Wedding China and A Dream Dining Room

Like Doris Duke in her music room and Tory Burch in her foyer before me, I too dream of hand painted Chinese wallpaper panels in my home. Specifically I have always dreamed of using them in my formal dining room, so of course now that I am in bridal registry mode, I turned to my dream decor scheme in order to  put together my formal table.

Unlike so many of my fellow young brides who rarely stray from silver or platinum, I wanted to choose a china  pattern that had gold tones to complement the warmth of some of my favourite decorative elements:  gilding, ormolu and crystal. (Who doesn't picture a divine crystal chandelier in their dining room, and wouldn’t this Lobmeyr version be fabulous!) 

When looking at some of my favourite Gracie wallpaper designs, I am always drawn to the soothing pale blue tones I see. Blue is such a universal and timeless colour, so I was not scared to explore that as an accent hue for my formal wedding china.

After doing some online research and fawning over the table setting I saw at Neiman’s, I was pleased to discover that  William Ashley carried Bernardaud’s Elysee pattern, a design that provided me with both a soothing colour and gold elements. The traditional motif features a wash of a stunning shade of blue with an 18-karat yellow gold palm border and dates back to 1832.  I love it because it is so dainty and pretty while still having the grounding of a more masculine grounding colour you’d see in a man’s suit or tie.

I also fell for the coordinating charger, with its simple bands of gold framing the pure blue pigment. To tease out the blue from the table setting, I would use Stark’s blue greek key broadloom to cut the perfect size area rug. An elegant antique trumeau mirror would complement the old world appeal of the china and add soft reflectivity.  To add to the lustre of my fantasy dining room, I would use Philip Jeffrie’s gold leaf paper as an accent on the ceiling, perhaps within the coffers because my fantasy dining room wouldn’t skimp on those types of architectural details…