Wouldn’t you agree with me that lavender is ladylike ? It’s refreshing, chic and elegant. It’s a symbol of spring garden. When it reaches middle of February we are really looking forward to spring. Lavender , blush, pale blue with the pops of bright yellow and pink truly make this living room a heaven. Mix-and-match of chinoiserie, stripes and bold exquisite geometric pattern on the sofa trims make the room formal, sophisticated and whimsical.
Today’s LA weather is very nice–warm sunshine and a little bit of breeze. With Christmas around corner, I think it will be a perfect time to set up an outdoor table top and have a little bit high tea on this beautiful weekend sunny afternoon in Dec. Yes, we are just lucky enough to still be able to host a backyard outdoor party in Dec. My inspiration for today’s setup came from the designer floral fabric I got a year ago. I really like the elegant pattern of the fabric and always think how I should use this fabric for my next decor project. It looks like today is a day. The fabric will be perfect to cover my little French table for today’s outdoor party setup. It’s British, whimsical, floral and really mimics the garden. So, here we go:
Chinossorie, English china and some fresh casual floral arrangements with a lush greenery backdrop. Love the sunny day!
Antique emerald green tea cups—very British.Rich fall colors? Love the brass, hot pink, sunshine and Macaron cookies!Table by the lemon tree.Start to play around the table-top decor. Love the color of lilac.Such a soft and romantic afternoon glow.
It’s high tea time.
Here are 5 ways to host your backyard outdoor high tea party:
Just do it.
Start small—a small table, a fine table cloth will help you start the project.
Always keep your eye on antique tea cups—they are the Queen for your party.
The past weekend was crazy and fun. We went to West Edge Design Fair and truly inspired by a lot of cool designs. Hopefully, I am able to share our inspirations here soon. Anyway, my Monday always starts with playing textiles, flowers in different shades and colors and set up the mood colors and design theme for the whole week. For this week, we are in the mood for red, dark purple and pink complemented by leafy green. The color palette suits for current fall decor–fashionable, elegant and quiet. Through the week, we will share some of our design projects based on this color palette. Here are some photos from our studio this morning.
I always spend some time in the flower market on Sundays. Love these red tulips.Dark purple is such a beautiful color for flower arrangement for this fall decor.Nature is always my inspiration.Purple and pink.Red roses in the morning sunshine. Coffee is served.My favorite spot on Monday, where I create our weekly design theme and color palettes.
It is just so much fun to create a little meeting space at home. It can be for a business meeting or just a casual talk. The purpose here is to create a quiet and relaxing space where guests feel comfortable to carry a conversation. Here are 4 ways to create such a fabulous place just like the one we did above.
Creating a seating area with different styles of chairs. This is home and you definitely don’t want to make it a plain meeting room like the one in the office.
Do have a good-quality rug to bring everything together. That will help people stay with the conversation.
Show your hobbies. Maybe it’s a chinoiserie vase you bought from one of your trips or a gold telesope object. Those are type of things you can talk about and always make the conversation so much fun.
Have fresh flowers to light up the mood.
Keep it simple. You definitely don’t want to overdo it.
I hope you all had wonderful holiday weekend. From Chinese New Year celebration to Valentine’s and President’s Day, we just enjoyed beautiful weather in SoCal. I will talk about these in different blogs. Here is our new project. I know it is rosequartz again. Why not? Compared with original dark grey color, this new rosequarts make rooms look much more alive, interesting, elegant and feminine. I am on my way to do 50 design projects with this color. We will see how we are going to end up. Anyway, let’s talk about this project. Here are 6 ways we did to make this living room more ladylike:
Change the original dark grey wall color to rosequartz.
Furnishing the room with quite elegant sofas, chairs in different shades of pink. Spring is coming, isn’t it?
Keep the original wood floor to give it sense of history and depth.
Big silk-shaded chandelier anchor the whole space.
Antique artwork on the walls to show the high-taste of the owner.
When people do renovations and decorate their home, they always ignore the hallways and rather keep them plain and boring. One of the important functions for hallways is to keep your guests’ eyes wander. There are 4 steps we did to make the hallway interesting in this project:
Have the floor-to-ceiling drapery on the wall with openings to make the space unified and elegant.
Have a statement chair against the wall like the love seat we have here.
Have a piece of art. We used a classical gold frame for this modern photography to create fresh contrast.
When September is here, we start to feel the fall. One of the decor styles that has inspired me in the last several weeks is Bohemian style, the style featured with bright colors & patterns, cozy seatings, artsy mix-and-match and vibrant textiles. Aren’t those we love natural beauty for the fall? Then we had this design project and it is a country house. There are exposed beams and stone walls which make house look very organic. And the house is filled with natural light. The client wants to keep the original country style but wants the house look have fresh and updated rather than too heavy and traditional. The client likes bright colors and feminine touches. Here we go— a chic bohemian country style for her. Here for 6 ways how we create the look:
chic bohemian country style
Paint all walls light gray and all trims and ceilings bright white to create a modern clean and crisp backdrop for the later vibrant furnishings and bouncing around light while still keep the stone walls and exposed beams. The contrast of the old and new gives the whole house a very fresh looking.
Have petite upholstered furniture spread around the house such as chairs and ottomans in jewelry tones to give it a sophisticated and feminine touch.
Have bright Moroccan area rugs in the house for the vibrant vibe.
Have unmatched bohemian draperies to make the whole space whimsy, playful and elegant.
Artsy arrangement of modern artworks on the fireplace and walls.
It’s a fresh week again. A grand entry at your home means a good Fengshui and a great start. We all agree that the hallway definitely makes the first impression and sends the message about who you are. Today, I am going to share 5 ways to decorate an entry by sharing this new hallway make-over project we just did.
An elegant furniture set makes the focal point and defines the sophistication of the space. For this traditional house, we use more modern yet still-classy furniture to contrast the old style and bring freshness into the space.
A right color palette make guests feel pleasant and welcome. The ivory, coral, pink and black color palette in this foyer creates formal yet relaxing and soft atmosphere.
A runner pulls guests eyes down to the floor and draws guests to the house. The bird-pattened runner here adds more visual interest.
A chandelier over the display table in the foyer talks to the whimsical runner and is the must for the estate like this.