No More Granny Wicker!

 

It’s amazing how something as simple as a new finish can come along and make everything else look so dated and out of style.  Lately, this phenomenon has happened to wicker.  Suddenly, gray wicker – or a gray washed wicker - has exploded on the scene and all other wicker stains and finishes look so…. granny.   

No one loves wicker more than I do – especially dark, deep brown stained wicker.  But, that’s all over now.   The end of dark brown wicker came when I started noticing the gray wicker finish here and there.   I also used to love white wicker.   No more.   Does anyone out there want to buy some white and dark brown wicker?    I’ve got a few pieces for sale!

 

 

My guest room – yep, there it is, hiding its ugly face in the corner!  A dark brown stained wicker chair, just waiting to be replaced.  It thinks if it keeps hiding it will go unnoticed. 

 

 

And oh, I used to love white wicker.  No more.  Sold to the highest bidder!

 

 

Ah…there she is.  The most gorgeous wicker chair in the world.  Gray wicker.  It’s color is subtle:  light brown with a hint of a whitish gray paint covering it.  This chair is perfect either inside or out.   I especially love it in a dining room paired with a limed wood table.

 

 

Just like this!  Jill Brinson’s gorgeous dining room.   The chairs look especially good when placed near the gray faux finished cabinets.   PERFECTION!

 

 

These gorgeous chairs were seen in the Kirby Mears designed house in Veranda.   They are sold at Thompson Hanson in Houston as “Belgian Wicker.” 

 

 

Brooke Giannetti of Velvet and Linen pairs her gray wicker with grayish old shutters.   So beautiful!

 

 

The same chairs then go outside on Brooke’s gravel courtyard.  

 

 

Houston interior designer Sally Wheat used these gray wicker chairs in a breakfast room – paired with a Wisteria steel table. 

 

 

In this house, Sally Wheat used the gray wicker with painted legs as bar stools.  

 

 

 

For this client, Sally took a paint brush to white wicker, turning it luscious gray.  Hmm.   That’s not a bad idea!!!

 

 

 

Heaven on earth!  I ordered three sets of three wicker baskets – all heavenly gray. 

 

 

  The smallest sized basket sits on my kitchen counter – filled with take out menus.

 

 

  The medium sized basket on my bakers rack holds Elisabeth’s school books.

 

 

My Albans client is borrowing a set of the baskets until she finds a Mora clock for that wall. 

 

 

Noir Furniture LA is a great wholesale company for this chair.   Doxa Home HERE carries this chair for retail clients.

 

 

 

 

 

Of course Restoration Hardware is all over the gray wicker.  They call it their Provence Collection.  And of course the French would want credit for this gorgeous wicker. 

 

 

  Restoration Hardware:  It is a pretty collection.  Not as fluid or sensual as the chairs with curved lines though.

 

 

Restoration Hardware:  These make great chairs for the inside dining room.

 

 

 

 

OKA – the best catalogue in the world.  They get it.   HERE.

 

 

Pottery Barn – you need to wise up.  These two shades are out, finished, over, done-with, out of style.   Get with the program, Pottery Barn!

 

 

While I am dying to get with the program myself – and change out all my wicker to the new gray - for the moment, I am going small.  I recently bought two tiny gray wicker baskets with filled with succulents at Thompson Hanson (of course!)    For now, I will be happy with my small nod to the new gray wicker.   Ben is hoping this will get me through the trend.   Somehow, I doubt it.   But – we’ll see!!!  It might!

 

 

 For now, I will be happy with my small nod to the new gray wicker.   Ben is hoping this will get me through the trend.   Somehow, I doubt it.   But – we’ll see!!!  It might!

 

 

REMEMBER:   PVE Design give away ends on Saturday -  hurry and sign up!!!!

Readers Go Kooboo Crazy

                                                     

 After writing about these Kooboo wicker chairs a few times, an alert reader informed me that Cost Plus World Market sold them for just $149 (and sometimes they are on sale for even less!)  This price is hundreds of dollars less than the Kooboo chairs which are claimed to come from Belgium.   Maybe some do actually come from Belgium, but I don’t see why you have to pay so much more for something that basically looks the same.

