Monday, April 27, 2020

Chinoiserie Gone Wrong

Red, White, and Blue Miss

I suspect that the interior designer here was trying to combine Country and Chinoiserie, but it does not work at all. That glamorous chandelier and that log cabin braided rug are about the worst mismatch imaginable. IMHO, trying to meld these two styles is an impossible task to begin with, which is why you never see it. The room needs a serious intervention. It's having an identity crisis. And BTW, this room was published in Traditional Home.

I REALLY DISLIKE -

The Little House on the Prairie braided rug - this is really what ruins the room for me.
The plates on the wall
The beige wall color
The badly tarnished platters on the wall - has she not heard of silver polish?
Those odd diagonal stripe curtains
The too small ceiling cap for the chandelier
Those red, mint, and blue pillows
The ugly clunky vase in an even uglier color green
The dinky crown molding
The table
Overdone palette of red, white, and blue

I LIKE -

The red Chinese Chippendale chairs
The beaded chandelier
The banquette with Chinoiserie fabric although the back is too high and does not look comfy
The built-ins (but the china, etc. doesn't have to be all white/boring)
The floors

LET'S SUBSTITUTE -

A sisal rug
A blue and white Chinese porcelain vase on the table for the tulips
Benjamin Moore Stonington Gray (soft blue/gray) on the walls
A mix of blue and white porcelain and white in the built-ins
White linen curtains with a hefty navy and white trim
Larger crown molding
A table with a less busy base
Pillows in a solid color velvet

What are your thoughts on this room? Love it? Hate it? Just don't quarantine me in it, please. And burn the rug, I beg of you.

40 comments:

  1. Totally agree! I subscribed to Traditional Home and hated to see it go down like so many other great magazines.

    The rug is truly awful, even if it was placed in a room with country decor. The editors must have been asleep at the wheel!

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    1. Yes, hard to believe it appeared in Traditional Home. Another example to me of interior designers getting a free pass.

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  2. Ok so this series & Leslie Jordan are my lifeline during the Covid isolation.
    As for this room all of the above. Too stagged, too sterile & no personality. I usually love her look....

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    1. Interesting, I have never seen a room of hers I like. I could use her rooms every week in this series, but that would be wrong even though I have not named her.

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    2. Ouch... she helped me with my home....

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    3. I'm sure that with your great eye your home is lovely, but not because of "help."

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  3. There is nothing I can like about this room except for the fabric. The backing board looks like some one decided to use a bed headboard and it is atrocious.Traditional Home - really?

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    1. You are so smart - I bet that is a headboard! Yes, I promise it is Traditional Home. I have more photos with their watermark and links, but this was the best photo of the entire space.

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  4. This is a relationship that would never get past the first date. The rug is the ultimate sin against good taste. I love these good interiors gone bad series!

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    1. Thank you so much. Glad you are enjoying it. You are very funny.

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  5. Wish I could actually SEE your changes to "right this so gone-wrong" room.....I'd like to get the current view out of my memory bank. Some good stuff in there but you can't see it for the bad stuff!

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    1. I was thinking the same thing - I wish I knew how to do that with Photoshop or whatever - if we are inside long enough I might learn how to do that.

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  6. The room in the picture is awful! Love your substitutions!

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    1. Thanks - I would love to know how to do that visually.

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  7. How can you take it seriously when the rug is so wrong? That rug should only be seen 4th of July weekend. And it is too small. A rug should extend at least 30 inches beyond the edge of the table. No one wants to pull their chair in and have the legs caught on the edge of the rug. It's not even decorating it's just common sense.
    I don't really care for banquettes. If I have to "slide" in could you please upholster the seat in material I can slide across. I am every bit of middle aged and I can't be asked to "lift and scoot" early in the morning.
    Oh! and please, before you pick up hammer and nails to hang another plate on the wall ask yourself- What am I showing you? Is this a family heirloom? Is it beautiful? Or just a quick way to fill an empty wall? So many "instant" collections these days.

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  8. Your points on the size of the rug, banquettes, and instant collections are all so spot on. You are so right.

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  9. This room is no misdemeanor. It rises to the level of a felony.

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  10. Looks like a second marriage blend to me, put together as a demonstration of unity. The drapes, table , rug, dishes, and rug go together in an Early American nightmare and the rest is Chinoiserie (kind of)- but still not good.
    I wish I could unsee it.

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    1. You may be right and Early American it is with a vengeance. So glad we don't see a lot of it anymore.

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  11. Funny how different things bug different people. For me, the banquette back is unforgivable. If it came 35% up the wall, instead of 50%, the whole room would look better. The room would still be a huge miss, but I could at least look at it without breaking out in a sweat. I do love those chairs, though. Do you have a favorite maker of Chinese Chippendale dining chairs, Beth? A lot of them are so huge these days.

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    1. You are completely correct. The banquette completely takes over the room. Someone suggested it may be a headboard - maybe it was repurposed? Bad anyway. My Chinese Chippendale chairs are from Charlotte & Ivy and they are beautiful and very well made.

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  12. Agree with you on the rug, but I can't stand the chandelier, the table, the location of the table. And the banquette with the "headboard": that fabric should be on the seat of the banquette. I do like the chairs though..
    Everything looks like it's pushed to one side of the room..
    Tear down and start over..

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  13. What a travesty. The people over at Traditional Home must have been asleep at the wheel.

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  14. The rug is awful. It seems like this whole set up is in a hallway too.
    Do you know where the home is? I wonder if the location would make some of these elements make a little more sense.
    I do have lots of that green in my house with some red Chinoiserie accents and lots of blue and white porcelain.

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  15. That rug is shocking and so is the light fitting and the red chairs against the dark wood table.
    I think that if you mix ,say my English country (that is mainly my interior style in my home) and Chinoiserie --you have a touch and I do mean a Touch of Chinoiserie.
    I have some Chinese porcelain displayed on oak tables and a lovely Chinoiserie wall cabinet that I have put English cup, saucers and plates on. You do a little mix and make sure one does not Scream above the other. Subtle is not that persons personality in your photo today. lol
    Still .... if it makes them happy - fabbo for them :)

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    1. Yes, English Country combines beautifully with Chinoiserie, but not Early American.

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  16. Ditto!(to everything!)
    The banquette back looks like a repurposed headboard.

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  17. I love your blog Beth! I agree with all the above comments but am wondering: are those tarnished silver trays on the wall? Awful! I think silver should always be polished and am not sure about hanging it on the wall? Maybe?

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    1. Did you read my list of things I dislike in the room? I said they should be removed and asked whether the designer was aware of the existence of silver polish. LOL

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  18. I'm glad to hear I'm not the only one! I have never understood how she is so popular. Her design work is just all over the place.

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    1. I could not agree more. I do not feel that her work is nuanced or sophisticated in the least. My analysis is that she is great at self promotion.

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