The Chinoiserie Living Room

Meg Braff

This remains one of my favorite living rooms of all time - Meg Braff's living room in her home in Locust Valley on Long Island in New York. It reminds me of the grand living rooms of Mario Buatta, and indeed the gorgeous Coromandel screen shown below she found at a local estate once designed by Mario Buatta.

The Chinoiserie Dining Room

Brannan Geary - Southern Living

 

This is a lovely classic dining room in a New Orleans home. The hand painted mural on the four walls combines palms and tropical plants in muted greens and browns. The ruby Cavalier King Charles Spaniel is a perfect match for the bronze tones in the room like the dramatic silk curtains. 

Classic Chinoiserie

Meg Braff - Veranda

A massive Coromandel screen, a Chinese gourd lamp, and a gilded faux bamboo bergere chair add Chinoiserie elements to this classic living room. I love the fringed yellow sofa as well.

Reboot

Amy Berry

A bit of news - I am back to posting starting today (I promise) after a truly awful couple of months. I had complications from eye surgery, my 15 year old 10 pound pup was attacked by an off leash German Shepherd, and I have decided not to move to Florida. I was hours from signing the listing agreement on my house and realized it was a big mistake. Everyone is on the mend.

P.S. I also just realized that I was not getting notices of comments to moderate and have hundreds awaiting moderation. Yikes and sorry!

P.P.S. I think I should clarify that Florida was not the mistake. I never shared on the blog that my husband dropped dead of a heart attack in 2017. He came home saying he was getting a cold and went to lie down and never woke up. I later started dating someone who wanted to move to Florida and it seemed like a nice fresh start for me and I fell in love with Sarasota and the house, but he turned out to be a hot mess. So he is moving into the Sarasota house, thankfully I am not.

A great foyer here - love the skirted table, the Chinese gourd lamp, the blue and white Chinese porcelain, and the Chinese garden stool.

Symmetry

One Kings Lane

I have always loved symmetry and had to keep looking at the number of matching pairs in this room -
including the chairs, pillows, lamps, art, side tables, chests, and roman shades.

I do love the color palette - pink and green, the soft blue/gray walls, the green Chinese chests, the pop of the red Chinese gourd lamps, and the roman shades banded in navy blue.

Symmetry can make a room look more formal and finished, but are there too many pairs? What do you think?

120 Items Every Beautiful Home Should Have - #2

House Beautiful

Yesterday I referenced a House Beautiful article on the 120 items every beautiful home should have and how a great number are Chinoiserie. Number 2 on their list is the gourd lamp. This is actually a modern version of the Chinese double gourd lamp made wildly popular by Christopher Spitzmiller. Although his are not for every budget, lovely versions can be found for very little at stores like Target and HomeGoods.

This lamp works everywhere from the foyer to the living room, dining room, bedroom, and workspace and is at home in a modern space as traditional. Below is a gorgeous Miles Redd bedroom from Domino several years back featuring a pair of double gourd lamps. This is the room that put the double gourd lamp on my radar screen and perhaps yours as well.

Miles Redd

The wallpaper is de Gournay, the lamps are Christopher Spitzmiller, the silk taffeta curtains feature Miles' signatures ruffles, the zig zag rug is Madeline Weinrib, the canopy bed is a an iron campaign style. A lovely version of this bed is available at Anthropologie.

So this wonderful room combines Chinoiserie wallpaper and the double gourd lamp.

The Chinoiserie Bedroom - Alexa Hampton

Alexa Hampton - Kips Bay Decorator Show House - So Haute

 I am in love with this cozy elegant bedroom by Alexa Hampton. Can you find the Chinoiserie elements? I spot a Chinese screen, a Chinese gourd lamp, Greek key pillow shams, and blanc de Chine figures on the bedside table. To me, there is nothing nicer in a bedroom than a canopy bed - I have two in my home. I love the lacquered charcoal walls and silver ceiling. Dark lacquered walls were a signature of her dad Mark Hampton. BTW, his book Mark Hampton on Decorating is to me one of the best books on interior design of all time.

I tend to be very symmetrical in my tastes and I'm not sure I adore the mix of bedside tables and lamps. I tend to favor not matching the bedside tables, but using a matched pair of lamps. This is just a matter of personal preference of course. All in all, this is a stunning bedroom with a great English country vibe made all the better with its views of the Manhattan skyline.

The Chinoiserie Work Space

Lonny Magazine

Love this - two legged faux bamboo desk, Bunny Williams chair, Greek key mirror, and Chinese gourd lamp.

The Chinoiserie Bedroom

Megan Rice Yager

The Chinoiserie Bedroom

Alexa Hampton

Greek key pillows and a Chinese gourd lamp add subtle Chinoiserie elements to this classic and elegantt bedroom.

Honey Collins Orange Chinoserie

Love orange? Then I think you'll love this room by interior designer Honey Collins with its orange gourd lamps, orange Chinese Chippendale chair, and her use of one of our favorite fabrics-Quadrille China Seas Lyford Background in New Shrimp on White.

The Gourd Lamp

The gourd lamp is one of my favorites for the Chinoiserie room. It is a wonderful mix of classic yet modern, fresh but sophisticated. It can be used in a more traditional Chinoiserie room like the bedroom by Joe Nye above to add a modern dose, or to add a jolt of color like the iconic Miles Redd bedroom below. Gourd lamps are everywhere at all price points from HomeGoods to Christoper Spitzmiller's works of art.