Rachel Ashwell Buys Texas Guest Ranch!!!!!!!!

 

 

She’s coming and she’s bringing all her beautiful things, furniture and fabrics, you name it. 

 

It’s official.  Rachel Ashwell, Miss Shabby Chic herself,  is coming to Round Top, the home of one of the largest antique shows in the United States.

 

OMG!  OK, here’s the story as I know it.  Calm down, breathe.  OK.   Maryanne who owns the best shop in the area, Beadboard Upcountry, emailed me today to say that Rachel, Miss Shabby Chic herself, had bought the Outpost at Cedar Creek Inn in Round Top, Texas.   Twice a year, this teeny tiny town hosts the biggest antique show anywhere.   If you’ve never come to Round Town for the show, you should put it on your bucket list.   OK.  So, back to the story.   After Maryanne gives me the scoop, I do a little sleuthing and its true.  This picture above has been posted on the internet.  Actually, this shouldn’t be that much of a shock,  Rachel has been coming to Round Top for years.  She’s even blogged before about staying at the Outpost at Cedar Creek Inn.   Apparently, she really, really enjoyed her stay because she bought it.   But, of course, the décor is not exactly the true Shabby Chic look, so everything at the inn is now for sale.   Everything.   This Thursday through Sunday, there is a huge sale going on – everything at the Outpost at Cedar Creek is going.  You have only two more days left if you want to go shopping.  Details about the show are posted at the end, below.   Apparently, Rachel wants EVERYTHING gone and she is going to totally redecorate all the cottages in her own style. 

Just imagine, going to Round Top and getting to spend the night with Rachel!  I am dying with excitement!!!  Totally hyperventilating and I’m not even sure why????   But I am!!!! 

 

 

 

Is Rachel going to redecorate ALL the cabins like this?  I HOPE so!!!  I can’t wait to go stay there!!!

 

OK, so what and where exactly IS the Outpost at Cedar Creek Inn, now to be known as The Ranch By Rachel Ashwell?  It is on a secluded country road, about five miles from Round Top, Texas.   The original house is the Mayer farmstead built in the 1800s.   There are numerous cottages on the property that have been brought onto it over the years.  There are a few log cabins, there’s a airstream trailer, there’s cottages and bungalows.   And all will be getting the Shabby Chic touch soon.

 

There is the Casita.   Oh boy, Rachel is going to repaint this cottage,  I can assure you that and probably landscape it too.   Wouldn’t this look great in white with a sage green door ala Shabby Chic????

 

 

There is the Barn Cottage with a cute silo and picket fence.  I’ll bet Rachel keeps the picket fence.

 

There is even an authentic Texas dog trot house with a tin roof. 

 

Inside the dog trot house – everything is for sale!

 

 

There is the Prairie Cottage – a typical Texas tin roof cabin.

 

Actually the Prairie Cottage looks very Shabby Chic already.  Maybe Rachel won’t change it much. 
SURE!!!!

 

 

There are a few different log cabins on the property too.

 

Here’s another log cabin – soooo cute!

 

Rachel is going to go nuts redoing the airstream!   I can only imagine – it will be done all up in her fabrics.

 

Here is the original Mayer house, built in the 1800s.   Rachel is going to have so much fun furnishing all these houses!!!!

 

 

 Here’s a satellite view of the ranch, the main house is at the curved road, with a lot of the smaller houses at the left side. 

 

 

I wonder if Rachel will use all slipcovered sofas and chairs from her own line?  Probably, I would guess.

 

 

 

She’ll probably bring all her own tables and chairs from her line, like these. And I wonder will her chandeliers come to Texas too?

 

 

 

 

She wouldn’t use marble at her Texas ranch, would she???  Hmmm.  She always uses marble though.

 

 

The farmhouse sink, like this one from her own Malibu kitchen, will be perfect at the ranch! 

 

 

I know she will bring all her sheets and fabrics, but will she use velvet and silk like in her own bedroom?  So many questions!!

 

I can see her landscaping around the pool, just exactly like this! 

 

 

Or just exactly like her own swimming pool in Malibu.

 

But I am not sure we can grow lavender like Rachel did at her Malibu house.  Can we????

 

Speaking of lavender, NO ONE grows prettier lavender than Trouvais HERE.

 

 

SO, where is the sale this weekend?   

For all the information about this weekend’s sale – go HERE. 

 

This is  just a small sampling of the sale items, to see more pictures, go HERE.http://rogerhowardestatesales.com/gallery_outpost.htm

Remember to hurry, the sale only lasts through this Sunday!

