I Love You HomeGoods

Mary McDonald

 Many of you read yesterday's One Room Challenge post about how I snagged $2,000 worth of Brunschwig & Fils wallpaper on eBay for my laundry room for $150. Well, it happened again!

I have been working so hard on my laundry room makeover, that I decided to take a little break yesterday and make a HomeGoods run. I have shopping ESP, do you? I sensed walking in that I was going to find something truly amazing. I always head to the lighting department first, because I have posted before about my addiction to Ralph Lauren Chinoiserie lamps I find at HomeGoods.

There it was, calling out to me - "Beth, Beth, I'm over here."

A
Huge
Ralph Lauren
Gold Leaf
And Crystal
Chinoiserie
Pagoda
Lantern

The regular price on it was $2,000 and I got it for $350.00. I have been looking for a new chandelier for my dining room for ages, and what I really envisioned was a gold leaf pagoda. I have lived with the lighting fixture I have for years, knowing it would someday appear. The one below is one I posted on that got away on eBay much to my dismay. I like mine a thousand times more.

There is one small glitch. It is missing its ceiling canopy (the round piece that hides the hole in the ceiling). I spent some time looking for replacements online and none are gold leaf and none have modern lines - lots of antique reproductions. Maybe I can find a simple brass or metal one and have my amazing antique restorer in Old Town gold leaf it for me. I have not shown you a picture of it, as I would much rather have you see it for the first time hanging in my dining room. So you can look forward to my dining room reveal and my laundry room reveal.

As an aside, I have had great luck on Etsy and eBay with wallpaper, especially high end wallpaper. Several years ago a follower of Chinoiserie Chic emailed me about an Etsy seller with 15 rolls of Clarence House Chinoiserie Baroque for $150. Here is the post about it from 2010. It is a very expensive and very beautiful and very discontinued paper worth $$$$. I snatched it up and it is gorgeous in my dining room. Here is a tour of my dining room with the existing chandelier.

Clarence House Chinoiserie Baroque

On the laundry room side, my wallpaper hanger spent all day yesterday skimming and sanding the laundry room walls and they look like glass. Today he is doing still more prep work and priming them, so the hanging won't start until tomorrow. Quite a perfectionist. Tomorrow he wants me to work with him positioning the layout of the design.

The one that got away on eBay, not mine

One Room Challenge: Colonial to Chinoiserie

Ruthie Sommers - Coastal Living

Linda, of My Crafty Home Life, the organizer of The One Room Challenge, is redoing her master bedroom. She asked her readers if she should get rid of her pineapple chandelier. I am here to weigh in. No! This is a classic piece that can go from Frumpy Colonial to Palm Beach/Hollywood Regency/Chinoiserie Chic with just a coat of paint. Here are examples in a range of colors from shelter magazines and Palm Beach stores with prices up to $1600. White or black would be classic choices, but they are all great. Tips - Paint it all one color - no metallics or gold touches. No chandelier shades. Put the chandelier on a dimmer. Use some chic chandelier bulbs - I am addicted to the Satco Clear Prismatic. Paint the chain too!

Linda's Pineapple Chandelier

Vogue Living - Black

H & H on OKL - Deep Green

Palm Beach Vintage - Beige

Palm Beach Vintage -  Cream

Vintage White - check out the funky bulbs

Palm Beach Vintage - Ivory

Palm Beach Vintage - Gray

I Spy

I believe these two rooms we looked at yesterday have our Pagoda Tower Chandelier from Shades of Light that we featured in Wednesday's post. Stay tuned later this morning for my interview with Katie Rosenfeld and her stunning portfolio of Chinoiserie rooms.