News to Share

Venice, Florida

Big news. I am house hunting. Again. I have decided on Venice, Florida, about 30 minutes south. Although I love the house here, a great house is not enough. A house in not a home. I will leave it at that. The good news is that I will have a new house and will share the house hunting, renovating, decorating, and all of it here. I am really looking forward to this next chapter. If any of you know Venice and have ideas for me, let me know, please. Trying to narrow down neighborhoods. This weekend the puppies and I will take a long drive and explore more by car - so far I have just been looking online. I have a wonderful agent down here who I worked with on this house, so that's good.

Venice is chic, low key, historic, great restaurants and beaches, really nice vibe. I'm very excited to go "full on" Palm Beach/Chinoiserie/Florida/Tropical in my new house. My daughter wants a Tiki Bar in the lanai. I have extra rolls of wallpaper from my laundry room and dining room in Virginia that I hope to use, especially the Brunschwig & Fils laundry room paper "Ironing Bored" that was a Palm Beach favorite before it was discontinued.

Venice Fishing Pier

Downtown Venice

Grand Palm - one community I am considering

Grandmillennial and Needlepoint

Tory Burch

With staying at home being the new normal for now and grandmillennial style on the rise, needlepoint is having a real moment again. Needlepoint kits have been selling like hotcakes. I too loved needlepoint and had pillows and rugs (particularly Portugese needlepoint rugs) all over my home. I learned to needlepoint at a wonderful shop in Old Town Alexandria, Virginia. Over the years, they seemed too granny and I did away with most.

What are your thoughts on this resurgence? I like modern needlepoint with a bit of an edge to it. These Tory Burch are great examples. I have a couple of her pillows. Tory's father loved to needlepoint and taught her. I love the mix of Chinoiserie and modern needlepoint.

Architectural Digest - Tory Burch pillows - NYC headquarters

New England Home Magazine - Tory Burch pillows

Jonathan Adler has lots of fun needlepoint as well. And I am still hunting for a vintage needlepoint gaming table cover in pink and green.

Vintage Needlepoint Card Table Cover

This Jonathan Adler needlepoint alligator pillow is a new eBay find of mine and a wink to the alligators in my backyard lake.

My House

Architectural Anomolies

Hallway in My Florida Home

The Florida house has a few odd odd features, as do many homes. It has three of these arched niches which are somewhat dated. Rather than spend money on filling them in, I decided to keep them and work with them.  I was also determined to use my existing art as I love it all - these above were done by Jennifer at The Pink Pagoda and I had them in my office in Alexandria previously. I got them for one of the One Room Challenges I participated in. This is the hallway of the master suite in Florida. I think they work beautifully.

Another Arched Niche

This niche I filled with framed antique Chinese silk costume fragments - I like the contrast with the massive framed photograph of a Vatican staircase in the landing. And a favorite ginger jar is on a ledge in the staircase.

I love the way these work.

This last one holds a favorite piece of mine I purchased in Old Town Alexandria long ago at a wonderful store called The Pineapple, now long gone. It fits the space like it was meant to be there.

Chelsea House Tulipiere Oil Painting

Chez Chinoiserie Chic

Beth Connolly Interiors

Chinoiserie Chic House Tour - The Dining Room

Today my house tour continues with some vignettes from the dining room. Many of you will recall that the Ralph Lauren gold leaf and crystal pagoda chandelier was one of my favorite HomeGoods finds. Here are the other rooms we have looked at to date if you missed them.

Chinoiserie Chic House Tour - My Dressing Room
Chinoiserie Chic House Tour - The Foyer
Chinoiserie Chic House Tour - The Kitchen

My Christmas Dining Room

Ornaments on My Tree