One Room Challenge - The Glam Pad

Today for my One Room Challenge series I am featuring one of the linking party participants, Andrea from The Glam Pad. A girl after my own heart, she has created an incredible Chinoiserie powder room on a budget. The room includes "faux de Gournay" hand painted silk wallpaper she commissioned in China, a Sherle Wagner marble sink retailing at over $22,000 she got on Craigslist for $250, faucet, sconces, and chandelier from eBay, and a DIY mirror.

The result is a Moet & Chandon Chinoiserie gem on a Bud Light Lowe's budget. This room points out two important interior design truths.

First, that money is no substitute for taste and style. If you have a good eye, you can walk into HomeGoods or a thrift store or stalk Etsy and eBay and walk away with beautiful things for pennies.

Second, hiring an interior designer is no guarantee of a beautiful home. There are lots of interior designers out there with no talent whatsoever. I think you are either born with the talent or you are not. Style is not something you learn. Did you know that Miles Redd, Charlotte Moss, Darryl Carter, and Mary McDonald do not have degrees in interior design? Darryl Carter graduated from Georgetown Law School!

At any rate, I digress. I just found it interesting that in the One Room Challenge and with the One Room Challenge Linking Participants, almost every one of my favorites was done by a "non-professional."

This amazing powder room is such a perfect example of this. Pop over to The Glam Pad to read all the details and to follow the transformation from start to finish. If you missed my laundry room reveal, you can find it here. It too was done on a budget with (I think) a great result.

ORC Chinoiserie Linking Faves

The Glam Pad

Linda at Calling it Home has invited bloggers to play along at home with a new board game version of the One Room Challenge called the One Room Challenge Linking Party. There are something like 72 participants and some serious talent. I suspect Linda is secretly scouting talent from this group for the next One Room Challenge. Three have caught my attention as ones to follow. Above, a favorite blogger of mine already, Andrea from The Glam Pad, lover of all things Palm Beach Chic and Chinoiserie, is creating a "faux de Gournay" powder room and I am so excited. You can check out her first two posts on it here and here. This is going to be fabulous.

Below, Kim of Kim Macumbers Interiors, a past participant in the One Room Challenge, says she caught the bug from Chinoiserie Chic and The Pink Pagoda to have some Chinoiserie of her own. Her powder room will have a pagoda mirror, elephant prints from The Pink Pagoda, Leontine linens, and a gold chevron wastebasket. You had me at hello. Check out her first two posts here and here.

Kim Macumber Interiors

This Chinoisy Safari Chic master bedroom from Chez V has all the makings of amazing, with its Chinoise Out of Africa British Colonial vibe and my favorite pillows in the whole world - the leopard pillow by Dana Gibson. Here and here are her two posts to bring you up to date.

I will be so happy to watch these three fabulous Chinoiserie rooms come together as I work on my own Chinoiserie laundry room makeover.

Gorgeous Giveaways & A Virtual Show House

Two of my sponsors are having great giveaways right now that I don't want you to miss. Jennifer at The Pink Pagoda has launched a new website and redesigned her blog and is celebrating with a wonderful giveaway of three items from her prints and accessories stores. She is also having a print sale. Find out all the details here.

My newest sponsor Charlotte & Ivy is giving away a beautiful navy chevron blanket (navy and chevron are two of my favorites) to celebrate their partnering with Chinoiserie Chic and to introduce you to their sensational online store. You can read the details and enter on this post here.

If you have been following my virtual makeover of the Chinese Village House over at The Glam Pad, I am finally finished with it! Andrea has done a recap and you can see a virtual show house tour here.

The ginger jar from The Pink Pagoda's giveaway

The Pink Pagoda's giveaway

Some great pieces from Charlotte & Ivy's online store

Charlotte & Ivy's chevron blanket giveaway

Framing Vintage Scarves

Now that the One Room Challenge is over, I am turning my attention back to my home office makeover. One project I have planned is a gallery wall. I have in mind framing a vintage scarf as the largest piece and focal point. Perhaps you already have a lovely vintage scarf you would like to frame - Hermes and Pucci are classics. A very well priced and readily available alternative on Etsy and eBay are vintage Vera scarves. You can find these in hundreds of beautiful designs and every color. I will be on the hunt for one this week, and will post my progress as well as a tutorial on DIY framing. For more inspiration, check out my new Pinterest board here on "Framing Vintage Scarves." You can follow all my Pinterest boards here.

