The New Chippendale

I've always loved Chippendale chairs. Not the Chippendale chairs that were your mom's or the ones that come as part of a set at your local home store. While they are great chairs with great style and bones, they don't have any personality when they are left in their traditional state.

I love any variaration of the Chippendale chair when it is done is a great color. Windsor Smith and Schuyler Samperton are two designers who like to have fun with the chair. Windsor Smith has done the chair in a great glossy white and the oxblood red. She uses it in casual spaces like the kitchen or around a fabulous non-matching table to give the room personality. One of the first times I noticed Schuyler Samperton was when her LA apartment was featured by Elle Decor. She also used a variation of the Chippendale in an oxblood red. It was gorgeous and made me remember her as a designer to watch.

Windsor Smith via www.windsorsmithhome.com

They are so popular now that they are hard to find. But, alas Noir Furniture has created a fun and affordable version. They come in distressed brown or unfinished (I believe they are only available to the trade but the best part is they are affordable). They also come in armchair and sidechair versions.

They are so gorgoeous yet fun. I would buy the unfinished and paint them glossy white or black for a casual but contemporary look. They would also be drop dead gorgous in a gold leaf or silver leaf for a more formal space. Chairs, you will be mine (or one of my clients) soon!

What's old is new again

History repeats itself and interior design is no exception.  

I found a fabulous book that was published sometime in the sixties, House and Garden's Complete Guide to Interior Decoration, and was shocked to see many similarities in today's designs.  

I was having flashbacks of Domino as I looked at these images.  

 

A lot of blue but notice the garden stools, chinois metal table, white bamboo mirror and white bamboo Chippendale chair.  

Again, white painted Chippendale chairs with a parsons table.  Looks a lot like something Windsor Smith would design.  Love the large cabinet on the far wall.  

Typical entryway of today's shelter magazines.  Vermilion parsons table with large urns/vases and Asian inspired side chairs.  Notice the stuffed animal head which is so popular again.

(I should know the name of the animal pictured, as my eight year old is a walking encyclopedia of animals. Maybe I should pay more attention to him when he's telling me the names). 

Bedroom with fabric covered walls, graphic print rug and python end table. Everything in this room is current except for the lamp.  

This is the adjoining office to the bedroom. Again, everything here but the lamp could be featured in one of today's shelter magazines.  This room screamed Domino. 

Dark floors, zebra rug, white sofa, metal tray table, dark ceiling beams, french chair, and pops of red.  Need I say more?

Minus the fur rug, this rooms screams Metropolitan Home. 

 
Again, switch out the painting and you have a room from 2009.  

Classics are classics.  Each generation just reinvents or tweaks them slightly to fit their lifestyle.