Chinoiserie Driftwood

Joseph Minton

Linda of Calling It Home and I have had a long time running joke about her adoration of driftwood decor and my abhorrence for it. In fact, I doubt she loves it as much as she says and I don't dislike it all that much. But in honor of Linda and her family's move to Florida this summer,  I have found a vignette by Joseph Minton that combines Chinoiserie and driftwood that even I love. Don't you agree?

Come Join My Chinoiserie Chic Group

First up, I have just created my Chinoiserie Chic group on Polyvore. You can join here. I'd love for you to participate and add any inspiration boards that you design with Chinoiserie elements. I will be featuring some of them here on Chinoiserie Chic.

These are two more inspiration boards that I have entered in Calling It Home's Tropical Coastal Decor contest on Polyvore where you could win a $500 gift card from One Kings Lane. The contest ends on Sunday and you can enter as many boards as you wish.

If you'd like to follow my inspiration boards on Polyvore, you can find them here.

Today is my birthday. This blog is a big part of my life and I'd like to thank all of you who follow and support Chinoiserie Chic. I can't imagine my life without this blog or without all of you. Chinoiserie Chic will soon be celebrating its 5th birthday!

Another Polyvore Inspiration Board

I was playing around on Polyvore yesterday and I created this inspiration board. This is pretty much exactly my style. I love the color palette of blue and white, black, pink, and gold. Have you noticed that pink sofas are popping up everywhere? I have used blue and white Chinoiserie wallpaper, curtains edged in Greek key, my favorite pillow from Dana Gibson, and a pink Kate Spade vase. I love mixing in vintage and antique pieces like the coffee table and lamps (topped with new hot pink silk dupioni lampshades). Abstract art is a wonderful way to keep a room looking fresh and modern. I have included a pair of my favorite Frances Elkins loop chairs in black from Charlotte & Ivy.

You can follow all my inspiration boards on Polyvore here. And you need to enter Calling It Home's Tropical Coastal Decor contest here for a chance to win a $500 gift card from One Kings Lane. You can enter as many boards as you wish.

Creating Inspiration Boards

Have you been dying to create beautiful inspiration boards but didn't want to take out a student loan and go back to school to buy and learn Photoshop? Polyvore to the rescue. You can join for free and start creating boards in minutes it's so intuitive and fun. Linda at Calling It Home has a great tutorial here.

Here are some boards I published yesterday. You can see all my Polyvore boards and follow me on Polyvore here. Once I get 30 followers, I plan to create a Chinoiserie Chic group where you can join the group and add any Chinoiserie inspiration boards you create.

To make it even more exciting, Linda has a room design contest on Polyvore called Project Decorate where two winners will receive $500 gift cards from One Kings Lane. Here are three boards I entered in her contest yesterday. You can enter as many boards as you wish. The contest ends Sunday. Here is the link to the contest.

The theme is Tropical Coastal Decor. To make it even easier, I did a post for Linda a while back on Tropical Coastal and how to achieve this look including the good, the bad, and the ugly. You can find it here.

This is a board I created for a contest on Polyvore called Seaside Glamour (the contest has ended) just as an experiment since this was my first contest on Polyvore.

Here is Linda's inspiration board that she created with her vision of Tropical Coastal.

I was so happy to see that it was not filled with Linda's beloved driftwood. I have nightmares of her new home in Florida being filled with this -

Now go have fun and start creating your own boards on Polyvore.

Saturday Inspiration

Daniela at Aesthetic Oiseau posted yesterday on this incredible pagoda fireplace above. Wow. It is in the lobby of the Hotel Monaco in Portland. It reminds me of this pagoda door from a 2005 issue of House Beautiful. Do you think Danika at O'verlays/Gorgeous Shiny Things could fabricate something like this? Or perhaps Linda at Calling It Home? I love the contrast of the crisp white against the Chinese red walls - stunning.

Kelly Wearstler - The Queen of Driftwood

In working on my post featured over at Calling It Home today, I discovered that Kelly Wearstler is the unrivaled Queen of Driftwood. These are all by Kelly Wearstler. So if you are a fan of hers and a fan of driftwood decor (No and No for me), you have found your interior designer. For more on my Just Say No To Driftwood campaign, please pop over to Calling It Home. BTW, the driftwood donkey is life size and was for sale on One Kings Lane for $899. No word on whether or not it sold.

I Need Your Help

Linda's idea of Coastal Tropical

Today I am guest posting over at Calling It Home. Linda and her family are moving to Florida this summer. She is busy house hunting for her dream home that she wants to decorate in what she is calling Coastal Tropical.

The bad news is that Linda loves driftwood decor. I hate it. Luckily, her current location in New Jersey has kept the driftwood demons at bay. I am terrified that they will be let loose in Florida. Linda posted about how much she loves this dining room above. She said it stopped her in her tracks. Oh my. I have visions of her new Florida home being turned into Restoration Hardware at the Beach also known as Coastal Dumpster Chic.

Here are her driftwood finds from her latest trip to Florida over the holidays. She "died" over the driftwood coffee table. Me too, but not in a good way.

Linda asked me to guest post about Coastal Tropical Chinoiserie Chic style. What I am really doing is staging an intervention today over at Calling It Home. This is the kick off to my Just Say No To Driftwood campaign. Please stop by and help Linda say no to driftwood and yes to Chinoiserie. I know she can do it with our support.

My idea of Coastal Tropical - Bunny Williams' Punta Cana home