Monday, May 18, 2020

Chinoiserie Gone Wrong

Traditional Home

This entire house was featured in Traditional Home and is obviously a lovely home. However, to me there is too much blue and white and too much blue and white Chinese porcelain and I feel like they are soldiers in a Chinoiserie Army all lined up in rows. The Traditional Home website is no longer up, but every room in the house is blue and white.

I never thought a house could have too much blue and white and too much Chinese porcelain, but IMHO this does. I know this collection of blue and white plates below is not Chinese, but again too much and all in rows. To me, the styling gives the home a rigidity and sterility that comes across to me as cold and uninviting as well as a bit boring. For me, this overly formal style misses the entire point of Chinoiserie, which is adding whimsy and personality.




Here below an example of styling with a collection of blue and white Chinese porcelain by the master of blue and white, Mark Sikes. Note the dining room sideboard above versus the dining room sideboard below. Both are dark brown wood with a collection of blue and white Chinese porcelain. In the example below, the pagoda, basket, shells, glass orbs, and palm fronds give it texture, warmth, and personality. The greens of the Chinoiserie wallpaper and the palm fronds make the blue and white Chinese porcelain pop.

Mark D. Sikes

What is your opinion? Do you love the Traditional Home rooms, or do you agree that they lack personality and charm?

29 comments:

  1. I think the plate wall (which is different and intriguing) could have been really effective IF the rest of the house wasn't so 'at attention.' Can you imagine looking for a spot to set down your coffee? You would ruin the whole shebang! Symmetry only works if there is asymmetry to balance/enhance it. There doesn't seem to be any room for life in the photos of these rooms.

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    1. I like your comment that there doesn't seem to be any room for life. I would be afraid as a guest to sit down anywhere. The rest of the house is the same.

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  2. Yes, the rooms are rigid and off putting and don't seem livable.

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  3. I agree and there is too much symmetry in these rooms with pairs everywhere. I also think pops of color would be nice and break the monotony.

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    1. Yes, it needs asymmetry and some color to come to life IMO.

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  4. I guess I'll be the odd man out and say I love the blue and white house. I remember it vividly from the magazine article seven or eight years ago and I used the dining room as a template to redo my dining room. If I envision myself in the blue and white house, I can take a deep breath, relax, and visualize a place to set down a glass or a coffee cup. On the other hand, the sideboard in the green dining room makes me hyperventilate because there's too much clutter for my taste and I can't imagine where I'd set down anything.

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    1. It was from 2014. So interesting how people relate in different ways to spaces.

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  5. I agree with you, too much of a good thing. I am a blue and white lover, but that home looks too rigid and sterile, almost as if the items are lined up for sale!
    ~suburbanmom2

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    1. A great point. This looks like an Ethan Allen showroom to me.

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  6. The Traditional Home photos have all the charm and spontaneity of a hotel lobby. There is such a lack of authenticity, the Hershey bar brown Chippendale style vitrine and sideboard are awful. If you can't have the real thing at least buy a good reproduction. And the blue and white porcelain is another bad "instant collection". It looks like a sale at Pier One. The tragic wall of plates should only belong to a stock holder in The Franklin Mint.

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    1. I hope you write for a living you are so witty and urbane. I was going to say some of this but I decided to moderate this week a bit after being accused of taking out a hit on Miles and being a meany last week. Your Franklin Mint comment is the best - that wall makes me cringe.

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    2. You are very kind to say so. I'm really looking forward to following along on your house hunting in Venice, Florida. It looks like a beautiful community.

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  7. The first thing I thought was it was very rigid. The area that works the best is with the green wallpaper, rush basket, shells, etc. The rest just looks too heavy and lined up. Not a house you want to linger in.

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    1. Yes, exactly. The last photo is from a different home and designer I posted to show the contrast. Heavy is a great word for it. Well said.

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  8. Heavy handed and unimaginative. No personality in evidence no surprises, no quirks, no life. Other than the potted (go to) orchid display there are no plants. Palm leaves, flowering branches and live topiary would have taken the edge off for sure.

    The only glimmer of potential is the plate wall. I would like to see that in a dreamywhiteslifestyle (Instagram) setting or a rustic white kitchen or master bath with white marble and cobalt blue tiles. Symmetry is wonderful as a way to anchor other free-wheeling elements. Yet again, I am disappointed with the magazine not the owner of the featured interiors or even the designer who no doubt did what the client wanted.

    For the blue and white porcelain gold standard look no further than Carolyne Roehm. Mark Sikes, too.

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    1. Very interesting comments. I for one understand why so many shelter magazines have shuttered. I could not agree more as to Carolyne Roehm and Mark Sikes. They are both extraordinarily talented.

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  9. Rooms appear very much "on display". The wall of "Franklin plates" is a sea of polka dots; perhaps a nice wallpaper would have added more to the wall than this. Can you imagine hanging all those like little soldiers all in a row??? Yikes.

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  10. First word that came to mind was staid. Respectable, yes. But nothing adventurous, nothing new and nothing fun. How boring!! And I love blue and white!

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    1. Very true, it does not feel like anyone lives there.

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  11. I loved the entire house. I thought it was all very well done.

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  12. I agree. You gotta mix it up or it falls flat. The first photo looks like a store. That's why I curtail my collecting, so that I can keep a good balance of elements. I do like the plate wall for its boldness! It makes a strong statement. For me, blue & white comes alive when it is mixed with other colors and other elements. When ALL blue & white is used, rooms are usually dull. I love it with shades of red and green...and with muted or grayed out colors- the crisp blue & white porcelain really pops when added and somehow acts as a neutral.

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  13. Yikes.... this is a case of when too much of a good thing is just plain and simple bad. No joy in these images for me which is not something I thought I would ever say about blue & white. Like many before me I think the concept of the plates is okay but like everything else in the house it looks way too contrived - a little breathing space at the edges of the plates would have been nicer as would a dressing down of the rest of the home. Thanks for the share.

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    1. Yes, exactly, the blue and white looks sad and lifeless which is a shame.

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  14. Over 50 plates, all basically the same - wow. Agree that it could all have been purchased at Pier 1. Although I'm sad that they're going out of business

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    1. Yes, a shame about Pier One. This pandemic is accelerating the demise of a lot of retail.

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