I absolutely love your furniture. Give me over stuffed slip covered furniture any day of the week and twice on Sunday. But I didn't answer your question, did I? lol

Good luck.......Jane

Love the sofas, love the floral chair. I know nothing about the quality of Sitwell's furniture, so I can't help you there. But I'd like to suggest that you consider something other than a floral for the upholstery of the new chairs. You already have a floral on the other chair, so why not go for a different kind of pattern on these? Just a thought. :)

I'm trying to find the Magnolia fabric you chose for the chair and I don't see it on the website under [Fabrics - Swatch request]. Is it there and I'm just not finding it? I can't picture a Magnolia print that's why it would help to see what it looks like.

Have you been to a Shabby Chic store yet? On my last visit a few months ago I picked up the Spring 2008 furniture brochure and I don't see this Blanford Chair in it. The link you provided calls their Rachel Ashwell Shabby Chic furniture the "Studio line". What does that mean? The names given to the chairs are different than those I see in my catalog and they're also less expensive so I'm wondering if these are made overseas while the furniture sold in her stores are made in the USA. I don't understand what she's doing by offering furniture through online retailers that are clearly not what she's selling in her brick & mortar stores. If you find out please tell me because I'm curious now and very confused!
The "Blanford" chair doesn't have a separate back cushion. Only 3 chairs are like that in the brochure...the Cambridge wing chair, the Rocker chair, and the Beecroft chair. It looks like a culmination of all 3 of these chairs, it's got height to it which is great for a man or tall person to sit in. Doesn't have the wings of the Cambridge chair but it has the arms. I sat in the Cambridge chair in the store and I didn't find it comfortable without a little back pillow for lumbar support. Other than that it was my 2nd favorite chair looks-wise (after the Plump chair which is what I ordered). Are you looking for an upright chair for that corner of the room? My advise is not to order a chair you haven't personally sat in, comfort is more important than looks when it comes to chairs. Another reason to sit in the chair before deciding is to see how comfortable the depth of the seat is for you. For me, I hate a chair that is so short it doesn't support my legs all the way out to the back of my knees.
Keep us posted on what you find out when you go to the SC store and which chair you end up ordering. :-)

I've just been looking at the rest of the chairs on that website and I see they do offer Rachel's chairs from the catalog (those I saw in the store) But there's also these other chairs I don't recognize. I noticed the names that I am not familiar with are considerably cheaper in price than the chairs (such as the Squadgy, Beecroft, Plump,etc) she sells in her stores. Is this a 2nd tier furniture line that are only available to online retailers? Or are these chairs discontinued and that's why I don't see them in the current catalog? I'd be real curious to know what makes them so much cheaper if they're all made by Shabby Chic. We know the bedding she sells at Target is made in China while the bedding sold in her store is made here. So I suspect there's something like that going on with the furniture...why else would you be able to one one chair for $1000 and another one for $3000? Something's been compromised, you should find out what that is so you can decide if it's important to you or not. They may tell you the quality is the same, it's just made in a different country. Clearly they aren't volunteering the information (unless I'm just not seeing it) so you'll have to ask.

Ok, I see it now...there's the "Studio" line of furniture and the "R.A.D" line of furniture. Studio costs less than RAD. Hmm I wonder what RAD stands for...Rachel Ashwell D----? Designer?

RAD is Rachel Ashwell Designs, which is a wholesaler and retailer of the upholstered stuff. Shabby Chic is just another division under the corporate banner. No doubt there's a manufacturing difference resulting in different price points. She's licensing the name, not running an actual factory.

The Shabby Chic chair looks nice, but do you want to see another set of feet? I like lots of florals, but if the magnolia print is large scale, you might want to consider something in a plaid, stripe, damask, etc. Can you get any extra magnolia yardage if you want pillows, etc?

Thanks for your interest. Here's the "magnolia" floral fabric. It looks like magnolias in person, and less green. It's called "Diva Mist" and I think it's been discontinued, but I bought extra yardage. So I have an english roll arm chair in that fabric. It's kind of a big chair, and the print is "flamboyant", as my son said. To be honest, it is a bit much, but we've got it now, and once I throw some pillows with that fabric around, it'll pull things together. Hopefully. The two sofas are neutral and pale colored and luckily look really good with it. I'm trying to figure out what to do about the 2 chairs in the corner. Should they be the same as each other or different? Should I just stay with the taupe ones I already bought? This is what I'm asking myself. I'll always feel like I'm settling if i do keep them. If we're spending $$ on furniture now, I might as well get something I love.

