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.

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

My Ikea Hack

My Ikea Hack

Before this house becomes a distant memory, I thought I might show you some more of it. Let's start with my Ikea hack.

When we moved in, there were no bookcases at all. Above are the built-in bookcases Golf Guy did for me. These were created using 5 Ikea Billy bookcases with two extenders on each and then a board at the top for the three sconces that I wanted for more lighting for the living room and lots of shelves for my books and objets.

The cost came in at under $1,000 and would have been many many times that for custom. I think they look great. Note that this configuration was for 10 foot ceilings. I might do something similar in the new house but with a different handyman. LOL

Blue and White in Florida

Blue and White in My Kitchen

I am headed out today to tour the Edison Ford Winter Estates in Ft. Meyers. I thought I would share a blue and white vignette in my new home. Above is a favorite spot of mine in my kitchen. I bought this etagere a few years ago at Ikea and my daughter and I hand gold leafed it. (Ikea Vittsjo - cost for entire project under $100.) It previously housed her handbag collection - I have repurposed it to hold some of my blue and white Chinese porcelain collection with lots of vases at the ready as I am always arranging flowers. I have another great Ikea project I am excited to share in an upcoming post.

The Chinoiserie Breakfast Room

Amanda Lindroth - House Beautiful

This breakfast room combines readily available and well priced pieces - the banquette is from Ballard Designs, the table is a Docksta from Ikea, and the Chinese Chippendale chairs are Circa Who.

Amazing Framed Chinoiserie Panels for Peanuts

Caspari Monkey Business

I love framing gorgeous wrapping paper for easy and budget friendly DIY art. My daughter Kate and I framed three gorgeous Chinoiserie wrapping papers from Paper Source for her apartment.

But this new wrapping paper from Caspari by my friend Harrison Howard is not to be missed.

Step One - Pop over to Caspari and buy this Harrison Howard "Monkey Business" wrapping paper for $6.50 for two sheets each measuring 40" by 28."

Step Two - Find a pair of frames at Ikea, Michael's, a thrift store, or wherever you like and frame. This Ikea Ribba measures 27 1/2 by 39 1/4 without the mat. Almost perfect and it comes in lots of finishes. It's $24.99.

Step Three - Admire your pair of framed Chinoiserie panels for about $60.00.

Ikea Ribba

Here are a couple more Caspari Chinoiserie wrapping papers that would also be amazing framed. These both come in 5' rolls and would lend themselves to a large framed panel. If you would like to use these papers for wrapping gifts, that's fine too.

Coral Chinoiserie Toile

Lavender Chinoiserie Toile

Chinoiserie at Ikea

Cabinet

I am a HUGE fan of Ikea and they have done it again with a new limited edition collection full of Chinoiserie starting at $.99. Each piece is a blend of traditional Chinese shapes, patterns, colors like red and green, and materials like bamboo with the natural blond woods and clean lines of Scandanavian furniture.

Here are my favorite pieces. You can see the entire TRENDIG collection here.

Bar Cart

Bowls

Lighting

Horseshoe chair

Tumblers

Trivets

Tray Table

Chair

Stool

Eclectic Chinoiserie

My favorite rooms are always those that have been collected over time, mixing modern with vintage and antique pieces. De riguer for me as well is color, quirkiness, and Chinoiserie, of course.

These rooms in the Savannah home of Robyn Mizrach McClelland from Matchbook magazine are wonderful and perfect examples of what I am talking about. In the room above, I love the wall color, the Barcelona chair, the sheepskin, the gilded mirror, and the gorgeous collection of fan coral mixed with the Chinoiserie pillow, Chinese garden stool, and Imari plates and lamp.

Note the sheepskin draped over the antique chair below as well. Ikea has made a fortune selling those Rens sheepskins and it is a favorite trick of mine as well to keep an antique chair from looking too granny. The coral pink wall color is stunning with the turquoise blue Chinoiserie pieces. I love the stack of magazines topped with a ginger jar and flanked by a pair of red foo dogs in front of the fireplace.

OK you English majors, let's see who can name the guy in the portrait.

Autumn and Chinoiserie - Greek Key Trim DIY

M&J Trimming - Greek Key in Orange/Cream

Add autumn spice to your home this fall with Greek key trim in orange. These are two favorites. Use it to trim pillows or ready made curtains for an easy DIY. And don't limit your choices to white or ivory curtains - these cotton velvets in light turquoise, gray, and lilac from Ikea would be beautiful. Other great ideas include using it to trim a lampshade, a roman shade, a stair runner, or a piece of furniture.

M&J Trimming - Greek Key in Brown/Ginger

Add orange Greek key trim to pillows

Or curtains

Ikea Sanela in Light Turquoise

Ikea Sanela in Gray

Ikea Sanela in Lilac

More ideas -

Green Velvet Sofa High/Low and Inspiration

Ikea Green Velvet Stockholm Sofa $999

1stdibs Vintage Green Velvet Sofa $5,495

Each year when the new Ikea catalog arrives, there is at least one piece that goes viral with interior design bloggers. Ikea's brilliance is their ability to take hot designer looks and translate them into elegant, well designed, clean lined pieces that are very affordable. Last year, it was the stunning Stockholm wool flat weave rug below, a dead ringer for the designer version costing a zillion $ more. This year it will be the Stockholm sofa in green velvet. It is priced at $999.00 And the cover is removable for dry cleaning! I wanted to remind you of how green velvet sofas have been all the rage with interior designers and how beautifully they work with Chinoiserie. See my gallery below. For more inspiration on green and Chinoiserie, I have a Pinterest board here.

Ikea Stockholm Rug

Jeffrey Bilhuber - Tory Burch living room

Michelle Nussbaumer

Palmer Weiss

Ruthie Sommers

Caroline Roberts - Perch New Orleans

Maio Buatta

Did you know that there are several online stores where you can buy very swank legs for your Ikea furniture to upgrade your look? Here is just one example.

Summer Ikea Inspiration Board

This chic little summer vignette with bar cart, pineapple glasses, pineapple rug, and two pendant lamps are all from Ikea and all add up to under $130.00! For more budget friendly ideas from Ikea, check out my earlier post today.

Chinoiserie Chic & Cheap - Pineapples & Flamigos

Pineapple Throw

 Ikea is all ready for summer with two of my favorite hot trends - pineapples and flamingos starting with these darling flamingo glasses below for 99 cents. There are trays, beach towels, throws, shower curtains, rugs - all very fun and very budget friendly. Check out my Pinterest boards on Pineapples and Flamingos for more inspiration.

Flamingo Glass

Pineapple Glass

Flamingo Throw

Trays

Pineapple Shower Curtain

Flamingo Shower Curtain

Flamingo Beach Towel

Pineapple Rug