Blue and White Porcelain for less than $50?

Yep! Blue and White Porcelain for less than $50 is a reality, and I'm gonna tell you where. But first, I wanted to take a second to talk about quite possibly the most wide spread "trendy decor" ever in the world.

That's right. The blue and white export porcelain we know today has been the "it" accessory for hundreds of years. Porcelain began to be exported to Europe and then America from the 16th century. In China, ceramics have been made since the paleolithic era, and since the 17th century, even the best in Chinese porcelain has been made on an industrial scale to supply the demand. The use of blue and white themes, however happen in Chinese porcelain around the 1300's when China was doing export Islamic trade with then Persia and their cobalt.

Honestly, if you're interested in Chinese export porcelain at all - I highly recommend this book, which is BEAUTIFUL and brilliantly informative! Particularly if you're a quality collector:

It's not altogether inexpensive, but as a resource manual it proves invaluable. Alright, so back to the 16th century. China begins to export porcelain to Europe, and gifts are given to diplomats and royalty as part of China's commitment to fair trade. At this point, the pieces become covetable - and it's brilliant, right? I mean, I don't follow Kris Jenner on Instagram, BUT, I happened upon a post she made the other day where she got $5,000 worth of free clothes from Diane von Furstenberg. Clearly, she could afford those clothes, but she was given them for free because when she was seen with them, it would incite people to buy those things, and it probably has. 

Let's take a look at how the royals decided to show off their gifts: 

Beautiful Chinoiserie Temple Jars on gilt and lacquer commodes at Windsor Castle. 

Sandringham House, the Christmas Vacation Home of British Royals with an impressive collection of Chinoiserie Porcelain. And much more recently:

The Kensington Palace apartment of Prince William and Duchess Kate. A Chinoiserie Garden stool (not old) and a collection of Chinoiserie vases on the back wall. American decorators have taken the blue and white porcelain collections and implemented them in their designs for decades. The great Elsie de Wolfe, who was known as America's first decorator used them, along with the great Albert Hadley, who used lacquer screens and furniture in nearly all of his designs.

Of course, Mark D. Sikes uses them, and has probably been paramount in bringing them back into the forefront, even though they've been here nearly forever. So, where and how can you get them at a price that won't break the bank?

Design by Suzanne Kasler

This beautiful dragon vase with handles is new, but inspired by antique versions of the same shape and size. $47.59 on Amazon with free 2-day Prime shipping! (P.S., links are available by visiting the blog directly if you're reading this in email.)

Design by Mary McDonald

An impressive 14" tall, this is a great piece for those of you who already have those 9" ginger jars, and other smaller pieces. A pair of these would look gorgeous flanking art or a mirror on a fireplace, chest, or entry table. You could even have them turned into lamps, like Mary did for the dining room sideboard above. The beautiful chrysanthemum pattern plays well with all other Chinoiserie patterns.

Design by Mary McDonald

I think that these pieces look best in collections of various sizes and shapes. These small ginger jars are great for mixing in with the larger vases, above, and they serve multiple functions. You can store things safely and privately inside, or remove the lid and use as an additional vase! They are also perfect if you're looking to dress up the inside of cabinets or bookshelves.

For the Smaller 7" version

For the larger 9" version

Design by Miles Redd

When you're putting together a collection, I think different shapes are important, too! I love these little tea caddy. It's small - perfect for putting on wall brackets (sconces) or for peppering into larger collections. And so affordable! 

Design by Mary McDonald

Another way to broaden a collection and also to have a variety of sizes and shapes is to include large bowls. This one is 12" wide, 5" deep - so it's substantial enough to be really a big impact, and also useful. It could have a utilitarian use as a place for keys at the entry table, or a decorative use standing along as is, or filled with pretty seasonal things like pinecones or white coral fragments, even utilitarian AND beautiful with fruit in it, like Mary McDonald did in the foyer of her former Beverly Hills home. 

Design by Mark D. Sikes

This pretty 9" vase would work beautifully in a collection, and also be great for putting on wall brackets (sconces). You could also turn it into a small lamp for atop your kitchen counter, or in a powder room! 

Design by Mary McDonald

Another lidded jar, this one is 11" tall, a good stacking height against those smaller 9" pieces on your way toward the 14" vases. Plus a whole new shape. 

Design by Bunny Williams

This beauty is 12" tall. So it's another one that you'd do well in buying a pair. Great for a fireplace, or a sideboard, and also could be turned into lamps! 

Design by Michelle Nussbaumer

Ok, so this one is a little more than $50. But for 18" tall, and that glorious glaze, it's still a TREMENDOUS value! They sell similar vases to this one at Wisteria for nearly $300! 

Design by Mark D. Sikes

Another wonderful way to grow a collection and spread your sizes and shapes is to branch out into jardineres! They look wonderful with a collection of vases and jars and you can keep them filled with beautiful orchids all year long! 

Design by Mark D. Sikes 

Talk about expensive, chinoiserie garden stools can really blow a budget. These little diddies are not cheap, but they look great as little side tables in living rooms or bedrooms (as above) and while this one is a little over the $50 mark, it's still a lot less than you'd pay for similar pieces! 

Design by Mark D. Sikes

Because of their construction, they also look great and weather well outside, depending on your climate.  

Design by Miles Redd

Much less expensive than a chair in most cases, they prove to be useful for short-term seating solutions, too - and can be beautifully tucked under an entry table when not in use.

Design by Mark D. Sikes

Design by Mark D. Sikes

Smaller vases also look great in groups with other blue and white pieces like plates, as seen in this living room designed by Mark D. Sikes.

