Decorating with Blue and White Chinoiserie

Blue and white chinoiserie decor is a great way to add a touch of elegance to your home. You don’t have to invest in expensive Chinese porcelain ginger jars to incorporate their style into your decorating.

What is chinoiserie?

Chinoiserie is a decorative European style that imitates the design and art of Asian countries, particularly that China and Japan. First appearing as early as the early 1600’s, even though you might think this developed in China, chinoiserie is a European creation. You will find oriental scenes, stylized bird and flower motifs expressed in chinoiserie patterns on more than just vases and jars, to include wallpaper, fabric, artwork and more. The possibilities are endless.

Don’t think of chinoiserie as cultural appropriation, however. During the rise of the popularity of chinoiserie it was not the goal to copy Asian art, it was the desire of the European’s curiosity of a culture and country to which few traveled.

This post contains some affiliate links for your convenience.  If you click on any of the links in this post, I may get a small commission that will in no way affect the price of anything you might purchase. Click here to read my full disclosure policy.

You don’t need to use extraordinary care when mixing colors with your blue and white chinoiserie pieces, as they tend to go well with many different colors. Here I set a blue and white table and used the bright green chrysanthemums as a contrast. I have even seen chinoiserie incorporated into a red bedroom.

These beautiful pieces work particularly well with orange, so autumn is a great time to put them to use throughout your home incorporating a range of fall color.

I used a blue & white napkin with a more ornate pattern on this red, white and blue tablescape.

Chinoiserie is certainly not reserved for tablescapes. Here is my dark blue sofa in my living room with the chinoiserie lamps I use on my end tables.

You can incorporate chinoiserie by arranging flowers in any blue & white container like the one above that I picked up at Home Goods. The good news is you can mix different patterns like I have on the table above. I used several different chinoiserie style vases to display bright pink peonies on this table.

During the holidays I like to fill my extra large chinoiserie vases with evergreen boughs. You can see more of this on my holiday home tour.

If you are looking for more inspiration for incorporating chinoiserie into your home decorating, take a look at the Southern Living Idea House from a couple of years ago! You will find little chinoiserie accents everywhere!

Here are some great options for you to add chinoiserie to your interior!

Which one Wednesday?

High end chinoiserie choices:

Chinoiserie lamp – $509.15
Koi pillow – $80.00
Blue peacock pillow – $103.50
Set of 4 appetizer plates – $119.96
Chinoiserie ginger jar – $89.00

Grand total of the high end products: $901.61

Low end chinoiserie choices:

Chinoiserie lamp – $52.99
Pillow cover – $9.98
Pillow cover – $12.99
Set of 4 appetizer plates – $69.95
Chinoiserie ginger jar – $29.00

Grand total of the lower end products: $174.91