It happens to the best of us: 

We spend all summer sweating in record-breaking heat, waiting for crisp fall weather, pumpkin spice lattes and layered outfits. Then after the first few weeks of chilly weather, it’s time to start dreaming about warm weather vacations, sundresses and sipping margaritas in cute espadrilles.

In my case, these sentiments also apply to home decor.

I always had imagined my home being an artistic and sophisticated living space. Moving to New York only supplemented this lifelong decorating fantasy with the mental addition of exposed brick and industrial touches. My mind entertained an apartment featuring neutral West Elm furniture, selvaged vintage medical cabinets, thrifted light and airy accessories.

Which clearly means I am now required to develop an unhealthy obsession with chinoiserie chic decor.

Especially the interior designs of Lilly Pulitzer Home and Meg Braff.

A mainstay of southern and new-traditional decorating, this movement features heavily ornamented prints, fun, bright colors and a light-hearted sensibility. Think a 60′s movie star’s glamorous home in Palm Beach-luxurious, with a kitschy yet stylish quality. Primarily focused on oriental motifs (often the prints/images of typically blue and white pottery) these reoccurring patterns are applied densely to furniture and textiles to produce warm and delicate spaces.

This reworked design vision is a little strange - I have spent years avoiding the cliche Lilly Pulitzer hysteria of the sorority world.

So why does it now feel as if I’m trying to desperately grasp that brightly colored shift dress with crochet trim-mentality, as if it would resuscitate Heath Ledger and my grandmother in the same breath. When I should be assembling outfits compromised of aggressive gladiator wedges, leather leggings, fur and fully sequined tops as per my fellow NYC fashionistas.

Maybe it’s because I’m sub-conciously missing my North Carolina roots?

Possibly because I’ve harbored an affinity for those loud illustrated fish/puppy/turtle/duck/flower prints that make a 40 year old grown woman look like she is going to a preschool picture day (fountain of youth?!) but find them better suited for home furnishings?

Perhaps I’ve just realized that no amount of stark decor could make our apartment double in size with neutral, airy window sheers, so I might as well fully upholster the bitch in ikat and toile from floor to ceiling instead?

Regardless of rhyme or reason, I’ve fallen in love with the timeless, preppy, quality of this decor-fad.

 But you honestly never know- I could wake up one day and start planning a stark, classy home with tiny pops of color and beige on beige on beige on beige everything. Most likely, one week after I move back to the South.

After all, the chinoiserie is always brighter on the other side.