This week, I have been celebrating my four year blogiversary that is this coming Saturday. Each day, I have been creating inspiration boards of rooms in my fantasy Chinoiserie Chic house. Yesterday, the New York Times featured a Chinoiserie home just outside of London that would be perfect if anyone is looking for a blogiversary gift for me. London is my favorite city besides Washington, DC where I live, so this would be an ideal choice for me. The Pagoda house is on the market for 2.975 million pounds or about 4.54 million dollars.
"This five-bedroom brick home, a study in Chinoiserie called the Pagoda, has an adjoining annex and sits on a third of an acre in the village of Blackheath in Southeast London. The village has 212 acres of uncultivated common land, one of the largest such tracts in Greater London, and the Pagoda is about 200 yards away, said Robin Chatwin, a director at Savills, which has the listing. The designer was Sir William Chambers, the architect to King George III; the earliest part of the house, dating 1767 to 1769, was used by Caroline, Princess of Wales, the estranged wife of George, Prince of Wales. According to historical tracts cited by Mr. Chatwin, the princess led a rather notorious social life there.
In its current expanded configuration, with more than 5,600 square feet of space, the house has official protection as a structure of architectural importance, Mr. Chatwin said. A pebble drive leads in from the gate; the lobby opens to a large reception hall with a staircase, double-height ceilings, and Arts and Crafts-style oak paneling. Beyond that, the dining room has a fireplace and opens to a glass conservatory; the drawing room, also with a fireplace, has bay windows and Oriental lacquered paneling made of Western red cedar. The kitchen has white-painted wooden cabinets, granite and butcher-block countertops, and an Aga stove. Two other reception rooms complete the ground floor, along with a half bath.
Two of the five bedrooms on the second floor have en-suite baths. The master has a wall of cloudy-blue Chinoiserie cupboards and closets. The third floor has a loft, as well as the so-called Pagoda Room, its large oval and round windows offering views in three directions across London. The pagoda roof has a thistle motif on its lead gables and a Chinoiserie-style curvature at the corner eaves.
The annex, its two stories adjoining those of the main house, has a small kitchen, a living room and two bedrooms. The property has an unattached garage and off-street parking for five cars.
Along with Greenwich, which is nearby, Blackheath has many boutique and designer shops; it is less than 15 minutes from Central London by train, 20 minutes by car depending on traffic. London City Airport is about 20 minutes away; Gatwick Airport is reached in 45 minutes to an hour."
(Courtesy of Alison Gregor and The New York Times -
full article here.)
Below is my new inspiration board for my fantasy bedroom. The walls are papered in my absolute favorite Chinoiserie wallpaper, Enchanted Forest by Grey Watkins. The bed is my very own gold leaf pagoda bed by Anne Selke that has been discontinued. The curtains are trimmed in navy blue Greek key. The bed has pink velvet pillows trimmed in navy fretwork. The bedside chests are vintage Dorothy Draper topped with foo dog lamps. A pair of pink cashmere and wool egg chairs and an antique Chinoserie black and gold lacquer coffee table provide a sitting area. The chairs are topped with a Dana Gibson pink leopard pillow and a Jonathan Adler black zebra pillow.
Don't miss the announcement of my blogiversary giveaway tomorrow.