Of course, for more inspiration about how to place your blue and white accessories, you could also pick up a copy of Mark's book: 

Or Miles' book: 

Or Mary's book: 

Or Suzanne Kasler's book(s): 

Or Michelle's book: 

And finally, the big book of blue and white, Bunny Williams' book on her home in Punta Cana, La Colina:

Book Review: Suzanne Kasler: Sophisticated Simplicity

You're no stranger to Suzanne Kasler, I'm sure. She's a powerhouse when it comes to "name brand" interior designers. She's published three books with this newest copy: Suzanne Kasler: Sophisticated Simplicity, on top of having a fabric line with Lee Jofa, custom color ranges with La Cornue, accessories and furniture with Ballard Designs and Hickory Chair, and lighting with Visual Comfort.

Her firm is based in Atlanta, and her rooms have an unspoken Southern graciousness and hospitality to them, always following her cardinal rule: "a room should be collected, not decorated."

Her interiors have been featured in Architectural Digest, House Beautiful, Veranda, Milieu, Traditional Home ... all the big boys, and her casually elegant spaces have made their rounds on nearly every interior design blog, including mine. If you look hard enough, you'll find photos of her stunning work throughout the internet - but nothing beats holding the heavy bound copy of picture after glorious picture of every space in your hot little hands.

This fall, Rizzoli has published some amazing interior design books, including this one by Suzanne, and I couldn't wait to share with you some of the goodies inside:

Kitchens, bathrooms, living, dining, outdoor, and bedrooms - each beautiful in every way - provide boundless inspiration in the massive 304-page book. If you're a fan of Kasler, a fan of interior design (and I already know you are, or you wouldn't be here), and a lover of all things beautiful - you need look no further than this book for your fall reading. (It makes an excellent coffee table book, too!) Check out more, and purchase your copy via the amazon link below:

And if you've got interest in collecting the Kasler trilogy, check out her other two books, here. You won't be disappointed in them, either. 

A High End DIY Project: Part One

If you read the blog with any regularity, and have for a long period of time, you know that I wrote a post titled: "The Object of my Affection" way back in January of 2009. It didn't talk about Scott, it didn't talk about Twizzlers, or Diet Pepsi, The Real Housewives Franchise, or anything else that I can't live without. It was a short post that touted one thing, and one thing only: my love for this bed:

graceful, elegant, richly decadent - this bed was my idea of the perfect resting place at the end of every day. I held on to the picture in my "LOVE" file, (Does everyone have one of those? Or has pinterest replaced them?) and never forgot about it because I received emails almost weekly asking me where it could be purchased ... and I still get them, even now, more than 4 years later.

The bed is from Hickory Chair, or was. Finding the details on it this time required a bit of digging, but I was able to find the catalog if you're interested, and it's now for sale on the Hickory White website. In fact, they even have a photo of the bed in a room setting:

http://www.hickorywhite.com/catalog_detail.php?id=156&model=735-21

But, tastes change; and if you're anything like me - they change all of the time. Like so many other things that I've purchased and regretted, or didn't purchase and was thankful for the delay - this bed was just not the right bed for my house, or my rooms. It's taken a lot of inner strength to pick the right furniture to fit both my aesthetic and the house I "inherited"; so I am now upside down in love with this beauty:

Again, from Hickory Chair, this bed is part of the Suzanne Kasler Collection which is just beautiful, exactly what we've come to expect from Suzanne. She's just brilliant. The bed was inspired by a pair of upholstered vintage French chairs, and the beauty of this piece, in part is the square line and the dressmaker details like the tied slipcover. And it's not only a favorite of mine, many designers have used the bed as a centerpiece to absolutely stunning bedrooms:

via Mark D Sikes Blog

Probably on the internet in a thousand places, and immortalized (can a bed be immortalized?) by the pages of House Beautiful is this guest room in Mark Sikes home in California. His whole house is absolutely breathtaking, and the Hickory Chair Candler bed looks perfect in this room; especially with the canopy he designed and had constructed for above it. Simply gorgeous!

When you order the bed you can customize every finish, including the paint. Mark chose to have the bed painted a high gloss black which looks amazing against the crisp white. I can't do white anymore with black cats, and well, I never could quite pull white off anyway - and I did try! I also can't manage the canopy without moving lights and the footboard is a no, thanks to my height and the size of the room. So, I started thinking ... would it look as impressive without the footboard?

via Tobi's Tips - Tobi Fairley

And I think that the answer is yes. And although these photos don't show it with a slipcover, I think that's a very important piece and one of the reasons I fell in love with the bed to begin with. Of course, once I looked into the price, it's a FRIGGIN LOT little out of my budget, with starting prices at $4000, not including the $1200 slipcover. (That's the high end part).

So, (and this is where the DIY comes in) I decided to make my own version of this high end bed, hopefully just as good looking but much less expensive. It's been a long time since I focused any attention on the bedroom, and this will be a nice change. The plan:

Create the headboard from stock cabinetry/finish mouldings, and upholster the interior section in burlap, with natural linen tape and nailhead trim, then slipcovered in nubby Belgian Linen. The same linen will be used for the tailored bedskirt and curtains. My chocolate brown walls will stay - as a reminder they're Monks Cloth by Martha Stewart, and I'm trying to make a decision on the bed color now. Which would you choose?

Cement Gray

Nimbus Cloud

Mourning Dove

I'm leaning toward Mourning Dove for it's more brown undertone. I'd like to keep it from looking too blue. So drop me a note, and by all means, if you have a favorite gray, let me know!

Sherwin Williams #7031 Mega Greige

This color, SW7031 Mega Greige came from long-time reader and friend Brenda, or mrsben. We go way back to my RMS days, and she's been a real pal. I love this suggestion to, so ... keep them coming!

I've broken this post into several parts, to give me some time to finish the project: so, stay tuned for Part Two where we'll be shopping for the materials.