 

An alert reader sent me the link to this chair – $149.99 – amazing!  HERE.

 

Even the magazine Country Living seemed to get it all wrong in this beautiful cover shot this month.

 

The credits say these two chairs are from Restoration Hardware, $595 each.   To me, they look like the Kooboo chairs that are sold wholesale by companies like Artesia.  BTW, isn’t that daybed cute?   A few more cute ones from the same company HERE, and HERE.

 

 

This is the closest Kooboo chair at Restoration Hardware that I could find – nothing at all like those shown in the Country Living magazine.  AND BTW, been to Restoration Hardware lately?  The one in my neighborhood was recently remodeled – all dark walls and moody, low lighting.  It’s absolutely gorgeous.  Gorgeous!  Go visit if you haven’t lately.

 

I’ve loved these chairs for years, after first seeing them in Cynthia Davis’ house in Country Home.   Gorgeous!

 

I recently noticed on Cynthia’s blog, Indulge Décor, that her dining room has changed quite a bit with a new faux bois table, crystal chandelier, and wonderful lamps.   Amazing this is in Houston, it’s so Belgium looking!   Just gorgeous – makes my mouth drool!!!!   This picture really illustrates how important texture is in a room – how much more interesting a room is with lots of different textures.  It shows how a crystal chandelier can dress up any spot and how versatile these chairs truly are.  Read Cynthia’s blog HERE.

 

After learning about the $149 chairs at Cost Plus, I wondered aloud on the blog what my breakfast room would like with the wicker chairs instead of these smaller French ones.

 

 

Two readers actually sent me photoshopped pictures of what my breakfast room would like  - here’s one view.

 

And another photoshopped view – amazing how accurate these pictures really are!   Based on these two drawings, I bit the bullet and bought the chairs.   Although I first purchased the more expensive and larger ones from Pottery Barn which ended up outside in the back yard.  

 

 

 

And here are the final Cost Plus Kooboo chairs in my breakfast room.

 

 

  And the Pottery Barn chairs outside.  To read an analysis of the two chairs, go HERE.  After I showed my new chairs, I got email from readers who had also bought them!   Here are their pictures, perhaps they will inspire you.

 

 

Karen sent me this picture of her cute breakfast room.   She bought a few Kooboo chairs to mix in, but is now saving for two more to put around her table. 

 

This reader, Robyn, sent in a picture of her dining room.  I was taken by how cute her table was!  She said she had it custom made, copied from a table at Mecox.  The reader said the table was very reasonable – much cheaper than the one at Mecox.   Think about having something custom made – a lot of times it IS cheaper than what is found in the design store.

 

This reader lives in a townhouse in Houston – she sent me this picture of her Kooboo chairs.

 

Another view – I love how she painted the back of her shelves the dark gray and added the sconces – makes the shelves so much more custom looking.   This reader has a vacation house in Santa Fe and she went to buy Kooboo chairs there, but the Cost Plus chairs were sold out until September – they must be really popular in New Mexico!

 

 

 

  This reader bought these chairs to put around her French dining room table.  She sent this picture last Christmas to show how they looked, along with her new seagrass rug, lamps and curtains.

 

  In each chair, she had lumbar pillows made of the Riad fabric from Windsor Smith for Kravet.

 

  I recently begged a friend to change out her French rush seat chairs for these!   She had just updated her kitchen with new black matte granite and white subway tiles.  She added two great looking polished nickel pendant lights from Restoration Hardware, but her breakfast room needed a little tweaking.   We removed a large pine bookshelf and replaced it with a British Colonial style console, new lamps and mirrors and the chairs.  It looks like a completely new room with the Kooboo chairs. 

