British Colonial

Kitchen in Bali

 I had a white kitchen forever and will always love a white kitchen. BUT, in my Florida home I inherited dark cabinets with granite countertops and stone floors. My kitchen is massive and beautiful and I have decided to embrace the colors and over the months have grown to love them. I found this wonderful kitchen and it's great inspiration - British Colonial which goes beautifully with my chinoiserie, Palm Beach, tropical, island vibe. 

The ceiling here is of course killer and I don't have a beamed vaulted ceiling, but I do have nice high ceilings. I love the striped runners, straw bags and baskets, and the rattan lighting. 

My tile guy is installing a gorgeous honed marble herringbone backsplash later this week.

I found another photo of this wonderful kitchen.

Styled differently here - check out the gallery wall

Ralph Lauren & Chinoiserie

Ralph Lauren

 A beautiful space in quintessential Ralph Lauren style with lots of dark woods and blue and white Chinese porcelain. I love the round table stacked with books and a wonderful blue and white Chinese porcelain centerpiece filled with hydrangeas. There must be a hundred hydrangea stems!

Wallpaper & Musings

Katie Ridder - Architectural Digest

 Now that I have found a wallpaper hanger, my thoughts have turned again to my darling little bathroom that is awaiting its paper. I came across this photo and love it. The turtle wallpaper is by Katie Ridder and note how they retrofitted the antique mirror with elephant sconces. This really has a British Colonial/Tropical/Island vibe that I adore. 

I was on a Zoom yesterday with Amanda Lindroth and Mark Sikes and I was thinking about how THE look in interior design today that they both do beautifully is the chinoiserie, blue and white, wicker, rattan, coastal, island, tropical vibe, that works regardless of where you live. Guess where this powder room above is? Hudson Valley in New York. I remember doing a post several years ago about a home in Norway completely filled with palms and chinoiserie.

I am off down the rabbit hole of my thousands of posts to find it - and voila! This stuck in my brain because the house is in Oslo, Norway where my maternal grandmother was from. So if this is your taste, you don't need to live in the tropics - go for it.

Nicolette Horn - House Beautiful

Nicolette Horn - House Beautiful

The wallpaper BTW is Turtle Bay by Katie Ridder available in several colorways. I like both of these.

Prussian Blue

Seafoam

My Favorite Living Room

Bunny Williams & John Rosselli

I have posted hundreds of living rooms in the years I have been doing Chinoiserie Chic, but none do I love more than this one, Bunny Williams and John Rosselli's Punta Cana home. I would love to share more photos of this room.

There are so many elements here I will use in my living room and home in general. Lots of blue and white Chinese porcelain including Chinese garden stools, ginger jars, vases, lamps, and cachepots. Pagodas. Elephants. Palm fronds as floral arrangements. Potted orchids. Painted ceilings. Neutral walls and floors. Books. British Colonial style. Ceiling fans. Sea shells. Slipper chairs. Animal decor. Tropical. Collections. Timeless.

This room makes me happy. I believe Mark Sikes said this is the most beautiful living room in the world. I must agree. It certainly embraces the style I would love to capture in my new tropical Chinoiserie home. What do you think?

British Colonial

Ralph Lauren

Blue and white Chinese porcelain including ginger jars and fishbowls with palms and a pair of red and gold Chinoiserie mirrors combine with dark woods in British Colonial style.

Ralph Lauren

Architectural Digest

Blue and white Chinese ginger jars and a blue and white Chinese planter in this British Colonial entryway.

My Guest Post on The Shiny Pebble

Today I hope that everyone will pop over to The Shiny Pebble to check out my guest post. Catherine Hopkins has been doing an excellent series on her blog where she has asked a group of interior design bloggers to do a virtual makeover of her dining room. I kept all of her existing furniture and focused on Chinoiserie accessories, transforming her traditional Houston dining room in her newly built home into a timeless and elegant British colonial oasis. This makeover reflects my design approach that fabric and accessories are what make or break a room, not the furniture. Thanks also to The Daily Basics for featuring this series.