Designing with Chairish

I swear I'm still here, designing.  Sometimes all the business and logistics and paperwork get in the way, and I need to remind exactly myself why I really love my job.  (hint: It's making beautiful and interesting rooms, natch.)

So when the folks at Chairish invited my to participate in their September design challenge, I thought it would be a fun way to get back to the joy of designing without the drag of budgets and, like, practicality.

The challenge?  Shabby chic.  (Hilarious to me as a Laura Ashley loving child of the 80s.  It's baaack!)  At the end of the day, this is a look that's about pretty, about ease, and about fanciful pieces mixed in an eclectic way.  Since I seem to be all about floral and granny chic these days, I figured: I got this in the bag.

Chairish sent me a bunch of pieces to choose from (see the full selection here), and I immediately gravitated towards that bergere chair with the floral chintz.  SO.  PRETTY.  I also loved the greenish nightstands and, of course, the fancy chandy.  Using these pieces, I started out doing a little girls room--since I recently redid both my daughter's rooms, I've got little girls on the brain.  But in the end, this room is really more for me than them.  Pretty, calm, still sophisticated.

So what did I do?  The lines of the Chairish pieces were fanciful and feminine (and I layered it on with old school embroidered shams and flamestich), so I wanted a simple, casual foil.  I chose rectangular shapes and a beachy palette and materials.  The linen upholstered bed  from Pottery Barn is such an easy, blank slate that can complement more intricate pieces and let them shine.  The Paule Marrot artwork over the bed (dreamy!) repeats the floral of the chair, but in a looser, more whimsical way.  And I love how all those blues (the lacquered grasscloth dresser, the urn lamp, the Les Indiennes euro shams, and of course the beachy striped rug) calm everything down.

Another way to keep things together:  look for common elements, and repeat them.  Here it's that idea of the sculptural.  From the undulating curve of the dresser front to the articulated pedestal on the dining-cum-writing table and the tiered corners of the washed-wood mirror, to the pretty little stars on the wall sconces (oh, and don't worry about the pair of $18,000 rock crystal lamps!  Sculpture galore!), every shape, save the bed, is interesting and textural.

Hmmm.  I just wore myself out lining to all those beautiful products.  As too often happens, I love my own bedroom but this has me wanting to start over!

P.S.  Do you know about Chairish?  Like a well edited Craigslist--the site connects buyers and sellers, but all the items are droolworthy.  Check it out.