Ralph Lauren

Ralph Lauren - Architectural Digest

 I have posted many times before about seagrass matting and about banana leaf wallpaper - both faves of mine. Well this is a great new discovery - the flooring above is banana leaf matting. The room is stunning with its palms, rattan, straw hats, white slipcovers, canopy bed, mosquito netting, and even a blue and white garden stool. Such understated elegance. Speaking of mosquitoes, I have never seen a mosquito here. Very odd.

Saturday Inspiration - Blue and White

Ralph Lauren

Look how the blue and white stripes, blue and white Chinese porcelain, and those fabulous fuchsia throws really pop in this white bedroom. Check out the fabulous canopy bed too!

My New Favorite "Chinoiserie" Bed

Although technically speaking its not faux bamboo, it's close enough for me. This is the Diego Bed from Oly Studio. They describe it as a textured rustic spindle design. I know lots of you love upholstered headboards and this bed combines the best of both worlds - an iron canopy frame and upholstered headboard available in lots of fabrics. You can even send your own fabric. It is also available in a bench, coffee table, and console table. If you haven't entered my giveaway yet, you can do so my leaving a comment on my giveaway post here.

My Favorite Chinoiserie Bedroom

As part of this week's celebration of CC's three year blog anniversary, we will be taking a look at my Chinoiserie favorites. My favorite Chinoiserie bedroom of all time is Miles Redd's iconic birdcage bedroom. Where do I start? It was featured in my favorite magazine Domino, but then the campaign canopy bed, the de Gournay wallpaper, the ruffled curtains (who but Miles can do ruffled curtains and make them chic?), the Madeline Weinrib zig zag rug, the pair of Christopher Spitzmiller lamps, the white linens, the pair of blue stools nonchalantly piled with a handbag, magazines, and that crazy little bird decoy - this Chinoiserie bedroom is classic and sophisticated, yet modern and fun. It is the essence of the modern approach to Chinoiserie that I strive to bring you each day with Chinoiserie Chic.

Friday From My Chinoiserie Home

Below is probably the most blogged about bedroom in history, Miles Redd's iconic Bird Cage Bedroom from Domino Magazine. Above, my Pagoda Bedroom.

Pagoda Bed

This Coraline Canopy Bed from Pottery Barn Teen has great pagoda styling. Ignore the teen girl staging here-this bed would make a wonderful Chinoiserie focal point in any bedroom.

The Canopy Bed

Pottery Barn Teen has finally restocked their wonderful Maison Canopy Bed pictured below, that is quite similar to Miles Redd's iconic birdcage bed above. I got this bed for my daughter's apartment and it is beautifully made, very elegant, and very well priced. I was hoping they would restock it so I could use one in my own home. This is the perfect centerpiece for your Chinoiserie bedroom.

Chinoiserie Chic on Cote de Texas

I have had a very stressful last week. The burglary was quite dramatic. As I worked in the garden, a door was kicked in and my house burglarized. When I went to change gloves, I saw the door and called for my dog who did not respond. Had she been killed? I called 911 from my iPhone. The police thought he was still in the house and searched it top to bottom closing down my street with neighbors gathering as I stood in the cold not knowing what had happened to my dog and house. I then spent Christmas week canceling and replacing all my credit cards, driver's license, checkbook, debit card, and every ID to my name. He also charged thousands on my credit cards which is a mess to straighten out. The police based on all the credit card transactions have him on video surveillance at Target and issued a press release with his photo. The story was on all local television stations and The Washington Post. Nevertheless, I learned yesterday that this brazen and "inglorious basterd" burglarized a third neighbor on Monday. Just yesterday my door was replaced.

All this intro was to make the point that I really needed some good news. I was thrilled to awaken this morning and find that Joni at Cote De Texas was so very kind to pick my Pagoda Bedroom as one of The Top Ten Best Renovations of 2009. Thanks a million for this sweet honor. Please check out the post here. I know that Joni is the exemplar to most of us in the design blogosphere for the quality, research, amazing attention to detail and work that goes into each of her posts. Thanks Joni! Your timing could not have been better. My goal will be to have my laundry room renovation be on her list for 2010. And this time I will do before shots too! Thanks to Jenny at Little Green Notebook for her mention of my laundry room post as well. Click here. And congratulations to Jenny on the new baby.

Thanks to each of you who follow Chinoiserie Chic. Having just launched in May of this year, I am amazed by how it has taken off and by how much fun I am having with it. The perks are truly wonderful-interior design books, invitations to design events around D.C., meeting top interior designers, meeting other D.C. bloggers. But the two best things are being able to express my creativity, love for design and love for writing and the interaction I have with all my followers. Each email and comment means so much to me. I have always valued quality over quantity and could not care less about statistics and the number of hits I get. Followers of this blog include top interior designers, design bloggers, artists and sophisticated people all over the world who are so lovely to send me photos, ideas, comments and emails about how much they too love Chinoiserie and my blog. As this year ends, thanks to each of you. I have so much planned for this blog in 2010 and hope you will continue with me on this fun adventure. Happy New Year.

My Christmas Decorating-The Pagoda Bedroom

The Pagoda Bedroom gets its share of Christmas finery too. On the bed are two gorgeous Chinoiserie stockings in Kelly Wearstler Ombre Maze and Schumacher Starry Night. Here is my post on this wonderful Etsy store. The white feather wreath is by Angel Wreaths and here is my post on how I use them outdoors as well. On the dresser is a snow ballerina by Bethany Lowe. In the last picture is my JC Penney Chinoiserie bench and my pagoda mirror dressed up in a velvet ribbon. Click on the photos to enlarge.

My Chinoiserie Canopy Bed

As a little girl, I dreamed of a canopy bed. Instead, I got a Danish modern bedroom of teak, rosewood, black leather, and red wool, in keeping with my parents' mid century modern home. Not exactly my dream room. So today I will finally get my canopy bed when my wonderful gold leaf Annie Selke pagoda bed arrives. I am also in the process of redoing the Chinese Chippendale chair I posted about. Stay tuned for the big reveal next week.

Chinoiserie Beds

The latest edition of one of my favorite guilty pleasures The Skirted Roundtable took a look at decorating the bedroom. The discussion turned at one point much to my delight to the Chinoiserie bed and one of my favorite purveyors of Chinoiserie Jardins en Fleur. Here at Chinoiserie Chic we have looked at gorgeous Chinoiserie bedrooms, bed coronas and even pagoda dog beds. Today we focus exclusively on the Chinoiserie bed, where the bed itself is Chinoiserie as opposed to other elements in the room like wallpaper or fabric.

Patina, Inc.

1st dibs

Tessa Lindsey

Michael Smith

Kelly Wearstler

Melissa Rufty

Jardins en Fleur

Annie Selke