HINTS OF CHINTZ!

In a modern chic look, Schumacher's Pyne Hollyhock chintz in charcoal is used for drapery in a city office setting.  The classic fabric is perfectly paired with a Saarinen tulip table, a black painted faux bamboo chair and yellow table lamps in a vignette in the Lonny Magazine offices in New York. (above)

I was reading one of my favorite blogs the other day...

Wait wait wait...I'll interrupt this post for a moment here to clarify a point first... just in case anyone cares....I know I've only written one line of the post...but I feel like it might need clarifying...or maybe I just constantly have a million "asides" going on in my head and instead of staying focused on the story at hand...I've decided to go on yet another tangent...woohooo....here we go...

Pointless clarification begins
I know I am always whining about my lack of time due to my self inflicted busy schedule which includes working a demanding full time job as an executive, maintaining my blog (1-5 hours per post daily (includes research time)) and then running the Nbaynadamas textiles business and shop (a second full time job) and yet I admittedly seem to have time to leisurely read through design blogs? Doesn't seem to match up. Busy busy busy but has time to read blogs? Hmmmmm....? Right? Well the truth of the matter is I don't really have time to read all of the blogs I would like, nor have I really had time for a good book, magazine, newspaper or anything lately (sad but true admission). For the last 6 months, since starting the Nbaynadamas textiles business, I get all of my news from my sis DS, friends NS and AM and my mother...not a formal news brief but when they mention something interesting they have read I definitely note it. So then I feel like I am in the know when someone I'm out with socially mentions a story they've read and if one of my four news hounds has told me about it already and has told me the source, I simply respond and say something like "oh yes, there was a Wall Street Journal article about that"...it is like my news hounds provide the Cliffs Notes of current events for me.  Am I cheating then or is it legitimate?  Cliffs Notes weren't considered cheating...right?  Notice I do not lie (don't believe in that)...I don't say I've read the article...I just state what I heard from my news gals about where they read the article. I know...not impressive...gleaning and syphoning everyday important news stories from family and friends. I know. I know. At least I am honest enough to say...I don't have time to read. I don't. Book lovers please do not hate me. :-)

So that being said, I certainly don't have time to do a good thorough read of anything nowadays...not even time to "read" my guilty pleasure, InTouch magazine which really requires no reading skills at all (don't judge...being honest here about everything including guilty pleasures...sadly I even get info on these important celeb stories from AM and sometimes sis DS (she'll read one here and there at the nail salon)) (aside: I'm not proud of my lack of literary prowess as of late...just being open and honest...hee hee...)  

Pointless clarification ends.

So back to blogs...while I'm not giving my favorite blogs a good thorough read, I check in on some of my favorites from time to time  to see what they have to say about design (see the "Links" tab above for all of my faves).

All of this to say...the other day I was checking out one of my favorite blogs Pure Style Home written by Lauren Liess...she is an interior designer. On her blog, Lauren was showing off a living room project she just completed and chatting about a chintz settee she had upholstered for the project. She mentioned the name of the chintz fabric in her post and I immediately started researching this fabric.

So what is chintz you might ask? I found a definition that says its "glazed or unglazed printed cotton fabric". Vague. Yes. Not very specific indeed. It seems like a chintz could encompass a lot of fabrics. Well I did a little more reading about chintz...apparently its origins are in India from hundreds of years ago and the colorful printed fabrics were often used for drapes in European homes. Okay...a little more specific.

Apparently Lauren used this Schumacher fabric named Pyne Hollyhock Chintz on the settee in her clien'ts living room.  With a little nosing about on the interweb, I found that particular print is definitely all the rage in decor these days. This print is named after a New Jersey heiress known as Nancy "Princess" Pyne who first had the pattern in her New Jersey estate in the 1960s. Years later Schumacher asked if they could reproduce the pattern and tah-dah today the Hollyhock Chintz is hot!

Living room with settee covered in the Schumacher Hollyhock chintz in tobacco from designer Lauren Liess of Pure Style Home blog. (above)

Featured in House Beautiful in 2009, this Albert Hadley designed room in a colonial home features the chintz on a English settee. (above)

A 1960's  image of living room designed by Mr. Hadley uses the original chintz throughout! (above)

The 100% cotton Pyne Hollyhock Chintz from Schumacher. (above and below)

A writing desk in a bedroom with the chintz fabric in charcoal as designed by Joel Woodard Design (above)

I like this chintz.  I feel like it could be used in a variety of spaces or in different styles of homes.  It is a traditional floral pattern fabric but can be made a little more modern as seen in the first photo.

What do you think about this chintz?  Would you use a hint of this chintz in your decor or not?

Happy Tuesday!

xo
Coco

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Write by: AN - Tuesday, August 2, 2011