wallpaper removal

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.

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.

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.

Welcome and thanks so much for joining me for the One Room Challenge reveal. First, I would like to thank our fearless leader and den mother Linda of Calling It Home for all the time and effort she puts into making these a success. I would also like to thank Jennifer of The Pink Pagoda for her beautiful graphics work.

If you have been following along these past 6 weeks, I decided to choose my very shabby laundry room with its 30 year old washer and dryer for a makeover. To start from the beginning of this makeover, click here. For those of you who are followers of Chinoiserie Chic, you know I love Chinoiserie, blue and white, and beautiful things. I am not a minimalist. I wanted my laundry room to be an elegant, inviting, and multi-functional space for laundry, sewing, ironing, crafts, flower arranging, and such. I included things I love -

*beautiful wallpaper
*lots of blue and white
*blue and white Chinese porcelain ginger jars, a garden stool, vases, and umbrella stand
*vintage and antique pieces
*a mix of high and low end including Brunschwig & Fils, Clarence House, Louis Vuitton, Target, and Ikea
*a dupioni silk roman shade
*an original abstract work of art
*whimsical pieces

Believe it or not, this room was done on a budget, with lots of great finds from eBay, consignment stores, Target, Ikea, my own home, and the generosity of my sponsors and supporters of Chinoiserie Chic. I kept the existing flooring, laundry sink, and cabinets. My only big purchase was a new washer and dryer, but the old ones were 30 years old and had lived a good life. ;-)

So please sit back and enjoy these gorgeous photos. I decided to have the room professionally photographed and the results are amazing. If you are in the DC metro area and need a photographer for photos of a new baby, a family portrait, engagement, your home, or whatever - Crystal was fabulous to work with. This is her website and her blog with her info.

This is the powder room in the corner of the laundry room that I did for the last ORC

A special thank you to the following for providing beautiful pieces for my laundry room -