wallpaper removal

There is a month left until Thanksgiving and I have several projects in my own home I want to finish before I turn my attention to decorating my house for Christmas which I adore.

To  Do List -
Finish the laundry room for the One Room Challenge - the reveal is in a week!
Wallpaper the downstairs hallway - I have scheduled my wallpaper hanger for next week.
Refresh the entryway - waiting on my painter.

I have added one more thing to my list - a new rug for the living room. I am tired of my oriental rug and have decided I really want an offset black and white striped rug. I love combining stripes and Chinoiserie and my go to choice is often striped silk taffeta curtains. I really think this black and white striped rug in my living room will be a great fit. The colors in my living room are pastels - pink, ice blue, yellow, and celadon, and the graphic punch of this rug will add real drama.

I am debating between these two rugs -
The Madeline Weinrib Buche Rug is a 100% wool flatweave carpet in black and white offset stripes and is $4,000 in the 8x11.


The Ikea Stockholm Rand Rug is a 100% wool flatweave carpet in black and white offset stripes and is $399 in the 8x11.


A no-brainer - Ikea here I come!

Some of us are likely off to the beach these last two weeks of August. DC is a veritable ghost town this time of year. This vignette is a lovely example of what I call Coastal Chinoiserie. The addition of Chinoiserie to a summer home for me adds such elegance and exoticism. For more inspiration, check out my Pinterest board on Coastal Chinoiserie here.

I love combining stripes and Chinoiserie. Stripes, with their masculine, nautical, crisp, geometric boldness serve as the perfect counterpoint to the often more feminine and pretty side of Chinoiserie. I especially like using striped rugs.

A wonderful and budget friendly striped rug is the Ikea Stockholm Rand shown below and the same style rug above (Madeline Weinrib's Buche rug is very similar). This style rug is all the rage in shelter mags and with good reason. It is a show stopper. It is fantastic layered with a zebra rug above.

I have included inspiration boards of mine combining Chinoiserie and various striped rugs as well as rooms by other interior designers combining them. I am very tempted to purchase the Ikea Rand for my own home, switching out the antique Persian rug for it in the summer. I lived in a great house in Georgetown during law school where the owners took up all the Oriental rugs in the summer, replacing them with jute and sea grass, and they covered all the furniture with white slipcovers. Such a great summer look.

A living room in Nantucket

Happy Memorial Day and a thank you for all the sacrifices the men and women of the Armed Forces make every day, to those who have served and especially to those who have died protecting this wonderful country.

I love stripes and I love combining stripes and Chinoiserie. Here are eleven inspiration boards and my Pinterest board with dozens of spaces to inspire you. A Chinoiserie Chic tip - stripes add a fresh, clean, bold, geometric, and masculine edge to a room with Chinoiserie, keeping it more gender neutral.

A red, white, and blue backyard

A chic bar vignette

A red, white, and blue boy's bedroom

A navy blue bedroom

A man can have a canopy bed

An office

An entryway

A girl's bedroom

A red, white, and blue entryway

A red, white, and blue nursery

I am returning to my readers' requests series after being so busy with the One Room Challenge, new sponsors, and new clients. Happy busy. Several followers asked for a post on Coastal Chinoiserie. My vision of this is lots of blue and white, coral pink, stripes, blue and white Chinese porcelain, Chinese Chippendale chairs, wood floors, and sisal rugs. Here is a little mini gallery, but you must pop over to my new Pinterest board Coastal Chinoiserie to see many more great examples. My boards on Blue and White Chinoiserie and Stripes and Chinoiserie are also great sources. Follow me on Pinterest here.

Celerie Kemble

I love stripes and I adore Greek key, but never thought of combining the two. The circus tent canopy bed and grasscloth walls are fabulous as well.