Shabby Chic Interiors: My Rooms, Treasures and Trinkets
By Rachel Ashwell
Cico Books, £25
FT Bookshop price: £20

Rachel Ashwell has developed a successful business around the Shabby Chic brand she founded in 1989, with stores in Santa Monica, California, and New York, four books and a TV series. Yet I feel this 192-page hardback – her fifth and her first for five years – provokes a love-hate response. If you espouse vintage style, flea market finds and a relaxed design approach, you will love it. Those who do not might find Ashwell’s deeply personal celebration of the “beauty of imperfection” a frustrating read. Nearly half the book dwells, indulgently, on her own homes in Los Angeles and Malibu, with two further chapters on friends’ houses and a single, slight chapter on celebrity homes (Marilyn Monroe’s former Hollywood home and fashion designer Betsey Johnson’s New York apartment).

Amy Neunsinger’s slightly soft-focus photography lends a dreamy look to “the beauty of old, battered and well-loved possessions” while the chatty, blog-style text verges on folksiness. Two concluding chapters on inspiration and detail worked best for me (despite a skimpy resources page). The highlight for Ashwell’s loyal fans, however, will be the tours of her own homes.