As far as the Studio line of RA goes, you make a good point. It is a lot cheaper, so I should wonder about the quality. It's sold only at their "retail locations", I was told. As far as I can tell, these are online only. The stores haven't even heard of them. Has anyone seen a chair similar to the Blanford chair by another manufacturer?

As I said, I am a bit wary of making another online chair purchase. Personally, and maybe I'm crazy, but the comfort doesn't matter to me as much as the way it looks. There are plenty of other places people can sit. I like the look of the Blanford chair, and have seen very similar ones in English magazines. (I've also seen lots of weird chairs that I don't like, but I do like this a lot.) Unfortunately, I think I'm the kind of person who needs to see something in person before knowing if I'll like it....

Your sofas are perfect and I like the magnolia print and the style of the chairs.

Your online ordering problems are why I won't do that, I'm just not up to that level of frustration.

English country style is a collected style so the furniture doesn't necessarily match and you could find two chairs of different styles.

One style I have seen is the upholstered occasional chair with wooden arms. I have one which was DH's Gran's and the seat is upholstered and quite comfortable with a loose cushion placed on the wooden back. This is not a dining chair as it's wider than a DR chair would be.

Another common style is the upholstered wing back chair with wooden legs.

A useful piece might be a bench similar to the one in the link. I think it's fairly close to an English style. I know I've seen similar benches on that English site.

Have you looked in antique shops for chairs which could be reupholstered? Might find something with some patina which suits the style. Some Howard's Restor-A-Finish on the wood and it will look like the chair that dear departed Aunt Gertrude left you!

About colors - I think a solid rose color would be great, I've seen that in a lot of the English pics.

Looking forward to seeing pics of your finished room!

Here is a link that might be useful: bench

I love English country, it's my favorite look. I like your choices, I find slipcovers to be extremely practical depending on your lifestyle. I especially like the Rachel Ashwell chair you show.

I would also suggest the collected over time loook - maybe you could wait and find some older pieces to mix in and get them upholstered. If you do want to go for all new, like someone else above also said, maybe you could mix in some chairs of a different style, like a wingback or a chair with some wood showing in the arms, like on this chaise below. Looking forward to seeing your rooms!

I've been looking for chairs all over, but haven't been seeing any that I like. It would be more fun to find something great and make slipcovers for it, and truly do it over time. But I do want to get the room furnished soon. We've been doing our whole house over time, for 15 years now, and I'm at the point where i just want it to be done already.

I appreciate your ideas, thank you!

One other thought: I was undecided about whether to go with down or foam filling. THe down was more expensive and in the end I opted against it. Now I wish I had gotten it. I'm concerned that the foam will get lumpy over time. Ah well, live and learn.

What did you end up ordering? I scrolled back up, but didn't see a final decision.

fwiw, DD1 owns an apartment full of Shabby Chic items - linens and furniture. She has both down filled and foam cushions. The different lines are all well made. She has had many of the pieces for going on 5 years and it all still looks new. Even the slipcovers that are washed often. You do get what you pay for.

allison: I have, and am keeping, the 2 sofas and the large floral patterned chair. The two taupe chairs are what I'm undecided about. BUt I'm leaning toward returning them (which I really should do tomorrow, if I'm going to.) The taupe color just isn't making me happy. I wanted something cheerier and lighter.

I really like this Blanford chair: english style chair but am wary of buying it sight unseen. It seems to be available only online. Yikes, the price went up since yesterday! It was only $1360 then!!

What do you think of the chair, and what do you think of buying it without seeing it in person first?

Your Blanford link above goes to the Studio rocker, not the Blandford chair so I'll link it below.

I pulled all of your pieces to my desktop, so I could see them all at once. With the 2 sofas and the floral chair, I'm thinking along the same line as JennyFTB - I would find a chair with more wood showing. All of these pieces are too much alike. I think you need to vary the remaining two pieces. Since you have 2 of the same sofas, I might be tempted to purchase two entirely different chairs - both with wood showing.

Here is a link that might be useful: Blandford Chair

Allison,

No wonder it was a different price!

My MIL visited yesterday and had the same impression, that I should go with a smaller, different kind of chair, or one with a wood frame. Thanks for saying this, b/c I don't see that type of thing. I seem to see only color and pattern.

I'll play around with what I've got and see if I can open things up a little. Thanks