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 video gives a good introduction to decoupage and I’ll be writing more about this technique in the near future.

Discover the secret of creating your own wonderful distressed furniture.

If you simply can’t wait then this book is a great starting point. It gives simple step by step instructions for over 50 techniques including distressed furniture and decoupage.

Shiny, shiny, Shabby Chic, Islington, originally uploaded by LindaH.

All this gorgeous, glamourous Shabby Chic furniture was outside a shop in Islington yesterday. It just goes to remind us that not all shabby chic is painted.
There’s just a whiff of decadence about this sort of furniture. It makes me think of glamourous starlets in those silky 30s or 40s dressing gowns you only ever see in black and white films. You can almost smell the perfume and I can just imagine the sort of bright red lipstick that ought to sit on that dresser!
The big mirrors are totally over the top with their ornate decorations, a bit less Deco than the furniture but still great fun.
You would think this stuff would be very expensive but I was amazed at how reasonable some of it was. You can find this sort of
glamourous shabby chic furniture quite easily or if you are brave you could try to re-create the look yourself. I’ll post more about the DIY techniques for this sort of shabby chic furniture sometime over the next few weeks.

I just love this pink cupboard! The shop is in Chatham Ma..Cape Cod Heres the link to contact them: They are going to be in Romantic Homes in June!www.urbangardenstextiles.com/

This is such a sweet cupboard! I used to have a little wooden stool this shade of pink. What is it about faded pink paint on basic woodwork that just sings to us devotees of Shabby Chic furniture??