The expansion of the company has been in the works for awhile now, through the investments of two equity groups. Ashwell put together a team that includes a couple of former CFO's of Pottery Barn/Williams-Sonoma Home. She started the expansion with the Simple Shabby Chic line at Target, saw how well it did so she added a Vintage Bedding and is also making more hardwood furniture pieces in addition to the regular flea market transformations. SC plans on opening 50 stores by 2010, some of which will be overseas.

DD1 attends college in San Francisco and will graduate in May. Her plan is to work for SC and she sent me a few articles several months ago. The one linked below is from October 2007. They only hire full-time employees and she only wanted to work part-time while in college full-time.

Here is a link that might be useful: Article

Thanks for that heads-up! I've always loved the Shabby Chic look although, I admit, it started to become a bit too much at the height of it's popularity. Now that things have "settled down" a bit, I think the resulting, sifted-down version will be a lasting style in decorating. I like the Shabby Chic line I see in the Target stores, but wish they'd make the sheets with a higher thread count!

I always loved that show- but my husband hated it! He still teases me every time I paint an old piece of ugly furniture and add new knobs "OOH how shabby chic of you"
I think I'll order the dvd's just to torture him LOL !
As for the line at Target: Why must they discontinue things?? I need to buy a second set from the Cottage Garden line for my 2 year old since she now shares a room with her sister- and it looks like I'll have to start from scratch and get 2 new sets for the both of them- really annoying!!

That's all part of her marketing plan, Polly. If they never discontinued, you would rarely need to buy as many new things to add. The colors, textures and quality between the Simply Shabby Chic and the real Shabby Chic are not similar. You would never use them together. Even a few of the Shabby Chic prints are discontinued each year, new ones are added - she even goes so far as to change the "white" or "ivory" just a tad so that previous years don't match.

Rarely do things go on sale, but even when they do she's still making a good bit of money because her price points are so high.

Allison, thanks for the article, I enjoyed reading it.

Last month I went to the San Francisco store to look at one of their smaller slipcovered chairs for my living room. I heard their furniture was expensive so I was prepared for that but I wasn't prepared for the staggering delivery charge. I'm used to at most $75 delivery fee from furniture stores, if not free. And that's for the trip from the store's warehouse to my house...not from China or the pier to their store! But SC wants to charge me $300 to transport a chair and ottoman from it's place of manufacture, in Los Angeles, to the San Francisco area. When I asked why so much they explained that they don't have their own delivery trucks so it's no different than if I pay a mover to transport a piece of furniture. My other options were to drive down there and pick it up myself (never in a million years) or hire someone to bring it up here (too risky and I'm still shelling out money for gas and insurance). I think the trip from LA to their store in SF should be part of their cost of doing business, then you can charge me to bring the item from the store to my house.

Surely they have means to transport merchandise intended for the store shelves, why not place our purchases on the truck with the store's merchandise and send it all up at the same time. Or have a separate truck intended for customer orders, wait for it to fill up before driving the entire load up to San Francisco. Get rid of that middle man, the trucking company. Otherwise the customer has to pay the most expensive form of transportation, one item at a time.

Shabby Chic has got to come up with a better plan than that if they're going to open up stores in other states. Either the factory moves closer to the stores or they make changes to their method of transportion.

To me it seems like an oxyoron when I think about the whole premise behind shabby chic....shopping at flea markets for scrappy old things that you pay pennies on the dollar for...but if you want Rachel Ashwell Shabby Chic to make it for you be prepared to pay thousands of dollars! Her chairs cost more than I've seen in the finest furniture store.

Not to change the subject and start squakking about the price of their furniture (well, maybe a little) because it is made in the USA and that warrants a premium. I applaud businesses who are trying to keep manufacturing in this country and I want to support that even if it means I pay more. My beef is mainly with the delivery charge. Hopefully with the company growing they'll work on that problem. Can you just hear a New Yorker saying, "you want me to pay HOW MUCH to ship a chair from Los Angeles to Manhatten?!!" ;)

I used to love watching those Shabby Chic episodes! I may have to buy the DVD's because the homes she showed were just so beautiful.

On the pricey shipping note--I wanted a coffee table from Kreiss which has a LOCAL store here in Florida, and they told me that shipping on the coffee table would be $500!!! Because all of their furniture comes from their warehouse in California! Well, it made no sense to me and I still cannot understand how they sell ANY furniture from their store here with those kinds of shipping fees!

Does anyone remember the episode where Rachel visited the Texas vacation home of John Paul DeJoria (a.k.a Paul Mitchell) and his pretty blonde wife, Eloise? Eloise single handedly decorated the ENTIRE house in Shabby Chic. Even back then I could tell she had to have spent a lot of money, everything in this house came from the SC store. Since then I've never seen anyone fill a house top to bottom with shabby chic. And now that I have a better idea how much this stuff costs I really want to faint at what she must have spent to furnish this house. They can afford it, of course.

