Friday, February 28, 2014

Blue & White Bash on Monday


Please don't forget that the next blue and White Bash over at The Pink Pagoda is this coming Monday, March 3. They are so much fun and the last one in February was especially great with over 50 bloggers linking up. Link up with a blue and white post of your own and join in on all the blue and white splendor. You can read all the particulars here if you are new to linking parties. All of these blue and white beauties above are from the uber talented Chinoiserie lover Dana Gibson.


My blue and white laundry room with a vase by Dana Gibson on the left

Thursday, February 27, 2014

Preppy & Pretty Chinoiserie


I grew up in Lake Forest, Illinois and know that much of my interior design aesthetic is a result of it. Gorgeous classic homes both grand and small abounded there by architects like David Adler and Frank Llloyd Wright. My parents came close to buying a Japanese style Wright home that had a koi pond in the foyer. I've never forgotten it.

Homes in Lake Forest are very much the style of where I live now in Belle Haven in Alexandria, Virginia. Many were built in the 1920s. The decorating is a modern take on old school, with lots of color, trims, classic fabrics and wallpapers, antiques, chintz, red dining rooms, ancestor portraits, crystal chandeliers and lots of Chinoiserie. The decorating could have been done today or thirty years ago.

I was so excited when I received the latest issue of House Beautiful to find this stunning 1926 French provincial Lake Forest home by noted architect Ralph Milman decorated by one of my favorites, Ruthie Sommers. It is a home I could so happily live in. I'm sorry, but I feel like walking through Restoration Hardware sucks the life right out of me. I could never live in a home filled with beige unless I was heavily medicated.

This home is filled with pink, blue, and green, with lots of yummy chocolate brown to ground it. Sommers used all of my favorites - Benjamin Moore Aura paint, Farrow & Ball wallpaper, and fabrics by Brunschwig & Fils, Cowtan & Tout, Fortuny, Rose Cumming, and Clarence House. It has a definite Greenbrier/Dorothy Draper vibe as well. It is preppy, happy, cheerful, and feminine.

You can read a fascinating interview with Ruthie Sommers about the house with full details here.












Wednesday, February 26, 2014

One Room Challenge Now - My Laundry Room


Today I am linking up over at the One Room Challenge Now Linking Party. Linda has invited all of the previous One Room Challenge participants to show our rooms as they look today. For the last One Room Challenge, I redid my laundry room and it is without question one of my favorite rooms in my house. I seriously love this room! 

The only new additions are that I added this vintage wicker torso that I adorned with some of my necklaces and one of my vintage hats and a blue and white Chinese lamp.




Perhaps you would like to see my renovation process here and the final reveal here. And this is a little tour -













Thanks Linda for this great update idea and for creating the One Room Challenge. I have had so much fun!

Tuesday, February 25, 2014

One Room Challenge Now - My Powder Room


Today we will look at my One Room Challenge powder room now. This room was absolutely horrible to begin with - in fact, the door had been closed for years. Since we have three other bathrooms, I had just chosen to ignore that it existed.

I turned it into a little Chinoiserie gem for very little $$$ and I just love it. It is right off the laundry room and it motivated me to tackle the laundry room for the next One Room Challenge. You can follow it all here and see the final reveal here.


Here are the before pictures -




I loved the final result so much that the only change I have made is the addition of the pair of foo dogs from Charlotte & Ivy.

Tomorrow we will take a peak at my One Room Challenge laundry room now. Tomorrow is also the day that all the participants from past One Room Challenges are invited to link up over at Calling It Home to show their rooms now.

And yes, I am still using the black toilet paper.













Monday, February 24, 2014

One Room Challenge Now - My Kitchen


This Wednesday, February 26, Linda at Calling It Home is having a One Room Challenge Now linking party with all all the participants of the past One Room Challenges invited to show our rooms as they look today. Likely many of us have made changes to our rooms since the reveals. As I have participated in three challenges, I thought I would do posts today, Tuesday, and Wednesday on my three rooms now.

For my first One Room Challenge, I chose my kitchen. You can follow the entire process here and see the final reveal here. The pictures you see here were taken this Christmas with the room decked out for the holidays. I love what I did with my kitchen. I broke lots of kitchen "decorating rules" in the process like -

*a dramatic crystal chandelier in a room with eight foot ceilings
*a gallery wall
*lots of pink
*lots of Chinoiserie
*high end fabrics like Quadrille and Brunschwig & Fils
*and I adore it - I smile every time I walk in

The only big change in this room is the new refrigerator. The space would only allow my replacing my old smallish refrigerator with a new small refrigerator, but I don't cook, so it's just fine. There's more than enough room for wine and Perrier.

The accessories on the breakfast counter are always changing for holidays or depending on my mood.

Tomorrow we will be looking at my One Room Challenge powder room as it looks today.