The Blue & White Chinese Planter

Legend Accents Shallow Dragon Bowl Planter

 

Blue and white Chinese porcelain planters are a wonderful way to turn ordinary potted orchids into stunning displays for a centerpiece, coffee table, entryway table, or sideboard. You can use one, two, or three orchids and top with moss for a finished look. I would water with a few ice cubes once a week so as to not overwater.

The Blue & White Orchid Pot

CCC

 

I love orchids. Publix frequently has them on BOGO and they are such fabulous deals. The perfect finishing touch for an orchid is a blue and white Chinese orchid pot. 

Vignette

Danielle Rollins

 

A lovely vignette in the Palm Beach home of Danielle Rollins. It includes so many of my favorite things. A blue and white Chinese vase is filled with palm fronds from the garden.

Orchids

Amanda Lindroth

I love having potted orchids at CCC. I was at Publix yesterday and they had orchids on buy one, get one free. And many had two stems - I found two orchids with double stems absolutely loaded with blossoms. That makes them under $10 each for gorgeous orchids. If you have Publix, see if they have this deal at yours.

Does anyone have a tip for bringing orchids home in the car? - I put them in the passenger seat and braced them with my purse and grocery bags, but there must be a better way....

Chinoiserie Chic Flower Arranging

Caspari

 

I have a wonderful way to create easy and elegant flower arrangements with Chinoiserie Chic style. These bamboo vases are perfect - add a single stem or two to each of the five glass tubes and you are done! A very simple but beautiful approach. 

I especially love the orchid stems used here. The vases are made with real bamboo. Their slender profile makes them ideal for the mantel or bedside table.

The Cachepot

Mandy Kellogg Rye

 

What exactly is a cachepot?

It is a French word for an ornamental receptacle to hold and conceal a flowerpot.

How is it pronounced?

CASH-poh.

Kitchen Reno Update & Topiaries in the Kitchen

Mark Sikes - Coastal Living

Exciting news - my new induction range is in and will be delivered and installed next Thursday. And despite being told that my Bosch dishwasher would be 9 to 12 months, it should be here in 2 weeks. Great progress/so exciting. I love when a plan comes together. 

Orchids & Chinoiserie

CCC

Mother's Day orchids at my house. 

CCC

 

Ralph Lauren

Ralph Lauren

 Check out all the blue and white Chinese porcelain in this pool house in the RL Bedford, New York home. There are blue and white Chinese porcelain lamps, a garden stool, an orchid planter, and even for firewood. The beams are 16th century Belgian pine and the mantel is 17th century French limestone. I love the basket filled with coral as well.

The Blue and White Living Room

Jorge Elias

 A stunningly beautiful blue and white living room with so much inspiration - lots of blue and white Chinese porcelain, a mini bar, those elephants, orchids, a white slipcovered sofa, books, and gorgeous art. 

When I was in law school, I lived in a very grand house in Georgetown. So grand that it was rented by Joe and Rose Kennedy to house the Kennedy clan for JFK's inauguration. When I was living there, every spring the owners would take up all the oriental rugs and replace them with jute and seagrass and slipcover all the sofas and chairs in white cotton duck. The windows were all washed, silk drapes removed, and a spring house cleaning was done including the garden and pool.

I learned lots about running a house and still love the ritual of spring cleaning. Yesterday I hand washed all the screens in my lanai indoors and out! It looks wonderful. When I finished, I made an Old Fashioned and sat in the lanai at sunset. This is the life.

The Beachy Bar

Amanda Lindroth

 Whether alcohol or limeade, here are some chic decorating ideas for a beachy bar. A wicker tray and lots of wicker accessories, candles, limes, orchids, a palm etched hurricane, and my fave - filling an ice bucket/Champagne chiller with a collection of seashells.

Palm Trees Indoors

Amanda Lindroth

 In this fanciful tropical bedroom, Amanda Lindroth combines many of my favorite things. Wicker and rattan is in abundance - they will continue to be huge trends in 2021 - especially designer versions of these wonderful natural elements. The rattan canopy bed is fantastic and I am a sucker for canopy beds. I always wanted one as a child and my parents refused in their ultra modern mid century home. Note the wicker pagodas and rattan breakfast tray. 

Other favorite elements include the palette of pink and green, orchids, seashells, and stripes.

I like her use of faux canvas palm trees mixed with real palm trees. I have an extra blue and white Chinese fish bowl and I love the look of a live palm in a fish bowl topped with moss. Which palm species have you all had good luck with indoors? I think I will venture out to Home Depot and Lowe's today as I am also looking for camellias.

Tropical Chinoiserie

Pinterest

 This very pretty vignette combines a blush pink sofa, a pair of seashell mirrors, blue and white Chinese porcelain, orchids, and a giant faux seashell filled with pineapples, lemons, and limes. 

Red Tropical Chinoiserie

Alessandra Branca - Architectural Digest

 This dining room in the Bahamian retreat of interior designer Alessandra Branca is a great example of what I call Tropical Chinoiserie. She mixes vintage Chinese Chippendale chairs, a RH dining table and rattan pendants from Ikea. Her signature red is especially nice at Christmas.

Do you see the red Chinese Chippendale railing? - here is the view. Who needs outdoor Christmas decorations with this red and green? And note the orchids on the palms that I have posted on. What a stunning view.

Alessandra Branca

Happy Thanksgiving

Alberto Pinto

 I hope everyone has a lovely and safe Thanksgiving. Let's all try to focus on the positive and believe that there are better days ahead. 