 

And, be sure to visit Beadboard UpCountry in Brenham if you go to the sale!!!

 

 

Come on Rachel!!!  Hurry Up.  We’re waiting for you!!!!

 

 

A Good Weekend To Read and Celebrate Hard Working Women:

 

 

What a weekend this will be!  Amazon has been wonderful to me today!  I received two new, long awaited books delivered to my front door – no hassles, no bothers, no long lines, no gas guzzling, no red lights.   Ah, the beauty of Amazon, my most faithful love.  These days I order almost everything from Amazon, not just books.   I have ordered light bulbs, shoes, a microphone (for the Skirted Roundtable) and even a new laptop!  And if you just  happen to need one – you can order a chandelier from Amazon.   I’m not aware of anything you can’t buy from this fantastic company.   Alas, they make it too easy to spend money.  They keep your credit card on file and you just have to hit –SEND – and it’s delivered, usually the next day.  Amazing.  Just amazing.   I had preordered these two books and had no idea when they would be released,  so it was a complete and delightful surprise that they arrived just in time for this long weekend.    And, at first glance, they are both winners.    The first book is Rachel Ashwell’s – the Queen of slipcovers, pink, turquoise, and crystal –  her newest effort is Shabby Chic Interiors HERE.  The cover is so beautiful,   I could stare at it all day – the pink, the gilt, the settee, the crystal, the peonies.  And  there is Rachel, as always, looking ravishing in her favorite low waisted jeans.   Oh, Rachel, it makes me sad to think about your current financial woes!   How disappointing it all must be for you!   Hopefully, this book will be a new start for her company, certainly she has no place to go but up at this point, it’s all such an awful shame.   The book certainly looks promising – perhaps her best effort since this one:   

 

 

The Shabby Chic Home (HERE) is almost ten years old now (!) and it remains a favorite of mine.  I love books that tell the story of one house – from its run down, unattractive beginnings to its perfectly furnished and remodeled finish.   Both this book and the new one are certainly my kind of design books.    If you have never read The Shabby Chic Home, it makes a perfect companion to Rachel’s newest book, which is very similar:  the story of her latest house – room by room, just like her fans like.  The pictures in Shabby Chic Interiors - by Ashwell’s favorite photographer Amy Neunsinger - are gorgeous and worth the price alone. 

 

 

I don’t want to ruin it for you, so I’ll just show you a few vignette pictures from Rachel’s newest book Shabby Chic Interiors.   Here, the kitchen with its charming wall mounted faucet – I love this!   Only Rachel can make washing dishes look romantic.

 

 

Pink, green, and blue- Rachel’s palette. 

 

 

Her bedroom is my favorite room in the new house, the curtains are a luscious silk taffeta in a very, very pale amethyst.  

 

 

White marble and English styled faucet.  Notice the old fashioned drain stopper - so Rachel.

 

 

Rachel has a wood cart just like the one in my office!  She calls hers a shoe cart, I call mine a wine bottle cart.  Who’s right I wonder? 

 

 

 

The other book Mr. Amazon Man delivered today was Kathryn Ireland’s second, Creating a Home (HERE.)    I wrote about this book a few months ago HERE when it was available for preorder only.   But, it’s out now and it looks beautiful!   The photography is bright and bold – all of her newest fabrics look tempting.   It’s a book for me, that’s for sure – the story of a dilapidated old ranch in Ojai California that Ireland takes under her wing and transforms into a fantasy country estate – although, in the end -  she couldn’t afford its rehab and had to sell.   My favorite series of pictures are of Ireland, dressed in a ball gown, posed around the swimming pool with her three teenaged sons.   Her middle son decides he is through with the photo shoot and the look on her face as she bribes him, scolds him, pleads with him is priceless!    What those pictures say about the manipulation of the family members during those “fun” totally uncandid photographs speaks volumes.   It made me think of all  that Martha Stewart’s daughter must have had to endure as a child – after all, Martha’s husband bolted from that media storm as soon as he could. 

 

 

 

Some of the pictures have been seen before in a few magazines, but the majority are new.   I can’t imagine how hard it must have been for Ireland to sell something she had poured her heart and soul into.  She writes that she bought the ranch thinking she and her boys would live there fulltime – the only way she could truly afford it.   Her boys resisted – they had no wish to move from Santa Monica - dashing all of Ireland’s hopes and dreams. 

 

 

The master bedroom suite, separated from the main house.  I love how the three flooring surfaces come together here: tile, wood, and seagrass.