I also have a guest post today on The Glam Pad where I am continuing my virtual makeover of The Chinese Village House. Today I redo the home office.

These framed scarves are examples to inspire me and perhaps you.

Palm Beach Chic Virtual Show House - Inspiration Boards

The Chinese Village House - watercolor by Laura Mullaney

 Over a month ago, Andrea of the fabulous blog The Glam Pad discovered a historic Chinoiserie house on the market for the first time in 30 years near where she lives in Coral Gables, Florida. She invited me to do a series of guest posts on how I would decorate this Chinoiserie home.

In week one, I renovated the entryway. In week two, I transformed the dining room. Week three was the kitchen and week four, the porch. Today is the guest bedroom. Check back next week, as I share my inspiration for the home office.

Click on each of the caption links to read the particulars on each room.

The Entryway

The Dining Room

The Kitchen

The Porch

The Guest Bedroom

Inspiration Board - My Office Makeover

Here is my inspiration board for my little home office makeover I have just started on. The painter comes tomorrow to paint. The walls will be Benjamin Moore Poppy - I decided my previous two red paint candidates were too brown with this fabric. The window treatment will be Charlotte Moss Caroline in Currant.

My Chinese Chippendale mahogany fretwork desk will get jazzed up with a beautiful blue and white Chinese porcelain lamp and some chic accessories. I have some great art for the room including a huge Inigo Jones that I love. My big score of the weekend was this fantastic dog bed in Scalamandre Zebras because Izzy likes to hang out with me in my office.

A black leather mid century modern bench will be a great spot for not only extra seating but magazines and files. A red lacquer Victoria ghost chair is for extra seating. I have a DIY makeover planned for my desk chair that is still in the planning.

Two projects will be styling the wall of built-in bookshelves and perhaps creating a gallery wall above the bench.

If you have been following along with my virtual makeover of a fantastic Chinoiserie historic property in Coral Gables, Florida over at The Glam Pad, you'll want to pop over today and see what I have envisioned for the kitchen.

Raw Meat, Guest Post, New Inspiration Board

Raw Meat Fabric - My Contest Entry

The other day I was researching one of my favorite fabrics - Scalamandre Zebras and came across the 2013 First Annual The Ugly Fabric Contest using Scalamandre Zebras in the yellow colorway as the Pinterest board cover for the contest. Shocked, I clicked over to the blog and contest rules and decided to enter the contest. This is my submission - Raw Meat above. Voting for the ugliest fabric starts today and runs through Sunday. The blogger, who has a sewing workroom, plans to make window treatments out of the top three finalists' fabrics. This I want to see!

Please stand up for all that is Chinoiserie Chic and Palm Beach Chic by voting here for my submission - Raw Meat. You vote by leaving a comment over there choosing my submission - Raw Meat. And yes, if you'd like to buy this lovely fabric you can purchase it here in cotton, a linen blend, or even silk. Perhaps a roman shade for the kitchen or silk panels for the dining room? Nothing whets the appetite like staring at yards of raw meat.

And speaking of Chinoiserie Chic and Palm Beach Chic, today my series at The Glam Pad continues where I am doing a virtual makeover of a fabulous historic house in Coral Gables - The Chinese Village House. Pop over and see my new inspiration board for the dining room.

If you missed my first post in the series - a makeover of the entryway and main hall, click here. And yes, I did use Scalamandre Zebras.

And don't forget to vote for Raw Meat by leaving a comment over here. ;-)

Scalamandre Zebras

Chinoiserie Chic in Florida

Artwork by Laura Mullaney

My favorite new blogger, Andrea at The Glam Pad, a transplanted Texan, is renovating a house in Coral Gables, Florida with her husband. She loves all things Chinoiserie, Hollywood Regency and Palm Beach Chic. A fabulous historic Chinoiserie property has just gone on the market in Coral Gables. Not their house, although I suspect she would love it. Andrea had the fun idea of me doing a virtual renovation and interior decoration of the property. It really needs work! Beginning Monday, I will choose a different room each week and create an inspiration board with my vision of the house. I will begin with the entryway and main hall.

Pop over and see Andrea's house tour today of Chinese Village House and then stay tuned to The Glam Pad for this fun new series.