wallpaper removal

Beginning today, we will be looking at beautiful ways to set your table for Thanksgiving with Chinoiserie flair. Then a week from tomorrow, November 25, we begin a month long series on decorating your home for the Christmas holidays Chinoiserie Chic style.

Here are two great Thanksgiving ideas. These Imari placemats above are sensational. I saw them in person at the Caspari store when Kate and I were in Charlottesville. And at $38.50 for a set of four, they are very well priced. Below is a darling set of mini turquoise Buddhas from Gump's, $28.00 for a set of 4. They would be so fabulous placed around the table for Thanksgiving and then switch them to the mantel for Christmas.

I have a weakness for china, but I have collected so much that it takes something really extraordinary to make me pull the plug. I have always loved Oscar de la Renta - in fact, my wedding dress was a couture ball gown of his in midnight blue silk organza over silk taffeta that I had made as a wedding gown in ivory. I also adore his collection of furniture for Century. His home furnishings line was conceived in tandem with Miles Redd who serves as his creative director.

His new Dot and Dash and Brushstroke dinnerware are on my Christmas wish list. I love them both. If you have white china, these would be fabulous to mix and match with it, picking up a set of the dinner plates, salad/dessert plates, or the cocktail plates, for example. I also like that this china would work equally well in a formal or casual table setting. There are interesting stories about both these designs. The "dot - and - dash" was taken from a 1970's silk dress designed by de la Renta. The brushstroke was his attempt at calligraphy while in Japan.

This is too good to be true - Scalamandre china at $70 a four piece place setting. Adapted from the 18th-century artwork of Jean Baptiste Pillemont, a charming scene composed of oversized flowers, fretwork fences, pagodas and parasols decorates this fine dining collection from Scalamandre by Lenox.

The colors are wonderful - amethyst (purple), sienna (orange), teal (blue), and chocolate (brown). If you are not in the market for a new set of china, buy the dinner plates or accent plates by themselves to mix and match with your existing white china.

This china would be amazing in my own dining room. I think the purple is calling my name. Here is my dining room wallpaper. I love mixing orange and purple with Chinoiserie - so modern.



Check out what I found this week at my thrift store - a set of four brand new Dransfield and Ross Greek key place mats with their original $90 a piece price tags. I got them for $12 for the set of 4!!!

Tory Burch

A gorgeous idea for setting the Christmas table - Imari vases filled with hot pink flowers and orange berries. I love the mix here of oranges and purples and hot pink - who says the table has to have red and green?

Many of us will be setting the table for Thanksgiving dinner either today or tomorrow, so here is a recap of some of my favorite ideas. Think outside the box with colors and by adding Chinoiserie for a truly unique table.

Southern Accents

Southern Accents

Jamie Meares

Jamie Meares

Jamie Meares

Jamie Meares

Stephanie Hopen

Eddie Ross

Alberto Pinto

Phoebe Howard

Hutton Wilkinson

Tony Duquette

Martha Angus

Jennifer at The Pink Pagoda posted this fantastic table today that is from one of my favorite interior design books, Stephanie Hopen's Blue and White Living. This is a wonderful alternative to the harvest colors (that are not my favorites) for the Thanksgiving table. Blue and white with deep purple flowers and blanc de Chine singerie monkeys for a dose of Chinoiserie are a stunning combination. Any Chinoiserie figurines can of course be used. Here are other great examples below.

Eddie Ross

Alberto Pinto

Phoebe Howard

Hutton Wilkinson

Jamie Meares of Furbish is my kind of girl. Her idea of setting the table for Thanksgiving is pink and blue and lots of Chinoiserie - pink pagoda fabric, hot pink silk dupioni, blue and white Chinese porcelain, and elephant place cards. My daughter just got those darling gold polka dot napkins from Anthropologie. A harvest theme and fall colors are brought into the mix with mini pumpkins, gourds, ornamental eggplants (the mini pumpkins in the floral arrangement - usually available at Trader Joe's) and candy corn.