The Chinoiserie Mahjong Table

Oh My Mahjong

 I found this picture by Oh My Mahjong of a very pretty setup for playing mahjong with Chinese Chippendale chairs and the background of blue and white chinoiserie wallpaper. I have a similar table and chairs in my breakfast room at CCC.

The Chinoiserie Kitchen

Amanda Lindroth

Isn't this a fabulous chinoiserie kitchen by Amanda Lindroth? Note the blue painted cabinets and hood and black soapstone countertops and backsplash. The hood and cabinets are trellised.

The Chinoiserie Dining Room

Grace Kaynor Interiors - Southern Living

This pretty New Orleans dining room has me perplexed. I love the antique marble mantel, gilded mirror, pagoda pelmet, crystal chandelier, antiques, and the gold Chinese Chippendale chairs. It is painted in Benjamin Moore Beach Glass - a grayed blue green. The color works well in beach houses. I love New Orleans style - lots of high ceilings, crystal chandeliers, antique mantels, aged wood floors, and antiques. 

The Red and White Chinoiserie Dining Room

Ariel Okin - House Beautiful 

 

Although I am usually drawn to blue and white chinoiserie dining rooms, this one in different shades of red and white one is a beautiful alternative. Chinese Chippendale chairs by Bungalow 5 are a perfect choice.

The Chinoiserie Breakfast Room

Jonathan Adler - Elle Decor

Fashion maven Liz Lange's Palm Beach home is one of my absolute favorites, and I have posted on most of the rooms before. You can see it all here in Elle Decor.

The breakfast room is lots of fun too.

Feeling Blue

Mark D. Sikes

 

This wonderful breakfast room is in Liz Lange's beautiful restoration of the iconic East Hampton home Grey Gardens.

Pastels

Matters of Style

 

I love these rooms and especially the color palette - the blues of the ceilings, fringed velvet sofa, and Chinese Chippendale chairs, the greens of the console table, chair, sofa pillows, and art, and the lovely coral and blue rug.

The Chinoiserie Dining Room

Shelley Johnstone

 

This is a fun dining room by Shelley Johnstone that combines chinoiserie and beachy/tropical elements. I love a round skirted table. Interesting that she combines rattan Chinese Chippendale chairs with grotto shellback chairs.

The Chinoiserie Entryway

James Farmer

This beautiful entryway features Schumacher's Hydrangea Drape wallpaper.

Dining Room Inspiration

Alessandra Branca - Architectural Digest

 

I posted this a few years ago, but happened upon it again and there are so many great ideas here. The Chinese Chippendale chairs are vintage in her signature red, the cushions are Quadrille, the table is RH, and those cool wicker pendants are Ikea. Ikea is a great source for lighting BTW.  I love the shells and hurricanes as table centerpieces. All in all, a wonderful eclectic mix.

I can't say I love the curtains blocking the view of the gorgeous Chinese Chippendale railing and palm trees. I would lose them. I wonder what it's like walking on those floors barefoot? They look more like pool decking to me. I would have used limestone/shellstone tiles myself.

The Chinoiserie Kitchen

Alexander Interiors

This classic white kitchen goes Chinoiserie Chic with Chinese Chippendale rattan counter chairs and a blue and white Chinese porcelain vase. I love the green island.

Alexander Interiors

The Banquette

Barry Benson - Luxe Magazine

 I know we all love white Chinese Chippendale chairs, but black is a chic alternative, upholstered here in Brunschwig & Fils suzani. I wish the banquette seat was in the same fabric.

I have been debating a banquette for my own breakfast room, but I am not crazy about it blocking windows like it is here. I think it would look awful from the outside as well. Hmmmm.

Vintage Miles Redd

Miles Redd

 This Miles Redd room is from many years back when he was first on everyone's radar screen. It was even pre his ruffled curtain fixation - LOL. I love emerald green silk curtains - I miss mine that were in my previous dining room. I can't tell if these have trim or a very small ruffle, but they are very pretty. I love the Chinese Chippendale chairs, leopard cushions, Chinoiserie wallpaper, and a vintage suzani used as a tablecloth. A lovely room.

I have been looking for a blue and white tablecloth for my breakfast room Platner table to use on and off. A vintage blue and white suzani would be perfect if I can find one in the right size. I'll see what I can find.

Red Tropical Chinoiserie

Alessandra Branca - Architectural Digest

 This dining room in the Bahamian retreat of interior designer Alessandra Branca is a great example of what I call Tropical Chinoiserie. She mixes vintage Chinese Chippendale chairs, a RH dining table and rattan pendants from Ikea. Her signature red is especially nice at Christmas.

