Masculine Chinoiserie

Peter Durham

This is a wonderful example of Chinoiserie with a more masculine edge, combining black walls and floors with a Chinese Coromandel screen, blue and white Chinese porcelain, an Hermes blanket, custom chaise, and an antique rug. This palette of black, beige, and blue is masculine, modern, and elegant.

Here is the same room styled a bit differently. Can you spot the differences?

The patterned pillows have been changed out and rearranged
A blue and white Chinese ginger jar in one, a blue and white Chinese vase with branches in the other
The chaise has been moved
The Hermes blanket is tucked in one, untucked in the other
Fresh flowers in the one above
The Chinese screen is angled differently
The pedestal is on the rug in one, on the floor in the other
A brass floor lamp in one, a pair of hurricane lamps in the other
An embroidered textile sash on the chaise above
The pedestal has been turned

Orange

Orange continues as a hot trend this fall. Could it get any better than the ceiling and fretwork walls lacquered in Hermes orange with a display of Chinoiserie porcelain vases?

Orange Chinoiserie DIY

A favorite Etsy shop of mine Tweaked Home is brilliant at taking vintage Chinoiserie pieces and updating them in Hermes orange or Tangerine Tango as it is being called this year. Here are some great examples - a bird house painted in Hermes orange and gold to which she added brass bells creating a wonderful pagoda folly, Hermes orange foo dogs, a Hermes orange Chinese Chippendale bamboo etagere, and a Hermes orange rattan chair. These are all available for purchase and are also inspiring for the DIY type.

Hermes Chinoiserie

I featured this lovely bedroom by Sara Story in my post yesterday on Style Redux on decorating with orange. New York interior designer Sara Story created this bedroom for the Orchard Hill Show House. I think it's a wonderful mix of Hermes, Chinoiserie, and modern. Traditional Home just featured this room in its April 2009 issue. Story drew inspiration for the Gracie Chinoiserie mural of birds dancing among leafy tree branches from the mansion's location in the middle of the soaring trees of Old Westbury Gardens. Instead of a more traditional blue for the sky, Story went with extreme orange to recreate the sky at sunset, when blue yields to a spectrum of warm yellow to orange. The Hermes pillow, throw blanket, and boxes give the room a luxe and chic edge, while the sleek black furnishings really pop against the orange walls. This room is a perfect illustration that Chinoiserie can be fresh and modern, while still maintaining its fanciful elegance.