 

Both Ashwell’s and Ireland’s books are remarkable for this:  they tell the story of two highly independent women, both from England, who came to America on a lark and penniless.   But, through hard work and gritty determination, they both reinvented themselves and became international successes.    Ireland and Ashwell share so much biographic history – it truly is uncanny.   And what better weekend than Labor Day to celebrate what hard work and toil can bring to you – regardless of where you are from, and how little you have to start with.    And though Ashwell is currently suffering through this  economic downturn, I have no doubt that she will rise again, like a Phoenix.   Hopefully, just like Ani DiFranco, another true American success story, says here:

 

Thirty-Two Flavors:

And god help you if you are an ugly girl
'Course too pretty is also your doom
Cuz everyone harbors a secret hatred
For the prettiest girl in the room
And god help you if you are a phoenix
And you dare to rise up from the ash
A thousand eyes will smolder with jealousy
While you are just flying past

 

From our house to yours - I hope you all have a safe and healthy Labor Day Weekend.

The New Shabby Chic

 

Just launched in the past week or so is Rachel Ashwell's fabulous revamped Shabby Chic web site.   If you left Shabby Chic behind years ago, you might want to take a peek at what the creator of the slipcover lifestyle has been up to lately.  Fresh from her successful partnership with Target, Ashwell has been quitely opening up Shabby Chic stores nationwide.  Fueled by the 20 year anniversary of her company, Rachel, the  quintessential English Rose, is setting her sights on a total of 80 new stores.  The main attraction, as always, is the slipcovered furniture and  nobody does slipcovers better than Rachel.  Her pieces are plump with down  feathers, cushy, soft,  and comfortable.  Usually, Rachel works with a strict pink, green and blue palette but lately gray has been popping up all over:   her new line of painted wood furniture is wonderful -  Gustavian in coloring, French in design.  The furniture prices are lower than what one is used to from her pricey slipcover line.  But even with the slipcovered pieces, the prices seem lower than what they were back in the days before Target and when Malibu was their headquarters.

Another staple available on the web site is her fabrics, the poplins and linens in the luscious, soft, muted colors that make up her bedding line.  The web site is a little hard to navigate and there's a lot that will be "coming soon" - but there is still some great eye candy here - lots of gorgeous Shabby Chic rooms with white linen and crystal chandeliers.  Be sure to take a glance at Rachel's Favorites and Our Heritage.   At the bottom of the page, the Gallery has even more pictures.   

On a personal note, I have a client who recently purchasd the gray desk (which is mysteriously missing from the revamped web site) and Devon, a French styled chest of drawers, both very well made AND incredibly affordable, especially when compared with other lines of similar gray painted furniture.   I'm just hoping that Rachel opens a branch here in Houston, right now Austin is the only  lucky city in Texas.

Enjoy!

 

Rachel's palette has moved from basic pink, green, and blue to include grays, khakis and whites.  Here, the ubiquitous crystal chandelier in an all white and khaki room.

 

Gustavian and Shabby Chic - the new combination. 

Tufting is something new for Rachel.  Here she mixes an antique dresser with chairs from her furniture collection.         

      

This charming, worn dining room table is $1250.  The Darcy chair, faithfully copied from an antique Rachel salvaged is available in a cream or gray finish, with slip skirt - $399.

       

A first for Rachel:  leather furniture!!!  She also is selling vintage rugs in the stores, along with new ones.   Here is Shabby Chic defined - overstuffed slipcovered sofa, touches of gold, touches of crystal and wispy, billowing curtains.  Rachel brings in her favorite pinks and green through the painted antique furniture.

My favorite piece:  Devon, a French styled chest in Gustavian gray.   Available in two sizes:  $925 or $1070.  This would be great for a pair of matching bedside tables.  Love, love, love this!!!!

This console is just $900.  Pillows in Rachel's dreamy fabrics are sold in the stores  and online too.  The bottom shelf would be a perfect place to store things in baskets.

Another favorite of mine:  the slipcovered chaise lounge.  No one does it better than Rachel - no one!

One more favorite:   Army cots for $100 make perfect extra beds for sleepovers and beach houses.   Rachel has used this item for years and sells bedding made just for it.

Baby furniture and bedding is a huge seller for Rachel.  The Rosalee chest to the left is a mere $850.

I adore the trendy brass  crown  and the crown hooks, sold under Accessories.  The lighting section is "coming soon."

And finally - all of  Rachel's books and CDs are available online.  This one is a particular "Guilty Pleasure" for me.  A fascinating tale that takes the reader through the renovation and furnishing of her Malibu home.  Though she has since moved at least two more times - it is still  one of my favorite houses of hers.