I love this table setting. Harvest colors done my way with chinoiserie china and accessories and lots of potted orchids. BTW my Publix had gorgeous peonies yesterday - in November - that was a lovely surprise. 

Do you notice the silverware is placed facing down and the napkin is on the right? Very French - he is based in Paris.

Styling the Lanai

CCC Lanai

Look who wandered into the lanai today. And please, no comments about rabid turtles - LOL. (Every time I post about wildlife, I get a rabies lecture. You'd think rabies was a pandemic. There has been ONE death from rabies in the history of this country from a rabid raccoon BTW).

The raffia turtle is huge and has a galvanized metal interior so he can be filled with ice and beverages for entertaining. My HG find yesterday. So cute. And to the person who keeps commenting complaining every single time I post about HomeGoods, please please please go away. Because HomeGoods is not going away. It's one of the few normal things I do away from my house nowadays. I am wondering how long it will take for HomeGoods to tap into the whole wicker/rattan craze in interior design. I can't wait.

BTW, the bar cart, wicker pineapples, calligraphy brushes, and tortoiseshell decanters are all from HG. I feel that the lanai has sort of a British Colonial island vibe that I like a lot. I love the idea of an orchid collection in the lanai too. Speaking of orchids, I have been reading up on growing orchids on trees and have received several questions on the subject and I have also had questions about my alligator topiary, so both will be the subject of tomorrow's post - God willing and the creek don't rise.

And from my garden this morning....

Chinoiserie Outdoors

Luxe Report Designs

I have always loved using blue and white Chinese porcelain outdoors and I love banana leaf, but the combination together for a lanai or outdoor area is really fabulous. Combining green with blue and white is a natural, but outdoors it really pops.

I discovered this quite accidentally when I happened upon a set of banana leaf outdoor cushions for my lanai dining set at HomeGoods. Here is a lovely example above combining banana leaf with blue and white Chinese porcelain, garden stools, and orchids. 

It occurred to me that my lanai would be a great location for an orchid collection. I might be on the lookout for another bar cart! And I am dying to try tying orchids to my trees. One follower sent me an article on how to do this. A neighbor of mine has many palms with orchids growing on them and it is quite a sight.

Here are shots of my new bromeliad bed. Several neighbors stopped by to admire it. 

Pink Bromeliads

Today another fun day in store in paradise - HomeGoods, Sushi Day at Publix, and stops at a garden center or two. I was disappointed that the Master Gardener program is on hiatus here because of the pandemic, but I am learning SO much just visiting garden centers, reading, and taking walks with the pups and seeing all the plants in neighbors' gardens. BTW, it took me minutes to plant the bromeliad bed. You can literally dig the holes with your hands - the soil is a wonderful sandy loam. In NOVA you could make pottery out of the clay soil.

Styling My Mercer Table

Schumacher Bukhara Ikat Ginger Jar

My delivery woes continue. With the exception of Amazon, everything I order seems to have delivery problems and interminable delays. But perhaps the strangest has been Williams Sonoma Home losing a 240 pound glass top to my Mercer Table. Now I am still waiting for the replacement. If you recall, I am using it like a library table with inspiration from the Bunny Williams table in these photos. I decided to start planning my styling of it and hope that the table arrives soon. But to be honest with you, the house looks wonderful and I have accomplished tons, and I am not going to sweat getting the rest of it done. It will happen when it happens.

Williams Sonoma Home Mercer Table

I love how Bunny Williams plays around with what is on the table. Note how the books, ginger jar, accessories, and foliage change. I do the same thing in my home. I am always moving things around. I just ordered this ginger jar above from Williams Sonoma Home. I think it will work great on the table. I like how she has elevated the ginger jar with fronds on a rattan stand too. I will definitely be using lots of interior design and gardening coffee table books and potted orchids as well. And it is wonderful having a garden filled with tropical plants. I have not bought cut flowers once with all these fronds for the taking.

My Favorite Living Room

Bunny Williams & John Rosselli

I have posted hundreds of living rooms in the years I have been doing Chinoiserie Chic, but none do I love more than this one, Bunny Williams and John Rosselli's Punta Cana home. I would love to share more photos of this room.

There are so many elements here I will use in my living room and home in general. Lots of blue and white Chinese porcelain including Chinese garden stools, ginger jars, vases, lamps, and cachepots. Pagodas. Elephants. Palm fronds as floral arrangements. Potted orchids. Painted ceilings. Neutral walls and floors. Books. British Colonial style. Ceiling fans. Sea shells. Slipper chairs. Animal decor. Tropical. Collections. Timeless.

This room makes me happy. I believe Mark Sikes said this is the most beautiful living room in the world. I must agree. It certainly embraces the style I would love to capture in my new tropical Chinoiserie home. What do you think?

Orchids

Miguel Alias - Traditional Home

I have always loved having orchids in my home, but in Florida I am enjoying them even more. When they are finished blooming indoors, I bring them out to the lanai, and with the warmth and the light, it is like a greenhouse and they send up new stalks and rebloom and then I can rotate them back through the house. I always buy my orchids at Trader Joe's - IMHO their quality and price can't be beat. I have a collection of blue and white Chinese porcelain cachepots for them. And I'm sure everyone knows the trick of watering them with three ice cubes once a week.

Here is the ultimate orchid fantasy - a gazebo filled with dozens of orchids. The fabric is Zig Zag by Quadrille.

Orchids in my bathroom