Chinoiserie Chic: Ruthie Sommers

Showing posts with label Ruthie Sommers. Show all posts

Thursday, June 24, 2021

The Chinoiserie Living Room

Ruthie Sommers

A very pretty and dramatic living room by Ruthie Sommers with Gracie chinoiserie wallpaper in "Antique Peony," a curved pink velvet sofa, ruffle trimmed curtains (very Miles Redd), striped slipper chairs, and a real statement rug. Not sure about the "coffee table" choice here, but I like the bold mixing of patterns - go bold or go home.

Tuesday, May 9, 2017

The Chinoiserie Powder Room

Ruthie Sommers

A dramatic Chinoiserie wallpaper adds a real wow factor to a powder room.

Friday, September 30, 2016

A Chinoiserie Vignette

Ruthie Sommers

This vignette by Ruthie Sommers uses so many of my favorite combinations with Chinoiserie-

Stripes
A palette of pink, blue, white, and green
A spool chair
A sisal rug
A pair of blanc de Chine lamps - love the pink lamp shades!
Brass - is back

Thursday, February 27, 2014

Preppy & Pretty Chinoiserie

I grew up in Lake Forest, Illinois and know that much of my interior design aesthetic is a result of it. Gorgeous classic homes both grand and small abounded there by architects like David Adler and Frank Llloyd Wright. My parents came close to buying a Japanese style Wright home that had a koi pond in the foyer. I've never forgotten it.

Homes in Lake Forest are very much the style of where I live now in Belle Haven in Alexandria, Virginia. Many were built in the 1920s. The decorating is a modern take on old school, with lots of color, trims, classic fabrics and wallpapers, antiques, chintz, red dining rooms, ancestor portraits, crystal chandeliers and lots of Chinoiserie. The decorating could have been done today or thirty years ago.

I was so excited when I received the latest issue of House Beautiful to find this stunning 1926 French provincial Lake Forest home by noted architect Ralph Milman decorated by one of my favorites, Ruthie Sommers. It is a home I could so happily live in. I'm sorry, but I feel like walking through Restoration Hardware sucks the life right out of me. I could never live in a home filled with beige unless I was heavily medicated.

This home is filled with pink, blue, and green, with lots of yummy chocolate brown to ground it. Sommers used all of my favorites - Benjamin Moore Aura paint, Farrow & Ball wallpaper, and fabrics by Brunschwig & Fils, Cowtan & Tout, Fortuny, Rose Cumming, and Clarence House. It has a definite Greenbrier/Dorothy Draper vibe as well. It is preppy, happy, cheerful, and feminine.

You can read a fascinating interview with Ruthie Sommers about the house with full details here.

Thursday, January 17, 2013

An Iconic Navy Kitchen

Ruthie Sommers

This iconic kitchen by Ruthie Sommers from Domino has been pinned and posted about countless times. If you'd like to copy this look yourself, the walls are a VERY dark navy blue by Benjamin Moore called Soot 2129-20. The door is Benjamin Moore Poolside Blue 2048-40. Add a vintage chandelier spray painted white and some blue and white Chinese porcelain and china.

Saturday, November 3, 2012

Ruthie Sommers - Pink & Chinoiserie

Entryway with high gloss aubergine walls and double doors upholstered in Manuel Canovas Pagoda - I also love the blue ceiling, modern art, and the pop of pink

Pink and blue living room with walls in a favorite pink of mine - Farrow & Ball Middleton Pink - I love the pop of yellow pillows, the gorgeous blue ceiling, and the black slipper chairs that keep the room from being too twee

I have one of these blanc de Chine men that I received as a gift from LIV Vintage - love the mirrored wall, the Parsons console and the leopard on the stool

Love the green and gray palette in this dining room - traditional but modern

I am generally not a fan of white rooms but I'll make an exception with this pagoda bed and lamps - a pair of flokati rugs flanking the bed is quite the trend

Pink and white stripes and I spy a white pagoda mirror - there has to be a touch of Chinoiserie!

A pink bathroom - love the roman shade banded in gray and the pops of yellow and blue

Tuesday, September 4, 2012

Pink and Blue Chinoiserie

Joe Nye

I absolutely adore the combination of pink and blue with Chinoiserie. Here are rooms that do it beautifully and some ideas for using this look in your own home. Note the use by many of the interior designers of gold, black, animal prints, and modern art to keep it formal and adult and not too twee.