It couldn’t have come at a better time, don’t you agree?
Back during the Depression era of the early 1900’s, most of the people in this country were in the same boat - BROKE, so everyone spoke a common language. It was considered a necessity to be frugal, conservative and thrifty, and most every homemaker had to be, like it or not. It prepared them to be even more so when World War II began a few years later, and many things had to be rationed out to families.
Frugal and thrifty weren't words you used back then in the way that we use them today. We pretty much have the choice go to second-hand stores, shop yard sales or frequent a General Dollar store instead of shopping on line or at the Temple of the Mall. We’re on a mission to make the pay-check stretch as far as we can, for one reason or another. It may be in order to pay the bills we accumulated or it may be that we need to save money for a vacation or a second or third car. It’s rarely because we have no money at all to live on and no job to provide it, as in the Depression era.
It was a way of life for many years back then that made such an impression on the younger people of that time period. It stayed with most of them for the whole rest of their life, as with my own mother, now age 92. They remained thrifty, conservative and especially appreciative of anything they worked hard for and were able to have. If it was broken, they fixed it. If it was used, they re-used it, and sometimes, many times over, as in aluminum foil. Do you know how many times aluminum foil can be used and re-used? Just ask someone from that generation. It’s nerve racking to even fathom it.
But, back to this generation. Yes, we have our poor; there will always be the very poor. There will always be the very rich people. Most of us are somewhere in between. Even if we are so endowed with credit cards to sustain us for a period of time, we are still living on borrowed time with that luxury way to buy now, pay later. So, somewhere, at some point in time, someone got inventive with the re-purposing of items. I think it began sometime after garage and yard sales became so popular in the 1980’s. It not only became popular with a purpose, but artistic as well, to see what we could make out of someone else’s junk or even our own. So began the new Shabby Chic generation.
These days it’s very fashionable to go shabby chic style. Even Hobby Lobby and other retail stores are getting rich off the very concept of it. But an idea was born and a new way to decorate began at a little lower cost. It’s a nice feeling to decorate and make do with what’s in style at a smaller price tag or simply by re-purposing or building it yourself in chic fashion. It makes us smile to visit a vintage store and find a new-to-us old tea cup and saucer, or an old chair that’s been repaired and repainted and just what we needed. It gives new meaning to the “thrill of the hunt” when we are in need of something that we can’t go out and pay full price for immediately, but know it’s going to be in style anyway.
Recently, we could not afford the fanciest of rabbit hutches with all the latest bells and whistles, but we were blessed with a Shabby Chic version. I think our grandson’s little bunny knows how lucky she is to have it, and it fits right in on our little farm! I guess it's our Shabby Chic farm!
~ Gwen of IRISH ACRES
