Chinese Garden of Virtue Mood Board

Chinese Garden of Virtue Mood Board

Our Chinese Garden of Virtue rug can be regarded as the ultimate ‘neutral’ choice for your home. The warm grey base has a shimmering gold border, both shades can potentially be teamed with a vast choice of bright and bold colours. The design details in the motifs are positive and noticeable, with classic, rich colours.

I found this glorious bed whilst ‘researching’ ideas for a new bed for our home (daydreaming is another word for it!), and was struck by how beautiful this would look alongside our Chinese Garden of Virtue designer rug. The aqua and teal shades in the rug would resonate when sitting alongside this bedstead, which is upholstered in luxurious cotton velvet and deigned by Bethan Gray for Anthropologie, which has to be one of my very favourite stores.

Needless to say, finding one ornate bed led me on to looking at others, and I landed upon something completely different, but which I can still imagine alongside our Chinese Garden of Virtue rug. Colour-wise, I think that as we could consider the grey base and gold border of the rug as neutrals, we can also allocate that ‘neutral’ status to this amazing hand-carved bed. It’s carved from rose wood, and is each is individually made, there can be some shade variation. It looks stunning with cool, laid-back ivory bed linen, as is shown in the picture here, but imagine it with an even more dramatic look, teamed with intense shades of jewel-coloured bed linen – perhaps a velvet throw or faux fur cushions. If you’re looking for endless shades of velvet for interior projects, look no further than the collection of velvets from JAB Anstoetz. There is literally no colour that can’t be matched to any rug or piece of furniture, the colour choice is astonishing!

The combination of ornate sweeping curves and intricate details, as demonstrated in the Chinese Garden of Virtue rug, cries out for a contrasting approach to furniture. So once again I headed to Anthropologie, where I found this Optical Inlay Nine-Drawer Dresser.  As with many of my favourite pieces, this has an oriental feel, it’s inlaid with bone and has brass trims. And of course, the brass trims tone beautifully with the gold border of the rug.

I love contrasts, and this Maisons du Monde Versailles chest would work well with this particular rug; especially in a room with dark features – whether it’s a fireplace or other dark/black details. If you think that this is too much of a bold statement in black, it also comes in a natural mango wood finish (which confusingly, is called Whitewash!) and a regular painted White finish.

If a large chest or dresser is too much of a commitment, think about a bedside table, such as this little Columbus number from Swoon Editions. And of course, the lovely thing about buying a little table like this is it’s versatility … it can be a bedside table, a lamp table in the living room or just a useful addition in the hall or on the landing. For other good occasional table suggestions, try Cult Furniture.

A large new purchase, such a furniture item or rug, may turn your thoughts (well, my thoughts, definitely!) towards smaller accessories. I’ve admired Pooky’s designs for a while now, and thought that the Otto lamp base in black would be a good addition to this moodboard. There’s a choice of lamp shades available, to pick up or emphasise the brighter colours of Chinese Garden of Virtue.

I’ve been very drawn to rich leafy, olive greens over the last few months, there are some spectacular wallpapers and fabric around, especially with palm and monstera designs – look at Palm Leaves from the New Contemporary collection by Cole & Son. I also love the Xinsong wallpaper from Feathr.com, which comes in four great neutrals – Dusk, Snow, Copper and Original – all or any of which would sit beautifully as a background to the Chinese Garden of Virtue rug. The one shown here, however is a fabric from Christian Lacroix – Goya Vert Buis, from TM Interiors,  perfect for a pair of full-length curtains to act as a backdrop.

This black and white fabric seems very traditional at first glance – I love the traditionally drawn Oriental flower and leaf motifs; however the modern squiggles add another influence completely! This is also available from TM Interiors, and would be a striking choice for a bedroom chair, footstool or bed-end ottoman.

This Geisha Prisme cushion has such an crazy mix of colours, patterns and details that it’s almost impossible to describe; however, it’s another super idea from the Maison Christian Lacroix collection, inspired by Japanese vintage textiles, and is part of the Designers Guild collection.

On my quest for bedlinen suggestions, I came across the Leighton bed set from Oasis. Not only is the ‘main’ pattern glorious in teal with dramatic foliage and floral designs, the reverse, in a less dramatically patterned ochre, just as lovely. Definitely one for the list and perfect with our Chinese Garden of Virtue rug.

And once again for that stunning Geisha Prisme design – it’s available as fabric by the metre, so could be used for upholstery, blinds and drapes; perfectly echoing the colours and stylistic flavours of our Chinese Garden of Virtue rug.

And finally … two stunning flourishes to any room scheme, but particularly suited to this Chinese Garden of Virtue moodboard. Hopefully they will inspire you, too! Firstly, the Nanny rocking chair from Att Pynta is an ageless classic and will look just as good in a contemporary space as in a more traditional scheme. Almost the same could be said about the gorgeous Esty Dusty pink Velvet Bench, also from Att Pynta.

Thanks for reading, Wendy x

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