Reflections

My lanai last evening

This is my first Mother's Day in 35 years that I have lived away from my daughter, and Kate and her boyfriend were supposed to be arriving this evening. With the pandemic, the trip was of course canceled. Disappointing, but we all have to keep in mind how fortunate we are compared to so many others right now. This was my view last evening having a glass of wine in my lanai. Paradise but in troubled times. I hope everyone has a lovely Mother's Day weekend in trying times. Stay safe.

Tomorrow I am posting on my closet that I mentioned a couple of weeks ago that I was staging. I was delayed posting because I ran out of black velvet hangers from Costco and had to wait for another Costco run to reload. And Monday I have the best Chinoiserie Gone Wrong to date. You will not believe it.

A sneak peek -

The pair of wooden hangers are from years ago from the Boca Raton Hotel and Beach Club. My late husband and I were both lawyers at the Commodity Futures Trading Association and would attend the Futures Industry Association Conference that was always held there. I loved staying there every year.

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The Chinoiserie Gallery Wall

My Daughter Kate's Gallery Wall

I thought you might enjoy seeing the gallery wall that my daughter Kate and her boyfriend just put up in their home - it's a combination of pieces I gave them when I moved to Florida and Kate's great finds from Etsy, eBay, and HomeGoods. This is my absolute favorite color palette - pink, blue, gold, and black. Gallery walls are harder than they look - getting the spacing and balance just right takes a good eye and some playing around. One key is to add elements that are not framed art to mix it up - the gold animals and giraffe mirror are darling. I like the framed blue and white ginger jar - she found that at HomeGoods. I really miss my weekly HomeGoods excursions.

Moving Day

Kate Spade Moving Ad

My daughter Kate is moving today, so I am off to Georgetown early to get ready for the arrival of the movers. Fortunately it is a beautiful day, we are all ready for them, and I have a nice bottle of Champagne chilled to celebrate tonight that it is all over! Wish us luck?

My Daughter Kate's Apartment

My daughter Kate sent over photos of her DC apartment with her new Beni Ourain rug in her living room that arrived just yesterday. Kate and my design aesthetic is so much alike - we both love color, Chinoiserie, mixing vintage and modern, combining high end and budget friendly. Kate likes to shop for things for her place at Anthropologie, Target, Ikea, HomeGoods, West Elm, and vintage and thrift stores. Kate's very chic bar cart was featured in the Washington Post Express a few months ago. You can follow Kate on Pinterest here.

Spring Color Inspiration Board and Vignette

Spring is popping out all over in DC with star magnolias, camellias, and cherry blossoms in bloom everywhere. Bring these wonderful colors into your home all year long with a beautiful abstract floral painting by Kerry Steele. I love the idea of a striking piece of art above a bar cart - the "in" piece of furniture now. My inspiration board shows one of Kerry's paintings currently available - "Babylon" with a great pink bar cart from Furbish and a pink Chinese Chippendale chair from the Lilly Pulitzer home collection. Visit Kerry's Etsy shop to see the paintings below and more of her current work. Shown below are some of her abstract florals I love.

Update - Kerry just added this abstract floral below and I love it - it reminds me of cherry blossoms and the colors are gorgeous.

See it here

My daughter Kate sent me this last night from her iPhone and I had to share it. She has topped her blue and white Josef Frank chair with a coral pink Mongolian lambskin pillow. In the background you see her pagoda etagere with her collection of blanc de Chine - all white figurines including Chinese zodiac figures and foo dogs. Kate has wonderful Pinterest boards you can follow here.

New Inspiration Board and New Ideabook

Kate has put together a wonderful bedroom inspiration board with the new classic pairing of navy and orange.

"Here is my inspiration board for a bedroom with an orange and navy color scheme. I wanted to create a bedroom that both a man and woman would enjoy. Together, orange and navy are a classic and elegant pairing.

I’m featuring the orange Architecture canopy bed from Room and Board, black pagoda pendant from Furbish, blue ikat lamps from Furbish, white City Slicker end tables from CB2, Greek key pillows from C.Wonder, a pair of Parlour Atomic orange chairs from CB2, a beige/metallic gold zebra stenciled hide rug from Furbish, a pair of orange antique dogs and Hale Navy paint from Benjamin Moore. Please come over and follow me on Pinterest."

Now go check out my new March Houzz Ideabook filled with lots of great Chinoiserie picks, all under $50. And be sure to check out yesterday's post about my new sponsor JAMIESHOP.COM - the online buying service giving you access to "to the trade" for your home at substantial discounts - a dream come true!

Pink & Green Mother/Daughter Inspiration Boards

Kate and I decided to do a joint post, each of us creating an inspiration board for a bedroom with a pink and green color scheme, using the same green Architecture canopy bed from Room and Board and the same pink chandelier from Marjorie Skouras Design.

Kate's board has pagoda prints from The Pink Pagoda, a pink zebra rug from Jonathan Adler, lotus flower lamps from Pottery Barn, white City Slicker end tables from CB2, pink and gold leather Moroccan poufs, a chevron pillow from Furbish, and pink Chinoiserie wallpaper.

Mine has pink zebra wallpaper, vintage bar carts spray painted green for bedside tables, vintage lamps with pink silk lampshades, Greek key pillows, a cowhide rug stenciled to look like a zebra hide, a bench with Fornasetti fabric, and gold chairs from Marjorie Skouras Design.

I love both of these - so fun and girly with a preppy, Palm Beach Chic/Chinoiserie Chic vibe. Check out my Pink and Green Pinterest board here if you love pink and green as much as we do. You can follow Kate on Pinterest too.

Kate on Chinoiserie Chic - Styling the Chinoiserie Bar Cart Inspiration Board

Here are my picks for styling the Chinoiserie bar cart. For more of my tips on bar cart styling click here and to follow me on Pinterest click here. Have a great weekend!

Update from Beth - Check out my new February Houzz Ideabook on Styling the Chinoiserie Bar. You can find all my Ideabooks by clicking on the Houzz link in my sidebar.

The Hayworth Bar Cart

Gold Zag Tray

Twig Tongs

Tortoiseshell Ice Bucket

Tortoiseshell Martini Glasses

Faux Bamboo Straws

Greek Key Cocktail Napkins

Elephant Shot Glass