A serendipitous conversation with a client recently led me to develop an unexpected color scheme. While we were chatting, I discovered that she had Richard Ginori fine china, as did I. When I found out that her pattern was cobalt blue, I immediately knew that the new scheme we were preparing for her new house had to make that china feel at home. The wrong color scheme could have made her never want to use that gorgeous china! Her entire first floor is interconnected, so I needed to work off of that blue, but not necessarily take blue into every room.

Here is a photo of the blue and white china I pulled from my collections, so that I could work on her colors in my office.

Blue and White Russian China

Notice from the following photo that the fabrics don’t need to be cobalt, or exactly matching the china. They just need to speak the same language. They have tones that live harmoniously together. See the blue satin fabric for the chairs next to the china? Now, when that Richard Ginori blue and white comes out on the table, and the blue satin chairs are pulled up to candlelight, everything will just sing! It will look as though we actually planned it!

Blue Satin Fabric with Blue China

It also happens that we used a wonderful tomato red wallpaper in another recent dining room, and that client is asking for my advice about which new china pattern to choose.

Gorgeous red and gold wall paper for dining room

She has found a lovely Lenox tomato red with gold accents. My advice was, “Good find. This will look great there.” See the china she selected:

A beautiful Lenox china pattern

Lenox Service Plate

In cases like these two, where we are starting our rooms from scratch, it definitely makes sense to take the china pattern into account! Here is John’s and my Richard Ginori pattern.

Still my favorite China pattern!

It looks great in our yellow dining room, but if I were starting from scratch, and I wanted to build the room around this place setting, I would probably unearth a fabulous Etruscan red wallpaper!

Make everything sing! What an orchestra your rooms can be.

I’ve never been one for what I call “matchy-matchy”. I let my artistic design eye rule; and, like a painter, I step back, look at my canvas, peruse my palette and let her rip.

For instance, in this kitchen, I found 2 different antique chandeliers in 2 different cities, in 2 different years. One went near the sink, the other over the family kitchen dining area. They add so much panache to the room. You can tell that they weren’t picked from a catalog and ordered. This gives instant history to the room, warmth and individuality.

Antique iron chandelier, photo: Sam Gray

This French style piece gives great weight to the dining table.

French style iron chandelier. Photo: Sam Gray

The following seaside living room doesn’t have a matching side table or matching lamp, and yet it still looks pulled together.

Seaside Living Room. Design: Sally Wilson. Photo: Robert Brown