Pagoda Headboard

Happy March! 

The sun rose today at 6:16 AM and sets tonight at 5:36 PM. 

Eleven plus hours of glorious sunshine.

Life is good. 

Design and upholstery by Linda Pakravan.

A dear reader asked for the back story on the pagoda-inspired, aka Tall, Exotic, Dramatic, headboard 

in my Library Guest Room project.

I won't get into the actual mechanics of upholstering but
I will share the design evolution/process/fun/torture...depends on your pov.

My original plan called for a fairly common shape.

Colette van den Thillart via Traditional Home

However, months passed by and I did not order it.
And I could not figure out why.

I was my client and I would never pressure a client to order something
they weren't absolutely positively 100% sure of.

Downtown Concord, MA. A post on this.

I finally knew why on a drive through Concord.
One thing New England has in abundance, old cemeteries.

And headstones.

A perfectly fine, time-honored shape.

Aha! I do not want a headstone/headboard in my library/guest room.

Reset. Review headboards. 

Eastern Accents has beautiful, custom upholstered beds and headboards.

The lovely Antoinette.

The Antoinette from Eastern Accents.

Thibaut is one of my go-to's for wallcover and fabric,
and they have a great line of custom furniture
including upholstered headboards.

Thibaut's Daintree on Ridgewood Headboard. An on-trend
mix of taupe and gray.

Thibaut's Pagoda headboard.

I like the pagoda look.
 But more inspiration/research was required. 

Love the bells on this model for a Chinese garden pagoda pavilion. 

A Chinese gilt-metal and cloisonne enamel model of a garden pavilion via Christie's.

Then there's Doris Duke's famous pagoda bed.

The Doris Duke Bed via The Downeast Dilettante

Love this Chinese Chippendale stepped shelving from Bungalow 5.

Pagoda Shelf from Bungalow 5

Then a stop at the mother lode of all things pagoda, Architectural Watercolors

from Andrew Zega and Bernd H. Dams. 

Chinoiserie, their 2008 limited edition book is a treasure and costs one as well.

Their note cards are exquisite and affordable.
I have several.

Chinoiserie dreams from my personal collection.

After plenty more research, it dawns on me that a distinctly Chinoise
pagoda shape is not exactly what I want.

hmm...now what?

Vientiane Ikat is the name of the signature fabric on the windows, bed skirt and bolster.

They must have given it that name for a reason, right?

So I googled Vientiane. It's the capital of Laos! 

I knew that once. A long time ago.
I swear.

Maybe they were inspired by the roofline of this temple in Vientiane.

Finally, I know what I want. 

Tall, exotic, dramatic. 

Not the two-legged variety.
The statement headboard kind. 

Sat down and drew up several designs.
Loved this one.

And commenced upholstering.

Headboard and pillows in white linen from EasternAccents, bolster in Schumacher's Vientiane Ikat and
Schumacher's Madam Wu applique on pillows.

I'm always tweaking the stuff on the shelves.

After re-upholstering the pink chair,

I vowed never to upholster again.
I'm a slow learner. Or selectively amnesic.

However, I now re-vow to never, ever upholster again. 

Right. Just like I ban the news one day and un-ban it the next?

Have a great weekend!

What's your next project?

Thanks for reading.
Linda Pakravan

This post was entirely unsponsored.