Do you see the red Chinese Chippendale railing? - here is the view. Who needs outdoor Christmas decorations with this red and green? And note the orchids on the palms that I have posted on. What a stunning view.

Alessandra Branca

Grandmillennial/Old School Chinoiserie

Ware M. Porter

This was the color of my daughter's nursery, a very soft mint green. I love this. It looks like the Chinese Chippendale chairs are painted the same color. I still love relaxed roman shades like these and a beautiful brass chandelier. And don't miss the hand painted or stenciled palm trees. The table is set with beautiful place mats - yeah!, silver, candlesticks, place cards, and bamboo flatware. Please check out the individual floral arrangements at each place setting.

This is so beautiful. I am really liking the idea of the painted palm tress. My painter does beautiful faux painting - I think I mentioned in my kitchen he surprised me by painting the 10 foot column faux marble to match my countertops. He could do this. Don't those look stenciled? Isn't this a lovely room?

The Chinoiserie Dining Room

Amanda Lindroth - House Beautiful

The dining area in Amanda Lindroth's home in the Bahamas has lots of great ideas. A Coventry bench from Ballard Designs and vintage Brown Jordan Chinese Chippendale chairs are nestled around a painted teak table. The large Chinese ancestor art is a wonderful focal point. I love the blue and white batik pillows on the bench, the collection of shells on the table and shell brackets, and the touches of pink. BTW, the Coventry bench from Ballard comes in a ton of fabrics including lots of Sunbrella and is a great way to get a custom banquette look at a very attractive price point. This is a fun space with a tropical Chinoiserie vibe.

Ballard Designs Coventry Bench in Lynx Sunbrella

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.

The Library Dining Room

William McLure

From the Traditional Home Southern Style Now Showhouse in New Orleans. This room is confusing to me, but quite lovely. Is it a dining room or a study or both? It was described as the dining room in the show house, so how do you eat? On top of the books? I remember a NSO show house in D.C. years ago where there was a massive bed in the living room. That was really odd. It's sad that so many show houses have shuttered for good. I used to love attending them.

What are those lamps doing on the table and do they light? Are they cordless/battery? I believe someone asked the designer about the lamps and he said he drilled holes in the table. But that means holes in the tablecloth and rug as well. Seriously? I am very detail oriented - things like that puzzle/annoy me.

I guess it's the move to Florida, but I am really focusing now on Florida/Palm Beach/Tropical elements in rooms. Here, we have a beautiful piece of coral on the books and a Sago palm in the urn on the left. The Sago palm is ideal for containers indoors or out.

Here is a closeup - no cord?

I do like this room - the Chinese Chippendale chairs, the pair of blue and white ginger jars, yellow walls (an underused color IMO), a wonderful chandelier, and a great piece of art.  But those lamps still bug me. Do you remember the Miles Redd dining room turned study in his mother's home where he did the same thing with a  pair of lamps?

Miles Redd - House Beautiful

And a closeup - no cords?

Chinoiserie Gone Wrong

Alessandra Branca - Architectural Digest

I guess they are supposed to be whimsical and retro, but I am not into the mounted fish in these Chinoiserie rooms. These are two of my favorite designers, but I think they were trying too hard to be fun or kitschy, and IMHO, the fish just look stupid. I am guessing the ones above are faux, and the one below is a real fish, I am not an expert, but make them go away and I will like both rooms. It said in the description of the room below that the fish mount is a throwback to 70s beach decor, but some past trends should stay buried. In the Meg Braff rooms below, I feel that the fish take over the rooms visually, and I find something very unappealing about dining or sleeping with a massive dead fish above me.

Love the fish, hate them? Your thoughts?

Meg Braff - Coastal Living

And it is clearly not just a one-off with Meg, because here is a fish mount in her sons' bedroom.

Meg Braff - House Beautiful

Chinoiserie Gone Wrong

Speechless

There is so much to like about this dining room - navy blue grasscloth on the walls, the distressed Chinese Chippendale chairs, a dramatic brass pineapple chandelier, elegant tray ceiling and millwork, a classic table and sideboard.

I love the piece of art - Hunt Slonem from his cockatoos series.

But the styling is frankly horrible. All my eyes go to are those hideous gargantuan vegetables, those ugly lamps, and that awful vase. Get rid of all of it including all that little ditsy stuff on the sideboard. It's frankly hard to believe how ugly it is. It almost seems like a joke. BTW, I did find those veggies online and they run about $4,500 for the two. I looked at their dimensions, and it leaves diners about 8 - 10 inches of space at most.

Let's use a pair of either of these instead on the sideboard -

Bunny Williams

Or these -

Arteriors

I would leave the sideboard very simple so as to not block or distract from the piece of art by this important contemporary artist.

Love it? Hate it? Thoughts?