Blue and White Chinoiserie Christmas Preview

I did wait until after Halloween to post what I've been making lately.

(And I have been eating Halloween candy while doing it!!)

The biggest project has been this blue and white plate wreath that was inspired by @tortoiseandharevintage on IG. She installs a plate wall wreath in her shop! 

A lot of people have asked "how?" on my IG feed 

and on my @elizabethandpayne IG account.

It's pretty easy - just takes a little time.

That is a faux pine wreath. I bought it at a wholesale florist and it truly looks real but there are faux wreaths for sale everywhere right now.

I gathered an assortment of thrifted blue and white plates  

then laid them out on the wreath to get an idea of placement. 

Next I adhered these amazing plate hangers to the back of my plates.

They dry over night and then I added my plates to the wreath and tied a big plaid bow for the top center!

I did the same thing for this smaller wreath 

and just used a single plate to fill the center opening. 

I forgot to take a better picture :( and sorry about the price tag but I didn't have a spare moment to take a cute, styled blogger appropriate pic before it went to the booth.

And then I've created some little Winter Wonderlands 

in blue and white teacups and bowls. 

They will be great as hostess gifts and to just add a touch of Christmas to places like a powder room where there isn't a lot of room for more decorations.

This one is so small and cute. The tallest tree is only about 2 1/2 inches tall!

And lots of people are creating these Chinoiserie blue and white ornaments. 

Just hit up Pinterest if you need tips on how-to!

These are good sellers for us and I enjoy drawing them.

I made my first one a few years ago for this little tree and I haven't stopped yet!

There's definitely more Chinoiserie Christmas to come but that's a little sneak peak for now!

Best Nine

Wrapping up 2017 with the my Best Nine from Instagram. 

It's interesting to see what has gotten the most "likes" and attention in social media.

It's also interesting that they are probably not the nine
 I would say were my "best" of the year.

They don't include family or friends or time we spent together (except for a sweet photo of Chloe and Mollie near the end of our time with Chloe) or any of my travels to work in emerging countries or high risk areas here in the US. 
I think these are some of my "best" times.

I guess these are my "prettiest" nine  :)

A new endeavor for Mollie and me this year was a booth at Westside Market in Atlanta. 

You can follow along on Instagram to see what the latest and greatest is in our booth!

This is our Best Nine from Elizabeth and Payne and it is obviously all about the bamboo, blue and white and chinoiserie!

Thank you for following along in 2017.

Wishing everyone a fabulous 2018!!

Come On In! Fall 2017 ORC - The Entryway

The Reveal!

First, let me say that if I had hired me to do this project I would have fired me!!

The indecision. Very un-me.

Major aspects changed. Changed again.

And the number of trips to the fabric store?? 

Seriously. 

Our Entryway really does not look like what I saw in my mind before I got started.

But Come On In!

 And let's see what you think...

A big, chinoiserie monogram welcomes you from the outside.

Looking in from the front door to the family antique chest, thrifted Gampel Stoll bamboo and pineapple mirror and a very heavy elephant garden stool found at an estate sale.

Looking past the mirror and chest toward the door to the family room 

and my very large DIY Audubon bird print.

(The walls are very white. Not pale, mint green!

Looking back across the chest to a piece of Haitian art that has hung in that exact spot

 since I got it over a decade ago. I love it there so it did not get moved.

(The chest is a family antique and it has a few spots and rings here and there,)

Looking from the front door into a previous One Room Challenge, 

our Black is Back Library.

(We unexpectedly refinished our entryway floors for the ORC and the yellow-y library floors will be next! This will help the flow with the vintage Brighton Pavilion bamboo chairs actually being in two different rooms.)

Looking from the Library toward the front door and the mirrored French doors. 

The bamboo shelf replaced the dusty, old hall tree that I did not love!

Looking down from the stairs: Library to the right, front door to the left.

You can go back to each of the previous weeks here:
Week1
Week2
Week 3
Week 4
Week 5
and Week 6 
to read about my plans and many changes. 
I'll be posting some more in the next week or so about where I found some of my great bamboo pieces, why I didn't use any of the fabrics I purchased, how this room changed from one with a lot of fabric possibilities and a gallery wall to a pretty neutral, understated space.
There are some really great deals in this space along with a lot of "shop the house" items!
I plan to share more soon.
Hopefully picture overload does for now - especially since I am just now getting this post out!!
Even though my "reveal" is technically late (and boy, are the reveals I've already scoped out fabulous) I do appreciate the motivation that the Calling It Home Blog provides for me to get a room "finished" in 6 weeks or so. 
I'm excited to have this pretty entryway to decorate for the holidays and then welcome my guests!
Update: Come see this Entryway decorated for the holidays!
Be sure to see what everyone else accomplished as well.

Bamboo Friday #7

Are y'all bored??

I could go on about bamboo - vintage, faux, painted, thrifted, etc. forever.

I just love it. 

I remember it from beach homes of my childhood.

I used to look around the rooms and think how I would decorate if it were my beach house and what color I would paint the faux bamboo headboards in the bedrooms.

See - this is not a new addiction/affliction.

Anyway, the star this week is my "new" coffee table. 
You may have seen it on my Instagram.

Big, almost square vintage-y goodness. 

Plus drawers for storage. 

There's been a little wear here and there,

 but that happens here anyway so we like things with a little "patina" to start with.

