Papering the Powder Room

What if someone told you that you could approximate the look of incredibly expensive wallpaper that runs about $1800 a roll for under $40? The powder room above was done by the very talented interior designer Joe Nye by gluing plates from Taschen's The Complete Costume History by Auguste Racinet. This has just been re-released in a 25th anniversary edition at a wonderful price. Nye got the idea from Steven Gambrel who had used Albertus Seba's Cabinet of Natural Curiosities to paper a powder room. Taschen's 25th anniversary edition of this can be pre-ordered now. I love the idea of doing a Chinoiserie version using one of my favorite books Chinoiseries by Bernd H. Dams and Andrew Zega. I also like Nye's use of the footed tray, Famille Rose lamp, and Diptyque candle. Nye said that he thinks it looks as good as $1,800 a roll de Gournay paper. I personally love the idea. 

(Photo courtesy of House Beautiful)

My New Labor of Love

Please visit my new adventure Chinoiserie Chic where each day I will be featuring wonderful examples of my favorite style Chinoiserie. People have been fascinated with the arts of the Far East since the days of Marco Polo. Travelers to China and Japan have always returned with treasures of silks, porcelain, and lacquer work. Asian objects and decorative motifs have also served as inspiration for fanciful styles in objects of purely Western form, such as pagodas, mandarins, exotic birds, and flowers. Many of my favorite interior designers of today like Mary McDonald and Charlotte Moss use Chinoiserie frequently in their work. The lovely photo above is a dining room featured in House Beautiful by Ruthie Sommers. My finds will be antique to modern, from West Elm to 1st Dibs, so there will be something for every lover of this style. I plan to have some wonderful Chinoiserie giveaways to help launch this new blog, so please stop by.

Chinoiserie Walls

What impressed me most at the Washington DC Design House was a little tiny but drop-dead gorgeous space by Draza Stamenich. He used Gracie hand-painted wallpaper to create the most lovely and luxurious laundry room ever. I hesitate to use the word wallpaper because I agree with Draza that paper like Gracie and de Gournay are really works of art and shouldn't be called wallpaper. This wonderful space, as well as a recent post by Nick Olsen on accent walls, reminded me that although I am not a fan of painted accent walls, I really adore the look of gorgeous Chinoiserie paper on one wall. These wonderful rooms pictured here use the paper like it is a work of art which is exactly what it is. 

The laundry room with Gracie.

Ruthie Sommers' lovely dining room from House Beautiful with its wall of vintage Chinese wallpaper found via Style Court.

A chic kitchen dining nook with a wall of Chinese wallpaper from Domino Magazine.

A great example from Domino Magazine with its wall of de Gournay wallpaper. Nick Olsen made the observation that the designer used a black molding that looks like bamboo to frame the paper, turning the wall into a framed work of art.