The chair is covered with fabulous vintage fabric. Just read what Diane says about it:

This fabulous, huge chair with the most wonderful curved back slats, was found in a cellar of a medieval house just outside Paris. The sad and tired old covers were discarded and replaced with a fantastic linen and crewelwork, fully-lined fabric taken from a throw purchased back in the 1990s from The English Home Sussex House collection.

The throw itself cost £450 originally . We have covered the cushions in such a way as to show off the best and most ornate parts of the crewelwork. The chairhas been painted with Farrow and Ball White Pointing Eggshell. This is one seriously comfortable chair – ideal for curling up in with a good book and a hot chocolate.

The chair is reduced to £600 – that’s half price gorgeousness to you!!Run over there fast -there’s lots more shabby chic furniture in the sale too, including some very modestly priced items.

How about this idea for instant shabby chic furniture? If you just happen to have some old suitcases why not try it? Ideal for that Ghost furniture look we love so much but do remember it’s not easy to get that perfect smooth white finish and messy just won’t do for this look.

old cases painted white and turned into a side table

I break glass and then attempt to put some pieces back together. It’s not about perfection. I’m currently living in the French alps, where I will be opening an atelier/gallery someday! You can buy some of my work on Etsy.com or by contacting me directly and/or arranging a visit to my studio.

(from her blog)
As she says her work is available via her Etsy Shop and you can also see much of it in her flickr stream. I think it is just stunning so dash over there and feast your eyes on some perfect mirrors and other goodies to go with your shabby chic furniture