She replaced a perfectly good British Colonial Bamboo coffee table that I really liked.

But this one just works better - for propped feet and in a house with 2 big dogs. 

And I like room to spread out my finds on top of my coffee tables.

The last of the hydrangeas - papery and green.

Oyster shells because I am a Lowcountry girl and I love oyster shells. 

Oyster anything, actually.

Blue and white.

A brass crab. 

And it will probably look different next week. 

Big, old bamboo coffee tables are good for that!

Bamboo Friday #6 (Updated)

A little late in the day but I didn't want to miss Bamboo Friday!

Mollie and I are headed to see "Home Again" this weekend. 

We are fans of Nancy Meyers films (and therefore her daughter's debut via this movie) and Reese Witherspoon as well. 

So win, win.

Added bonus is the sets in this movie.

We have seen and heard the hype everywhere and are pumped.

What does this have to do with Bamboo Fridays??

Welllll, according to a recent OKL article , the sets are all things we love.

They are calling the look "polished Bohemia" and whatever you call it - it's blue and white chinoiserie, rattan and, you guessed it, bamboo furniture, ethnic fabrics, white walls. 

Or, in my opinion, perfection!

And I quote, "A bold stripe pops into your peripheral view; a raffia-wrapped daybed becomes just the thing your own living room needs; collections of blue-and-white chinoiserie remind you of the power of a classic finishing touch. Simply put, you can’t see this movie without wanting a little piece of it for yourself. " 

One King"s Lane even has a shopping guide to help one "get the look."

What I love about this look and these sets is that we have many of these items in our home and our booth and the look is easily attained with vintage finds!!

First up, and we were dying to have these chairs BEFORE the movie and the OKL rec, so imagine how much we're all going to want them now!

Brighton Pavilion Bamboo chairs. 

 More bamboo chairs:

and 

bamboo coffee tables and shelves 

I just cannot wait to see this movie and these fabulous rooms on a big screen!!

But, you better grab yourself some rattan and bamboo furniture and blue and white chinoiserie right now because it's going to be bigger than ever. 

And for those of us who have long loved these vintage style pieces we can just feel smug knowing we were ahead of the curve!!

All images above from One King's Lane.

You can see more bamboo goodness on their shopping guide.

Update: 
Mollie and I went to see the movie Sunday night.

Let me preface this with two things: 
1. A couple of people had responded to this blog post and on IG  saying that the stills of the set we had already seen were all you saw of the house and that was disappointing and the movie was just okay. Didn't change anything for me - we were excited to go.
2. I go to movies to be entertained and distracted from real life for a bit. I'm not critical. I don't care about awards. I'm looking for entertainment value when I splurge and go and I like to laugh a little, maybe cry a little and a gorgeous house and scenery are a bonus. Going to the movies is something Mollie and I share as a fun Mother - Daughter thing so I'm already excited about going to a movie.

We loved it. 
We laughed out loud. 
There were serious and touching moments. I don't know if scenarios like this "really happen" but I don't care. I'm not looking for a documentary. I'm looking for delightful and it was. And movies are so built up in advance that sometimes I think that works against them. Not this movie. It's sweet and funny and the characters are people you would like to know.
I want to marry the house. It's gorgeous and the outdoor scenes are fabulous.
And we went to see it at 8:45 on a Sunday night the weekend that the entire state of Florida had evacuated to Atlanta and half the cars in the theatre parking lot had FL tags. And everyone in our theatre was laughing and talking afterwards about how much they adored the movie and the characters and the sets.
So kudos to Nancy Meyers and her daughter Holly for producing a movie that enchanted and distracted an audience from above average every day worries.
Well done.
Mollie and I are considering going to see it again - we can't wait for the DVD!

Finders, Keepers, Elizabeth and Payne

If you follow along here or on Instagram then you know that 
Mollie and I love to go out "finding" 

(thrift stores, estate sales, yard sales, online, in person, the trash... you name it!)

    

We have had some great luck!

 

 

We have found some awesome items.

And for the most part we have been "Finders, Keepers!"

We want to keep going out there and finding.

But we feel that we might be on the verge of moving from "Finders, Keepers"
to being featured on an episode of "Hoarders." 

So we are (slowly, very slowly) in the process of starting to sell our great finds and our chinoiserie artwork.

We have leased a spot of our very own at Westside Market in Atlanta!!
(We might be a little excited!!!)

Please continue to follow my personal feed 
and add @elizabethandpayne to your daily scroll as well.

We know all about branding yourself and not starting a new venture until you have business cards and everything is ready to go with a seamless launch 
BUT that's not how we are rolling. 

(Life is a bit nuts right now).

We have a business plan: Find amazing stuff and sell it for a great price. 
Be nice and fun and ask people to bear with us while we get it together!!

If you are local please pop in and visit our space
 and all the other great vendors at Westside Market!

We started "moving in" to our spot on July 1st! . So many goodies for sale:

(More to come - just getting started!)

Please follow along and we'll have a great time while we figure some of the details out!

( We hope to be able to ship to those of you who aren't local at some point in the near future!
And if anyone has shipping carrier advice, please share. 
We don't want shipping to cost anyone anymore than it has to!)

We have some great items ready to post on @elizabethandpayne so please keep an eye out. 

We will give you a heads up on @madebymolliesmom and @elizabethandpayne 

Now we are "Finders. Sharers!"