mother of pearl vintage antique Chinese panel phoenix home blogger leopard print carpet woman standing in yellow dress- discussing antiques and ebay finds on the blog

Trending: Oriental Screens and Room Dividers

I love seeing oriental screens mounted on the wall! I want to share some inspirational rooms I’ve seen with this trend (which I think will be a classic look) and talk about how we mounted this heavy almost 100 pound panel on the wall.

mother of pearl vintage antique Chinese panel phoenix home blogger leopard print carpet woman standing in yellow dress- discussing antiques and ebay finds on the blog

Vintage panel: eBay (similar, red panel with mother of pearl) / Dress: Privacy Please from Revolve / Slides: Louis Vuitton / Louis Vuitton Cuffs: here and here  / Leopard wool carpet: Contact K Design

T
his is not the final place for my vintage screen I bought of eBay, it’s actually going to be mounted on the wall and I will show you the process on how we got it up!

I grew up with beautiful oriental furniture around as my parents have furniture from my grandma and also bought nice pieces. This was just the way I grew up and I think anyone with Asian parents might have a similar experience seeing oriental furniture around their home. I never thought anything of it, but certainly my friends parents homes didn’t look like ours. I know I don’t have to say it, but I’m going to just to encourage you – no matter what your cultural background is, you can enjoy any and every culture’s art, pieces, and display them! We have Native American made art in Benjamin’s office we picked up from our time in the Yellowstone area, my dad’s traveling souvenirs from all around the world including China and New Zealand. I have Russian dolls gifted from a friend who visited when I was a little girl (I remember him).

I am reading a design book called The Principals of Pretty Rooms, and she describes her style as “pretty” and I like that. I also love Southern and have been enjoying seeing oriental screens, panels mounted on the walls for the past few years instead of used as a room divider – but I also love seeing them used as a room divider too.


Here are some examples in the design world I want to share and also discuss the the cost you can expect to pay and what is a good price if you begin your search!


^ Cathy Kincaid, link to story and image source

^ James T. Farmer, link to story and image source, pick up his book Arriving Home: A Gracious Southern Welcome

^James T. Farmer, link to original story and image source on TheGlamPad.com

How to mount an oriental panel to the wall

Now that I might have convinced you that you need an oriental panel as art to make a huge statement in a room, you may wonder how to you hang a 100 lb. oriental room divider panel on the wall without it ripping off the wall as soon as you let go. Me too. I thought about wrapping wire around the hinges and using two heavy duty hooks. Hm, maybe it would have worked for 5 seconds until I let go or the hinge gave out.

Thankfully one of my girlfriend’s brother-in-law just started a new business that specializes in carpentry, handyman work and electrical and he can do it all! So I had an idea of some sort of ledge for support, and he made it better and came up with more ideas and solutions and here’s what happened! iPhone photos –

A ledge was made and mounted into the wall studs.

Behind the panel where the hinges are, a board was mounted with wire behind to twist to the front around the hinges – or through the hinges if there’s room, so you don’t see it, and twisted and clipped at the top to secure the panel from tipping forward. Ta-da!

No, Benjamin didn’t dye his hair, this is Nick who helped and created the ledge and made it super powered. I had to help lift and it wasn’t that hard! We just had to unscrew (we as in, Nick) the screws a bit to bring out the ledge a bit further out and the legs just popped in there tightly. I am so thankful for Nick and his ideas and how quickly he made this happen – if you are in the Phoenix area and looking for help around your home with electrician work, carpentry, call Nick, he’s a former Marine and it’s a family run business. Just don’t make him too busy because I need him to help me around here, haha. Click here.

Now that I have it up I can change the leopard pillows because now that’s not going to work and I also need to increase my pillow size so I ordered 30×30 down pillow inserts on Amazon, per recommendation of my friend Brandy Jackson, and we’ll see how that looks works. I just ordered two for the outside then head to Etsy to have a cover custom made. It will be a slow process but just how I like to work on my layered home – unrushed and enjoying the search.

Of course I now need to work on the rest of the room.

How much to expect to pay for a oriental panel room divider

There are some oriental dividers you can find second hand for around $250 which might be worn and have more of an etched look to it opposed to what I have, but it might be colorful and beautiful. Worn is of course welcome around here because it’s vintage and has character, just don’t want it too banged up! But the more you go into more details like mother of pearl, you can expect to pay around $750-$4,000. You may not want to pay $4,000, neither do I, so I don’t look at those.

When I look for things I want, it depends on how badly I want it or can find something which will determine if I have a budget for it or not – if I really like it and I find one I must have, I don’t care how much it is (within reason) and I find ways to save in another area of my home, which is why I love to thrift!

I would say about $450 would be a decent price to find a panel, if you can find one you truly like.  But this means it has to be local to your area, if not, expect to pay $200-$300 for shipping and that’s the way it is. I would budget around $1,000 for a great panel, and think of it as artwork. I have seen panels for much cheaper that are decent if it’s your design style and material for around $300 or under at Estate Sales and thrift stores. I have also seen a stunning one at a thrift store for $800 and it actually sold for that so it depends on the materials and what it is worth to you. You never know what might show up at your local Goodwill too, I saw some oriental furniture there but I didn’t need it but a coffee table was like $30!

Where to look –

  • eBay
  • Offer Up
  • Facebook Marketplace
  • Estate Sale (photos)
  • Online Estate sales

Keywords to use for your search

  • Chinese screen
  • Chinese panel
  • Asian room divider
  • Oriental screen
  • Oriental room divider
  • Oriental panel
  • Chinoiserie

The only thing that ever matters to me is if you like it. That’s how I select my artwork, if it speaks to you, makes your heart skip a beat and almost brings tears to your eyes when you lay eyes on it, GET IT. If you like it, that’s all that matters – and maybe the price tag too. *wink*

Do you have any oriental screen panels in your home? What kind of artwork are you into right now?


Diana Elizabeth needs to style her bookcase in front of her office desk. It took her a long time to style the bookcases alongside the Murphy bed in the expansion room just right (and she needs to share it again) so she’s kind of wondering how long this will take to get just right.

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Diana Elizabeth is an author, photographer, and obsessive thrift shopper. You can typically find her in the garden wrist deep in dirt, at a local estate sale or planning her next creative themed party. She continues to blog weekly.

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