wallpaper borders

This is too good to be true - Scalamandre china at $70 a four piece place setting. Adapted from the 18th-century artwork of Jean Baptiste Pillemont, a charming scene composed of oversized flowers, fretwork fences, pagodas and parasols decorates this fine dining collection from Scalamandre by Lenox.

The colors are wonderful - amethyst (purple), sienna (orange), teal (blue), and chocolate (brown). If you are not in the market for a new set of china, buy the dinner plates or accent plates by themselves to mix and match with your existing white china.

This china would be amazing in my own dining room. I think the purple is calling my name. Here is my dining room wallpaper. I love mixing orange and purple with Chinoiserie - so modern.



Check out what I found this week at my thrift store - a set of four brand new Dransfield and Ross Greek key place mats with their original $90 a piece price tags. I got them for $12 for the set of 4!!!

Having grown up in Lake Forest, Illinois, its great homes are still to me the most beautiful anywhere. The stage for the 15th biennial Lake Forest Showhouse was an Italian Renaissance 15,000 square foot estate designed in 1916 by famed architect David Adler.

Interior designer Shelley Johnstone Paschke designed the lounge and powder room. The lounge walls are lacquered in Farrow and Ball Saxon Green and are trimmed in gold. The ceiling is painted in faux malachite. Note the ivory silk curtains trimmed in Samuel and Sons Greek key, the Oscar de la Renta Zeus chair with tiger silk velvet, the sisal carpet, rustic baskets, lucite console, and antique Chinese export jars.

In the powder room area, she has papered the walls in Farrow & Ball Acanthus. I love the lucite stand with the blue and white Chinese jar and the starburst chandelier. All in all, a wonderful mix of many of my favorite elements.

Photos courtesy of Veranda.

one of the GREAT things about being married to your contractor is that you get to move in before your house is 100% ready.
one of the CRAPPY things about being married to your contractor is that you get to move in before your house is 100% ready.
ha! ha!

we still have quite a few "projects" that are happening on the house.
remember the front retaining wall? when we moved in, it looked like this:


we have been working on it for the last couple of weeks, as well as the area to the left of the driveway, which was previously a narrow, steep strip of dirt.



i am happy to report, that both are officially finished!




we also had stone laid under the front steps.
before:


i really love the way the stone here ties the steps in the  front of the house and the retaining wall.

in the master bathroom, the extra shower head got installed. it was looking a little sad laying on the floor of the shower:


we still need to get the glass and a door, but other than that, it works fabulously!


 there is still a lot left to do, and i will be showing you progress photos every week or two as we cross items off our punch list!


sorry about the sporadic posting lately. my dear 90 year old grandmother passed away late last week, and i have family coming in town for the funeral. things are going to be busy for the next few days.
i am excited to show you around the rest of the house, but most likely will not get around to it until early next week.

Probably the most common request I receive from interior design clients is styling bookcases and coffee tables. Accordingly, I am always on the lookout for chic, unique, and whimsical pieces. I happened upon this darling black and gold Kate Spade lion in HomeGoods over the weekend and he is very happy on my own coffee table. Also in the KS collection are a giraffe, a zebra, and an elephant. I like them all! You can find them on the Kate Spade website and discounted on various online stores like here.

I have Pinterest boards on -
*Styling your bookcase
*Styling your coffee table
*Elephants
*Zebras
for even more ideas.

The white elephant stool is a hot trend in Chinoiserie Chic decor. Here are rooms for inspiration and sources to get you started.

Jamie Meares bathroom

By the pool

Under a fig leaf

In a child's room

In the bedroom

Bunny Williams living room

Matchbook Magazine vignette

Palm Beach style

All white

Here - $175.00

Here - $200.00 -2 or more at $119.99

Here - $49.99

Here - $233.75

Here - $136.22

Here - $125.00

A living room in Nantucket

Happy Memorial Day and a thank you for all the sacrifices the men and women of the Armed Forces make every day, to those who have served and especially to those who have died protecting this wonderful country.

I love stripes and I love combining stripes and Chinoiserie. Here are eleven inspiration boards and my Pinterest board with dozens of spaces to inspire you. A Chinoiserie Chic tip - stripes add a fresh, clean, bold, geometric, and masculine edge to a room with Chinoiserie, keeping it more gender neutral.

A red, white, and blue backyard

A chic bar vignette

A red, white, and blue boy's bedroom

A navy blue bedroom

A man can have a canopy bed

An office

An entryway

A girl's bedroom

A red, white, and blue entryway

A red, white, and blue nursery