Style : INTERIORS : Secondhand Rose

Friends of Rachel Ashwell had always admired the way she covered her living-room furniture in attractive yet practical fabrics. And so many of them had asked her to make slipcovers for their sofas and chairs that the former commercial wardrobe stylist thought: “Why not try a little business?” The result was the Santa Monica furnishings shop Shabby Chic, an English-style emporium. Or, at least, an American vision of the English look --comfy, down-filled chairs and sofas smothered with faded, fringed pillows. The style springs straight from Ashwell’s home, a collection of classic furniture and recycled accessories dating from the turn of the century to the 1940s. Colors are soft and muted, and rose motifs abound.

With her partner, Dara Buck, in New York City, Ashwell specializes in user-friendly slipcovered furniture, throw pillows, linens--all of them new--and period accessories. Tables, screens, lights, mirrors, vases and paintings of fruit and flowers remain exactly as they are found. “I don’t like to touch them,” Ashwell says. “All our pieces are one of a kind.”