wallpaper borders

Last December 28, 2012, I did this post about my New Year's Resolutions for 2013 - the two rooms in my home I wanted to redo this year, my powder room and my laundry room. Here is that post -

Charlotte Moss

What would a New Year's Eve series be without New Year's Resolutions? Mine always seem to focus on home improvement projects. I have two rooms in my home I would like to redo this year. The first is a little powder room off the laundry room and the second is the laundry room itself. Here are my inspiration photos that I hope will inspire me to get these done. Of course both have Chinoiserie.

The Charlotte Moss powder room intrigued me because of the draped walls - wonderful if there are no architectural elements or things you need to hide. You will see what I mean when I post before pictures of my room.

The Draza Stamenich laundry room I saw in person at a DC Show House and I have never forgotten it - a tiny little space filled with luxury elements never seen in a laundry room like Gracie wallpaper and a Neirmann Weeks lantern.

It seems that I am always juggling so many balls that these two rooms never get attention. Hopefully this year they will. Do you have an home goals for 2013 that involve Chinoiserie?

Draza Stamenich

If you are a follower of this blog, you will recall that I did actually make over the powder room and the laundry room for this year's two One Room Challenges. Thanks to Linda of Calling It Home for inviting me to participate - nothing like competition and a deadline to keep one on track.

Here is a peek at my powder room. If you'd like to follow the entire powder room process you can click here and the final reveal is here.




I did my laundry room next. Here it is. You can follow the redo of it here and the reveal here.




Mission accomplished. I have decided on the next two rooms I will make over and both will be a decorating side of me you don't usually see. I will reveal them in a post soon so stay tuned.

If you have a room you would like to tackle, Linda of Calling It Home is hosting round two of the One Room Challenge Linking Party starting April 3, 2014. Perhaps you'd like to participate. A deadline is a wonderful way to keep a New Year's Resolution - trust me!

It has been wonderful to watch the partnership between Jennifer at The Pink Pagoda and artist Kerry Steele with commissioned art for Jennifer's home for the One Room Challenges. Although each painting is unique, using the same artist for major works of art in the home has given it a wonderful cohesiveness and flow. These photos show the painting Kerry created for Jennifer's teen daughter's room for this last One Room Challenge.



The pink and blue piece in the upper right of the gallery wall is by Kerry Steele.




This is the piece Jennifer commissioned for her family room One Room Challenge.




These two paintings were actually commissioned for the family room, but Jennifer decided she loved them in the dining room.




Visit Kerry Steele to see the works she has available now, to learn more about commissioning a piece of art for your home, and to learn about her new Patron Installment Program.

A while back I found this darling little pink glass Asian lady figurine at one of my consignment stores for $7.00. Pink and Chinoiserie - a no-brainer for me. She has been sitting on my coffee table ever since. Yesterday I was looking at the Gump's website and saw these Asian sister figurines below. Not identical, but very close and $158.00 for the standing red one and $170.00 for the standing golden one. I like mine the best.

Thrift stores, consignment stores, yard sales, and the like are great ways to train your design eye. Generally things are not marked or labeled so you are relying completely on your own aesthetic and not a designer label. If you have a good eye and trust your instincts, you can find lots of treasures, big and small, for very little money.

A big thanks to Ashlina at The Decorista for featuring my One Room Challenge laundry room in "10 things that rocked my world this week...orc edition." I know how hard we all worked on our rooms and appreciate very much the shout outs.

The Pink Pagoda has come out with a green version of those fabulous botanical prints she made for Linda for the One Room Challenge. Wait until you see the inspiration board I have in mind for these!

Gump's Red Murano Asian Sisters

Gump's Golden Murano Asian Sisters

Set of Four Green and White Graphic Botanical Prints

One thing I wanted to do in my laundry room was to create a little mudroom area. I found this copper Smith & Hawken boot tray for my rain boots and wellies at Target for $25.00. For a spot to sit down while putting on and taking off boots, I repurposed an antique mahogany corner chair from one of my bedrooms. I covered the seat in a designer sample I found on Etsy for $15.00. It's Clarence House Les Porcelaines Bleu. Lastly, I already had a garment rack in the laundry room from The Container Store. It is now very handy for dry cleaning, ironing, and I keep on it a couple of my rain coats for dog walks in the rain. Total cost of under $50 for my mud area. If you missed my reveal on Wednesday, you can find it here. If you'd like to see all three of my One Room Challenges - the laundry room, the powder room, and the kitchen, just click on the ORC buttons in my sidebar.

Today for my One Room Challenge series I am featuring one of the linking party participants, Andrea from The Glam Pad. A girl after my own heart, she has created an incredible Chinoiserie powder room on a budget. The room includes "faux de Gournay" hand painted silk wallpaper she commissioned in China, a Sherle Wagner marble sink retailing at over $22,000 she got on Craigslist for $250, faucet, sconces, and chandelier from eBay, and a DIY mirror.

The result is a Moet & Chandon Chinoiserie gem on a Bud Light Lowe's budget. This room points out two important interior design truths.

First, that money is no substitute for taste and style. If you have a good eye, you can walk into HomeGoods or a thrift store or stalk Etsy and eBay and walk away with beautiful things for pennies.

Second, hiring an interior designer is no guarantee of a beautiful home. There are lots of interior designers out there with no talent whatsoever. I think you are either born with the talent or you are not. Style is not something you learn. Did you know that Miles Redd, Charlotte Moss, Darryl Carter, and Mary McDonald do not have degrees in interior design? Darryl Carter graduated from Georgetown Law School!

At any rate, I digress. I just found it interesting that in the One Room Challenge and with the One Room Challenge Linking Participants, almost every one of my favorites was done by a "non-professional."

This amazing powder room is such a perfect example of this. Pop over to The Glam Pad to read all the details and to follow the transformation from start to finish. If you missed my laundry room reveal, you can find it here. It too was done on a budget with (I think) a great result.

I hope none of you missed the reveal of my laundry room and all the other participants yesterday. If you did, click here. I hate to see the One Room Challenge come to an end and I have a wonderful idea. Over the next week, we are going to have a One Room Challenge series here at Chinoiserie Chic. I will reveal my sources, delve into some of my design features, and feature some of my favorite rooms of the other participants as well as my favorites of the One Room Challenge linking participants.

Today we look at my umbrella stands. This stunning umbrella stand is available at The Pink Pagoda. I decided to use it for vintage sports equipment of mine. It holds my tennis racquet and my badminton racquet from my days at camp in Wisconsin. I spent 10 years going to 7 week sleep away camp in the summers and even became a counselor in training and then a counselor. These racquets hold very fond memories. The tennis racquet is housed in a vintage Louis Vuitton tennis racquet cover. The umbrella stand also holds vintage polo mallets. These were picked up on eBay several years ago and I previously displayed them in a large ginger jar in the family room.



I also use a large ginger jar I already owned for umbrellas. This is the entrance we use to walk Izzy, so it is very handy to have umbrellas at the ready for rainy dog walks. I have a pair of blue and white striped old school umbrellas I ordered from London and a beautiful pair of black umbrellas lined in orange.



Here is more inspiration on blue and white Chinese porcelain umbrella stands and how to display them. Note that large vases and large ginger jars work beautifully too. The Pink Pagoda has some great choices like this large vase here.

Darryl Carter

Jamie Meares

Today is the finale for the One Room Challenge Linking Participants and there are some great rooms. Go check it out.