 

 

All in the family!   I had to laugh.  My daughter Elisabeth is moving into an apartment this year at school.   She’s working on floor plans (oy!) and shopping the internet.  Last night she came home all excited about the slipcover sofas at Ikea.  I kid you not!  “Mom!!  They are so cheap!!”    I know, I know!   She picked up a few baskets to get her decorating started (naturally she just had to buy something) – and here’s what she bought.  Four Kooboo wicker baskets.  The small ones were around $5 while the larger ones were $10.     I just smiled thinking about how I was writing this article about Kooboo, while she’s out buying these baskets.  I want her to buy the Kooboo chairs for her dining table. but she prefers the slipcovered ones from Ikea.  

Thanks to all the readers for sending in your pictures!   I’m accumulating a lot of kitchen redos which I will show soon – so if you have a great kitchen redo – send it to my email:  mrballbox329@aol.com

 

 

My Virtual Beach House

All this talk about beach houses and Galveston and hurricanes and linen slipcovers has really got me thinking. How would I, an interior designer, (or interior decorator if ASID is listening!) design my own beach house? The problem is, as I've told you before, I love two different styles of designs - cluttered and sparse. While, the cluttered look has won out at home, would I be able to decorate a beach house with a clean, spare vibe? Even playing around with a virtual beach house design, I can't seem to commit to one or the other style. So, I've put together two looks for a beach house that if I was buying one, this is how it might look. Vote in the comment section for the look you like best.

Look #1 - The Cluttered Beach House:

For House #1 - I would use a blue and white striped dhurri as the starting off point. The floors would be dark hardwoods, the walls a light grayish white.

The sofa would be clean lined, slipcovered in white linen, of course!

The two side chairs will be these English inspired, ikat covered ones from Suzanne Rheinstein.

This red chinoiserie table is the coffee table.

Across from the sofa would be these two bobbin chairs.

In between the two chairs will be this antique wine cooler table - perfect to cool down a bottle after a summer day.

The curtains would be made of this Bennison Fabric as would the pillows on the sofa.

And more pillows by Bennison.

This bench would go under the windows, covered in the Rheinstein Ikat.

The open bar: this Spanish table would be piled high with liquor bottles and glasses, silver trays and ice buckets.

This delightful set of 4 watercolors from the Chinoiserie series are the work of the wonderful artist Harrison Howard. These would go above the bar/Spanish console. To see more of Mr. Howard's work, please be sure to visit his web site!!

This lantern from 1st Dibs would hang over the living room.

A gateleg table for cards.

Surrounded by these wicker chairs.

This huge bookcase would be filled with books and globes and blue and white porcelains.

Tons of blue and white everywhere!

And a collection of old globes.

And books.

An antique clock for the wall.

Tortoise shells and boxes everywhere - on the walls and on tabletops.

This collection of boats would go on top of the bookcase.

The dining table would be this large antique French wine tasting table.

With chairs slipcovered like this all the way around it, in the ikat fabric.

A round bullseye mirror next to the table.

Another lantern for the over the dining room table.

Look #2 - The Uncluttered Beach house

The aqua and white dhurri will be the starting point here - walls light aqua, floors painted white.

This large Bobby McAlpine sofa - slipcovered in white linen.

Over the sofa - a starburst mirror.

Flanking the sofa, these two Swedish chests.

Two Chelsea Editions chairs and ottoman across from the sofa.

Between the two chairs -19th c. Painted Refraichissoir

Under the window- a Swedish day bed in check fabric.

These four prints from Harrison Howard, two on each side of the armoire below. See his web site for more of his fabulous work!

Holding the TV - Swedish armoire.

Shells, everywhere.

Big Checks for the pillows, upholstery.

Small Checks: curtains, pillows, slipcovers.

Chest to double as the bar.

Old cartoon - over the chest above.

Antique bird cage.

A painted chest over chest in the living area.

A Mora clock, of course!

The game table, white washed table with wicker chairs.

Sconces - gorgeous, from 1st Dibs.

In the dining room, a Swedish cabinet filled with white ironstone.

For the dining room cabinet - white ironstone or creamware - depending on the budget!

Mix white books with ironstone.

Steel dining room table.

Swedish Chairs, in check, Chelsea Editions.

Which look do you prefer, the English influenced cluttered look recapped below:

Or the spare, Swedish inspired, clean, white and aqua look?