Thursday, October 31, 2013

Happy Halloween


Happy Halloween to everyone. I love Halloween. Today is the annual Doggie Howl-o-ween Costume Contest at the Hotel Monaco in Alexandria. Izzy has won Most Glamorous Dog three times in a row. The last time we won a fabulous weekend in NYC. Last year was unfortunately canceled due to Hurricane Sandy. That was the Japanese kimono costume in the last photos. My daughter Kate, Isabella (Izzy), and I have this year's costumes all set to go. Izzy's involves a wig this year, so we'll see how that goes. ;-)

 It's an outdoor event, of course, and it's sunny and 72 degrees here in DC today. Here are some photos of my house all ready for Halloween and some photos of our costumes from past years.




















Wednesday, October 30, 2013

One Room Challenge - A Personal Reveal


This is the fifth week of the One Room Challenge. Next week is the big reveal! I recall that Linda of Calling It Home once referred to me as one of the most personally private bloggers on the blogosphere. Well, today I will reveal something about myself - I love to clean my house. I have never had a cleaning lady and have never even considered it. I love the entire process of taking care of my home. Those of you who balked at me saying that I enjoy doing laundry with my new washer and dryer probably just fainted.

Part of my love for cleaning includes having wonderful cleaning tools. No plastic for me - all wood and leather and lambswool and goat hair and such. They are works of art really. Check out these photos from one of my favorite stores - John Derian in NYC.



These cleaning tools are made by a wonderful German company - Redecker and can be purchased online. Crate and Barrel has started a section in their stores and online called Clean Slate and they carry some of the Redecker line as shown just below.


I wanted to create an area in my laundry room for my collection of cleaning tools. In my laundry room, there was already a large pegboard, so I just bought pegboard hooks at Lowe's. Now everything is easily found and is a beautiful display as well.








I also did another DIY - now I bet Linda has just fainted. I wanted a chair in the laundry room for the mud room area I have created to sit and take on and off muddy wellies and wet boots. I had a mahogany corner chair in one of the bedrooms that was not really being used and decided it would be ideal. I found this gorgeous Clarence House Les Porcelaines Bleu designer sample on Etsy for $15.00 and used it to cover the seat. I placed the pattern on the diagonal and I think it looks perfect.



My laundry room is quickly becoming one of my favorite rooms in the house. I am using things you don't normally find in laundry rooms - so far you have seen my Brunschwig & Fils wallpaper, a dupioni silk roman shade, an antique ginger jar, Clarence House fabric, a mahogany chair, and you won't believe what I have in store for the reveal next week. Everything I have shown you was found very inexpensively on eBay, Etsy, and consignment stores. My laundry room is not only functional, it is gorgeous. Rules were made to be broken in making your home your own.

I hope to see you all next week for the reveal. I cannot wait to show you the rest. Thanks so much to my sponsors and friends of Chinoiserie Chic for supporting this One Room Challenge.




I hope everybody else had made lots of progress in their rooms. Let's go see.


Chinoiserie Chic  - that’s me!

Tuesday, October 29, 2013

Stripes and Projects


There is a month left until Thanksgiving and I have several projects in my own home I want to finish before I turn my attention to decorating my house for Christmas which I adore.

To  Do List -
Finish the laundry room for the One Room Challenge - the reveal is in a week!
Wallpaper the downstairs hallway - I have scheduled my wallpaper hanger for next week.
Refresh the entryway - waiting on my painter.

I have added one more thing to my list - a new rug for the living room. I am tired of my oriental rug and have decided I really want an offset black and white striped rug. I love combining stripes and Chinoiserie and my go to choice is often striped silk taffeta curtains. I really think this black and white striped rug in my living room will be a great fit. The colors in my living room are pastels - pink, ice blue, yellow, and celadon, and the graphic punch of this rug will add real drama.

I am debating between these two rugs -
The Madeline Weinrib Buche Rug is a 100% wool flatweave carpet in black and white offset stripes and is $4,000 in the 8x11.


The Ikea Stockholm Rand Rug is a 100% wool flatweave carpet in black and white offset stripes and is $399 in the 8x11.


A no-brainer - Ikea here I come!

Monday, October 28, 2013

Dark Glossy Walls and Chinoiserie

Diamond Baratta
I am a huge fan of rooms that combine dark glossy walls and Chinoiserie. If you favor pastels in furniture and accessories like I do, everything really pops against dark painted walls. I am especially drawn to aubergine and Prussian blue. I love the room above - traditional, but fun. Here are more examples below, all by Mario Buatta.








Sunday, October 27, 2013

Brown Background Wallpaper


I won on eBay 10 unopened rolls of this beautiful Dorothy Draper & Company wallpaper called Birch Trees Brown. The labels say it is "A Carleton Varney Rose Cottage Design 1996." The 10 rolls were $65.00 including shipping. Crazy cheap. I had saved these pictures of rooms with brown background wallpapers that I really liked. I thought my wallpaper would be great in my downstairs hallway that does not have much natural light, but has lots of crisp white doors and woodwork. My paper reminds me a bit of this by Tom Scheerer room below although mine is obviously on a smaller scale. I am going to call my wallpaper hanger to get on his schedule and I will take some before and after shots. I'll be on the lookout for a mirror too. This wallpaper will be a change for me as all my other wallpapers have a white or off white ground.

Tom Scheerer

2013 Hampton Designer Showhouse

Palmer Weiss

Miles Redd

The ceiling is wallpapered too

Saturday, October 26, 2013

Saturday Inspiration

via Pinterest
Such a pretty vignette. I love all the gold with the pops of pink and blue velvet on the chair and stools. The use of Chinoiserie, as is often the case, adds a bit of whimsy to a fairly serious spot. I like the large gray cloisonne vase on top of the snakeskin boxes. Cloisonne is so underused and can be had for a song on Etsy, eBay, flea markets, and such. Pairs of small cloisonne vases are also very effective as shown below. In the photo above, I also love how the foo dogs have been placed a bit askew and with their back towards each other. Perhaps they had a fight.

House Beautiful