Not for the Faint of Heart

Michelle Nussbaumer - House Beautiful

 After three days of tile guys at my house, the lanai and front entrance are done and drying. There was lots of drama with heavy thunderstorms and two inches of rain in the middle of it all, but the project is done. 

I am now motivated to replace my kitchen backsplash with something very high end, and was looking online for inspiration. I came across this kitchen and had to share it. I am far from a minimalist, but this kitchen is insane. Blue lacquer cabinets. Pink lacquer cabinets. A breakfast height waterfall at the end of the island. Elaborate black and brass hood. Full slab backsplash. Marble countertops. A rustic wood treatment above the cabinets. A patterned tile floor. A King Arthur and the Round Table chandelier. Lots of different metals. And don't miss the massive red mirror. 

I'm not sure what to make of all this. Your thoughts?

UPDATE : A follower kindly sent me another photo of this kitchen - it doesn't get any less weird.

Michelle Nussbaumer - House Beautiful

And I just found this.

Michelle Nussbaumer - House Beautiful

This is indeed the kitchen in Michelle Nussbaumer's Dallas home and was House Beautiful's Kitchen of the Year in 2019. Gobsmacked.

Michelle Nussbaumer - House Beautiful

Pattern Mixing

Michelle Nussbaumer

An easy way to mix patterns is to keep everything in the same color palette.

Blue and White

Michelle Nussbaumer

Gorgeous vibrant blue and white. Like the idea of a moss ball on the blue and white Chinese porcelain vase too.

The Chinoiserie Living Room

Michelle Nussbaumer - Veranda

Lots of blue and white Chinese porcelain in this very British inspired living room. The antique English sofa is slipcover in a Ralph Lauren pink linen. Pink works so well with blue and white. I also love that camel.

Chinoiserie Chic Style - Michelle Nussbaumer

A favorite interior designer of mine, her style includes beautiful textiles, layering, love of color, mixing patterns, and lots of Chinoiserie.

A Chinoiserie Christmas - Day 13

Michelle Nussbaumer - Wanderlust

The colors of this room make it so perfect for the holidays with its palette of red, green, and blue. An oversized ginger jar sans lid makes an ideal vase for a dramatic floral display.

A Chinoiserie Christmas - Michelle Nussbaumer

Green and Chinoiserie

Michelle Nussbaumer

Spring Vignette

In this lovely vignette by Michelle Nussbaumer, she uses a soft palette of black, white, gold, and celadon. The hand painted wallpaper takes center stage yet in a very subtle and understated way. It is Fairington from Paul Montgomery Studio's Chinoiserie Collection. Note too the Chinoiserie bamboo barrel chairs, the Chinoiserie console, the black ginger jar, and the celadon vases and pillows. Don't miss the Greek key border on the wood floors. I love the empty pagoda frame - when you have wallpaper like this, who needs art?

Saturday Inspiration

Michelle Nussbaumer

 I have really fallen in love with green velvet sofas with inset banding. I think this is a perfect choice for the Chinoiserie living room as it works beautifully with blue and white Chinese porcelain, celadon, blanc de Chine, black and gold lacquered furniture, and Chinoiserie fabrics and wallpaper. In the Michelle Nussbaumer room above, for example, it is lovely with the Chinoiserie screen, Chinese garden stool, calligraphy brushes, celadon ginger jars and pot, and Chinese horse. I really like it combined with a leopard pillow as Palmer Weiss has done here and the ikat bolster in the Ruthie Sommers room.

Palmer Weiss

Ruthie Sommers

I'm A Giant Challenge, Michelle Nussbaumer, and Paul Montgomery Studio

What could the three things in my post title possibly have in common? Well, one of my all time favorite Chinoiserie rooms is this one by Michelle Nussbaumer for the Greystone Estate-Veranda Show House in 2009. The twins daybeds are show stoppers as is the hand painted "Fairington" wallpaper by Paul Montgomery Studio. This also gives you a little preview of one of my inspirations for my new I'm A Giant Challenge dollhouse reveal tomorrow. As you may recall, on December 15th, the date of the reveal, Emily Henderson, the creator of the dollhouse challenge, extended the date to tomorrow, February 1, 2012. As I had already revealed my dollhouse, I decided to have a little surprise for February 1st. I am excited to see what Emily Henderson and the others have done with their dollhouses. I will show my new creation tomorrow as well as a recap of my original Chinoiserie Chic dollhouse.

Greystone Estate and Luxe - Favorite Rooms

Michelle Nussbaumer

Mary McDonald

Ron Woodson and Jaime Rummerfield

Chinoiserie 2012 - Paul Montgomery Studio

Mary McDonald

I am excited to welcome the new year with a new Premier Sponsor of Chinoiserie Chic - Paul Montgomery Studio. For over thirty years, they have been providing hand painted wallpaper, murals, and panels to the top interior designers and most discriminating customers around the world. Paul has worked with interior designers like Mary McDonald, Michelle Nussbaumer, and William R. Eubanks. Above is Mary McDonald's bedroom from my favorite showhouse of all time, Greystone Mansion, also featured in Veranda, with its Calloway hand painted screen panels in Gardenia White on Charcoal Silver Ground.

Their work has appeared in such magazines as Architectural Digest, Veranda, and Luxe, among others. Along with de Gournay, Gracie, and Fromental, Paul Montgomery Studio creates some of the world's most exquisite wallpapers. A small and dedicated company, Paul is especially proud of their attention to detail and customer service. I am very impressed with their level of customization - their ability to change colors, paper grounds, and designs to create a truly unique result. For example, the choice of grounds includes silk, antiqued silk, striea silk, pieced paper, painted metallics, metal leaf, and pearl.

Below please note that they will be exhibiting in Paris at Maison & Objet from January 20 - 24, 2012. I have posted here some of my favorite Chinoiserie designs from the collection. Please visit the website to view the entire collection, more examples of their work, or to request a brochure or order a catalog.

Paris, January 20-24, 2012, Maison & Objet

New installation at Henry Bertrand in London

Fairington

Taihu

Hemmerling

Halsing

Kew

Aspens

Canton

Meng Hui

Tropical Views

Birds and Bamboo

Setting the Summer Chinoiserie Table

Setting a beautiful summer Chinoiserie table does not require Chinoiserie dinnerware, as this lovely example by Michelle Nussbaumer for Veranda above demonstrates. Use straw placemats, your white china, and add blue and white Chinoiserie accents like these Blue and White Qing Chinese Emperors I featured in my new Houzz Ideabook (click on the widget in my sidebar), or small ginger jars used with their lids and without as vases. The one below is available at Pearl River Mart.

The Chinoiserie Showhouse

Entryway-Mary McDonald

After all of the hundreds of posts I have done featuring gorgeous Chinoiserie rooms, there are some that remain my absolute favorites. I thought it would be fun to show you my fantasy Chinoiserie showhouse, putting together some of those.

Living Room-Alessandra Branca

Corner banquette in the same living room

Dining Room-Andrew Raquet

Another view

Kitchen-Windsor Smith

Hall-Michelle Nussbaumer

Bedroom-Miles Redd

Bedroom-Miles Redd

Bedroom-Kendall Wilkinson

Bathroom-de Gournay

Bathroom-Paolo Moschino

Bathroom-Mary Watkins Wood