Seeing her attempt at decorating in Rachel's style was an eye opener, made me realize how effortless Rachel makes it look, but it isn't. Too much white and soft pink makes the room float, Eloise didn't quite do enough to ground her rooms. Everything looked too new, too girly, and very matchy-matchy. Rachel has the eye for adding feminine fabrics and furnishings without the overall look becoming too cutesy. That's why I think the DVDs are nice to have if you want to try your hand at this distinct decorating style, she shows you her house and how she makes it work.

To this day I still picture Eloise plopping down on that flimsy cot with the pink floral "mushy" pillows and John Paul being perfectly OK with this overly girly house. When Rachel asked him how he feels about all the florals he just said when he needs to feel masculine he hops on his Harley! Gotta love a man who isn't threatened by florals. :)

DD1 lives a couple of blocks up the hill from the Fillmore store.

I emailed DD1 about the shipping, but haven't gotten a response. The newest ticket I have here is from almost four years ago it was $100 delivery for a sofa. She purchased a table/2 chairs the same day and it shows $100 delivery for them also. I know they were not all delivered at the same time and she did not pick up the items at the store. I'll have to ask her about delivery from store to her home. I'm wondering if your delivery was $150 PER item, which is nuts. Like you said, it seems like she would need to do something in order to sell more. Have you ever considered ordering the chair/ottoman through a website that sells the SC furniture line? I have no idea what shipping would be, but at least it would include getting it to your house.

Her upholstered pieces are very well made, comfortable and honestly, worth the price, as long as you're going to keep them long term....and you can also order a new slipcover when you want a change. DD1 just ordered a new one for her daybed. She has washed her slipcovers numerous times and they still look new. The bedding last forever also.

I remember the DeJoria episode. He looked out of place, didn't he!? lol DD1 has started adding some stronger colors here and there. She was 20 when she moved to San Francisco four years ago and I really thought she'd get tired of pink/light colors, but she hasn't. I like several of the chenille fabrics SC has added the last few years. It's nice to have the option of changing the slipcovers as one matures and tastes change.

Here is a link that might be useful: {{!gwi}}

Allison ~~ Your daughter's apartment is so pretty! I love it. She has put it together very nicely.

I love her apartment, too. She's done a beautiful job decorating. I'm sure you've heard this said before but a lot of men secretly like feminine bedrooms because they're romantic!

I should have broken down the delivery charges for you in my post. The first item is $250 and the second item is $50. I don't know if that's because it's just a small ottoman or if any piece of furniture would be that amount. I thought I heard her says "2nd item is $50". But maybe it goes by size and weight, I didn't delve deeper into that, too shell shocked at the time! Even if I decide not to get the ottoman I'd still have to pay $250 for just the chair. And if all I wanted was that little ottoman that too would cost me $250. It would cost less to pack it into a box and ship it to me UPS!

pinkpetunia ...$500 to have a coffee table shipped! How anyone stays in business with that kind of business model is baffling.

I've seen online retailers selling SC but I assumed they're fakes. Guess I should research that more, maybe someone can do better on the price. Does you DD1 happen to know which ones are legit?

Talked to DD1. Was your piece custom or something you were buying off the floor of an L.A. area store? She said she paid 100 for delivery of her custom pieces to her apartment from the SF store. There was no separate delivery charge from the factory to the SF store. One of her good friends works there, do you want her to check it out for you?

The online sources have the Shabby Chic photos. Not fakes. Here are a few:

www.mycremebrulee.com

www.cottagechicstore.com

www.yvonne-estelles.com

The websites will have them listed as Rachel Ashwell Shabby Chic and a lot of the pictures are the same - from her company.

Thanks for the compliments on her apartment. It's an older building with only one cable outlet, so she made the LR her bedroom. She has her daybed in the bay window and the chair near the faux FP, but I think by the time she gets home she hits the bed to watch TV. lol

Could four years have caused that much of a spike in transportation costs to warrant an increase of $150 in the delivery charge? $100 then, $250 now. WOW.

Polly, you might try looking at eBay. Some folks buy that stuff when it's going out of Target and then put it on eBay.

Allison, I remember your DD's gorgeous apartment. Wow there are some gorgeous things in those links you posted. Yummmmmm!

Flyingflower, I'm glad you posted about this. I don't think it's going to go out of style. For one thing, it keeps changing, emerging, so stays in its own little niche of current. For another, pretty should and will never go totally out of style. I don't have a "style" per se but I'm very devoted to pretty. "Modern" decorating can really leave me feeling cold... I've just never liked it.

Flying Flower, I just sent you an email!

Allison