Chinoiserie Halloween

This lovely bedroom by New York interior designer Sara Story is a marvelous mix of Chinoiserie, Hermes, and modern. Created for the Orchard Hill Show House, it was featured in Traditional Home. The mansion's location amidst the soaring trees of Old Westbury Gardens inspired her to use a wallpaper with birds and branches. But instead of the more expected choice of a blue background for the sky, she chose the orange Gracie wallpaper to create the feeling of the sky at sunset. 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. With its combination of orange and black, this room is fresh and modern, yet elegant and fanciful.

Orange Chinoiserie

My favorite paint company, Farrow & Ball, has come out with its new colors for 2011. My favorite is this incredibly dramatic Charlotte's Locks. This could be used to great effect in the Chinoiserie room. Here is some inspiration.

Below, paint a Chinese Chippendale chair orange or a bamboo chair orange as in this room by Heather Collins.

Paint the legs of a faux bamboo stool orange as here.

Paint your walls orange-this room is by Sara Story with wallpaper, but the same result could be achieved with stenciling or faux painting.

Paint one wall orange as below from Domicile Interior Design.

Or perhaps a ceiling as here by Lynn Amon.

Favorite Chinoiserie Bedrooms

Here is a roundup of my favorite Chinoiserie bedrooms. With some exceptions, I would say that the three things most have in common are gorgeous walls, most often papered in Chinoisierie, an important bed, more often than not canopy, and white bed linens. Do you have a favorite? My all time favorite is above-the iconic bird cage bedroom by the brilliant Miles Redd from Domino Magazine. Below, another Miles Redd, this time from Elle Decor. 

Kendall Wilkinson in Traditional Home

Sara Story in Traditional Home

Philip Gorrivan in Apartment Therapy



Costellos'  Bedroom in Domino Magazine

Ruthie Sommers in Domino Magazine

Charlotte Moss from Kips Bay

Tonin MacCallum from Kips Bay

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.