wallpaper borders

Ming Circus Football

I hope everybody had a great weekend. Mine was fun. On Saturday morning, I had this feeling I should head off to HomeGoods even though it was pouring rain. When I got there, I instinctively headed to the furniture section and spotted a beautiful silver faux bois bar cart for $179.99. I wheeled it up to the cash register and the check out person was on the phone with a woman who had seen it at closing the night before and wanted it. The one thing I have learned about HomeGoods is to grab it. It probably won't be there if you go back. Pictures of it in my dressing room are below. It is just hanging out there temporarily - it's permanent home will be in the Chinoiserie Man Cave that I am planning for my husband. Every man cave needs a bar, right?

Speaking of man caves, after finding that, I took the rest of the weekend off and watched all four football games. Did you watch any football? I thought we would take a peek at football and Chinoiserie. I created these three hand-painted silk Chinoiserie football wallpapers for last year's Super Bowl post and nobody got it. Everybody was pinning them to their Chinoiserie Pinterest boards. So I thought I would try posting them again!

Also below is a photo of the bedroom Linda at Calling It Home did for a past One Room Challenge that had lots of great Chinoiserie. What cracked me up was that when I was looking for photos for this post, I found that somebody pinned it and put this comment -


They actually took the time to read the book jackets and diss them.

This week will be the wrap-up and finale of my series on the Top Ten Chinoiserie Trends for 2014.

Chinoiserie Football in the Park

Singerie Touch Football

Linda's One Room Challenge master bedroom with sports books

My new HomeGoods bar cart

A close-up

Inspiration for the Chinoiserie man cave

I posted last spring about this amazing miniature juju hat above in the home of Michelle Adams shown in Lonny. As you know, the full size of these African feathered headdresses have been hot with interior designers for several years. Here are two examples by Alessandra Branca below. Michelle found hers at a Chelsea Flea Market in NYC.



After my post last March, I looked high and low for a miniature juju on a stand and had absolutely no luck. I am generally VERY good at finding things. I finally figured one would cross my path sometime. I made a little HomeGoods run yesterday and found this wonderful red and black one. Mission accomplished!





Would you like to catch up on my holiday posts? - this is post number 23. There may be an upcoming pop quiz!

My new Ralph Lauren lamp from HomeGoods in my color of 2013 - navy.

My week has been so insanely busy, I have not had the chance to do a proper photo shoot of my new pagoda chandelier, but I promised to show it to you this week and a promise is a promise. Here is a little peek of it above and just below. I will take more photos of the room today for a post, but I absolutely adore it.


I posted before about how much I like this silver leaf pagoda mirror just below. I am about to start on a little facelift of my entryway and I really wanted a silver Chinoiserie mirror for it. I was envisioning a DIY with silver leaf and a vintage mirror and it was not a pretty picture. Pretty much my idea of DIY is knowing who to call for a project. When I was in HomeGoods yesterday on a little outing with my daughter, I found this mirrored Chinoiserie fretwork mirror for $79.99. Sorry for the lousy Instagram shot, but you get the idea.

Next I need to decide on a paint color for my entryway walls. I want a really pale ice blue and I'm thinking of Benjamin Moore Glass Slipper or Farrow & Ball Borrowed Light. Any other suggestions on a really soft gray blue?

My dining room patiently awaiting the new addition

Lots of you read my post "I Love You HomeGoods" on Thursday about how I found my dream Chinoiserie chandelier for my dining room at HomeGoods, but that it was missing its ceiling canopy. My electrician is coming on Tuesday to hang it, so this weekend I needed to deal with that issue.

Yesterday morning, I received an email from a follower of Chinoiserie Chic. She had seen what she assumed was the chandelier in question at her HomeGoods, even though I didn't identify the store location or show the chandelier. She had considered it for her home, but it didn't work. She knew it had a bag with the gold leaf canopy, hardware, crystals, and instructions.

She drove to the store in the pouring rain, hunted down the missing bag and pieces, and emailed me that she was waiting there for me if I was available. I threw on a raincoat, raced up in the still pouring rain, and found her waiting patiently at the door. I alerted the manager as to what was going on, so as to not just walk out of the store with it. The manager loved the story so much about my blog and HomeGoods and human kindness, that she asked for my info and link to Chinoiserie Chic to forward the story to corporate headquarters. She hugged me and was in tears over the whole thing.

