This past April 10th thru April 12th I hosted a Shabby Chic Workshop. My new book "The World of Shabby Chic" was to be the framework of discussion, as it touches on "my story, my vision & beautiful homes", therefor setting the path to discuss my childhood thru my business journey and then onto designing homes.
My village at The Prairie and also some of our corporate village team from Los Angeles prepped the Prairie for the arrival of passionate Shabby ladies from as faraway as Australia, Hong Kong, Canada and all corners of the USA.
Ladies started arriving down our long Prairie road…… with so much anticipation of the days ahead.
My first priority was to make everyone feel comfortable. The Prairie all by itself has big welcoming open arms, but I wanted to make sure all felt home, into the world of Shabby Chic. My promise was to share my journey, the ups and downs, the shoulds and shouldn’ts of the 25 years of my shabby life. Around 4pm we all started to congregate in The Rangers Lounge……and the shabby love began. With our common love of ‘the beauty of imperfection” there were no airs or graces…just lots of shabby tales to tell.
We could have chatted the night away but we had quite an agenda. The first of which was the tour of The Prairie, before dinner.
Strolling thru the fields of the Prairie with my shabby sisters was dreamlike for me as well as my guests. We went into each and every room and I shared my story of how The Prairie came to be.
And then the “behind the scenes” of where shabby treasures get restored for reloving. I had just completed a few weeks of treasure hunting right before the workshop, so our work shacks had some “works in process" to view.
The sun was going down as our tour was complete, and soon it was dinner time. All shabby ladies were given one of my personal cameo as a welcome token….. I love my cameos so it felt an authentic gesture to gift them to my shabby sisters.
Danny's homemade friend chicken was made with heart and soul, setting the standard for meals to follow...
After dinner we made our way to the mushy sofa area to properly introduce each other to each other. One by one we told our story of who we were, why we were there, and what we hoped to get from the workshop……Every person had their unique reason of what brought them to the world of Shabby Chic.
From that moment on I knew we had a special group…and what a privilege for me to have such a group for the weekend. There was laughter, there were tears and there was lots of shabby love. Sometime before midnite we all went for some shabby slumber. SHABBY WORKSHOP: PART 2 - COMING SOON
7 comments
I am writing from London UK..
How I have wish/ed to make my cottage with your ideas. When you had a shop in Notting hill London, I did buy some things from you and then sadly when I was to decorate my whole cottage in your Rachel Ashwell style/things etc —-the shop had gone. I have tried hard to ‘copy’ your ideas but its not easy here in Uk. It would be great if someone could furnish my cottage in your style and with your things. There isn’t another interior designer like you. Shabby Chic Rachel Ashwell is absolutely magical and romantic. I would love nothing more…
hugs Andrea
Rachel…my goodness! What joy it is to relive that first day of the Shabby Workshop, and oh, how i miss our sisterhood, there! What a treasure you are, and how very very grateful I am for such an incredible opportunity to learn and grow and dream! Thank you for offering such a wonderfully scrumptious weekend!
Blessings, oh lovely one,
Christie
Please do another workshop! I really wanted to come , but was unable.
Oh what a dream come true it would be to attend one of your workshops! Until then, thanks for sharing the pictures. jonni
What a wonderfull workshop-idea at all. I would have loved attending it!
W-o-n-d-e-r-f-u-l.
Best whishes from Germany,
Jasmin
P.S. I like this Cowboy guy with the flowerprinted pinafore (is that the right word?! I am not sure…) ! :D
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