I have lived in Washington, DC the majority of my life and cannot imagine ever leaving. I think it's the greatest city in the world. But the past month, between the Navy Yard shooting, an incident at the Capitol last week that ended in violence, the government shutdown, and the pending debt ceiling crisis, these are trying and increasingly stressful and uncivil times in DC. That lovely act of kindness by Jane yesterday restored more than my chandelier, it helped restore my faith in people and my city. Much needed right now in our nation's Capital. Thank you so much Jane.

Mary McDonald

 Many of you read yesterday's One Room Challenge post about how I snagged $2,000 worth of Brunschwig & Fils wallpaper on eBay for my laundry room for $150. Well, it happened again!

I have been working so hard on my laundry room makeover, that I decided to take a little break yesterday and make a HomeGoods run. I have shopping ESP, do you? I sensed walking in that I was going to find something truly amazing. I always head to the lighting department first, because I have posted before about my addiction to Ralph Lauren Chinoiserie lamps I find at HomeGoods.

There it was, calling out to me - "Beth, Beth, I'm over here."

A
Huge
Ralph Lauren
Gold Leaf
And Crystal
Chinoiserie
Pagoda
Lantern

The regular price on it was $2,000 and I got it for $350.00. I have been looking for a new chandelier for my dining room for ages, and what I really envisioned was a gold leaf pagoda. I have lived with the lighting fixture I have for years, knowing it would someday appear. The one below is one I posted on that got away on eBay much to my dismay. I like mine a thousand times more.

There is one small glitch. It is missing its ceiling canopy (the round piece that hides the hole in the ceiling). I spent some time looking for replacements online and none are gold leaf and none have modern lines - lots of antique reproductions. Maybe I can find a simple brass or metal one and have my amazing antique restorer in Old Town gold leaf it for me. I have not shown you a picture of it, as I would much rather have you see it for the first time hanging in my dining room. So you can look forward to my dining room reveal and my laundry room reveal.

As an aside, I have had great luck on Etsy and eBay with wallpaper, especially high end wallpaper. Several years ago a follower of Chinoiserie Chic emailed me about an Etsy seller with 15 rolls of Clarence House Chinoiserie Baroque for $150. Here is the post about it from 2010. It is a very expensive and very beautiful and very discontinued paper worth $$$$. I snatched it up and it is gorgeous in my dining room. Here is a tour of my dining room with the existing chandelier.

Clarence House Chinoiserie Baroque

On the laundry room side, my wallpaper hanger spent all day yesterday skimming and sanding the laundry room walls and they look like glass. Today he is doing still more prep work and priming them, so the hanging won't start until tomorrow. Quite a perfectionist. Tomorrow he wants me to work with him positioning the layout of the design.

The one that got away on eBay, not mine

If you love blue and white Chinese porcelain lamps, you need to hit your local HomeGoods stores. They have been getting in tons of Ralph Lauren lamps at prices starting at $49.99 for the smaller ones, with most about $99.99. Great deals for high end designer lamps. Just yesterday I saw a large dragon, small dragon, wicker, turquoise pineapple, and blue and white florals and other traditional Chinese designs.

Three came home with me. That makes ten in my house at last count. I might need to form a local chapter of Ralph Lauren Lamps @ HomeGoods Addicts Anonymous. My daughter snapped the photo above at the brand new HomeGoods in Georgetown DC last night. The $169.99 is the highest price I have seen but likely reflects the very pricey Georgetown location. The prices do vary on the same lamp depending on the store. And just yesterday I saw that another HomeGoods is opening five minutes from my house. That will make six HomeGoods stores near me. Wow! The lamp just below is one of yesterday's acquisitions.

I found this yummy Ralph Lauren blue and white Chinese porcelain lamp at HomeGoods on Friday. I love the gold leaf base.

I popped into HomeGoods yesterday and found this pineapple garden stool - I love it! Check out my Pinterest board devoted to the hot pineapple trend in interior design and fashion here.