Perhaps it took the alchemy of François Halard's gorgeous photography in this month's *Architectural Digest* to draw out for me the beauty of Bordure Pompeii.

La salon de la rotunde in Castaing's Lèves Neoclassical home. We see Jacaranda's inspiration. She follows Castaing step for step, pairing an orange border and Bordure Pompeii alongside a pale dreamy blue wall plus gauzy muslin drapery. Jacaranda makes it her own by invigorating the orange and adding an aqua cast to blue of the walls. This room is so extraordinary and captivating. I am in love.

There is so much to love about this room. First of all, the use of Bordure Pompeii within the cornice is such a fabulous layer of complexity. Let's give a salute, also, to the use of dark green tole shades. I am especially in love with the lamps on the mantel - to the point of moving a small-ish pair of my own bouilliottes to my mantel - cords be damned! I notice that Castaing was also a fan of cabbage-leaf ceramics! And, I think I am coming around to bottle green. It's always seemed a tab bit much for me. But, I'm almost there.

Wallpaper Weakness . . . Bordure Pompeii

I have always been a fan of Madeleine Castaing. And, by "always," I mean for at least 8 years now - ever since I figured out that she was the force and mentor behind Jacques Grange (once I knew who he was). Her "Rayure Fleurie" (Floral Stripe) had me at hello, and especially when used in that fabulously chic bedroom in the Parisian apartment that must now be considered Grange's magnum opus, and in the bedroom of Carolina Irving's jaw-dropping Manhattan apartment, or when used by Daniel Romualdez in the dressing room of Tory Burch's Hampton's Georgian stunner, or the chic drapery in salon of Ben Pentreath's Dorset cottage (shared with my gardening nemesis, @McCormickCharlie).

And, although Bordure Pompeii (or "Lola Montez" as re-editioned by Edmond Petit (and Brunschwig & Fils)) is very much the sine qua non of Castaing's beloved neoclassical Lèves home, bordering everything from the cornices to the drapery to Napoleon III "borne" that holds court in the middle of the grand salon and graces the cover of Emily Evans Eerdman's The World of Madeleine Castaing, you really don't get much of it these days. Everyone is way more sold on Rayure Fleurie. And, I get that. And, I'll admit, while I thought Bordure Pompeii charming, I had never given it much consideration before now.

But, let's give Bordure Pompeii it's due: it's #lit. And #fabulous. And #chic.

And, I realized just how much I love it and how simply perfect it is when I saw it this month in Architectural Digest's article on the boho-chic family getaway of Jacaranda Caracciola di Melito Falck. The article reveals that Jacaranda, herself, was highly influenced by Castaing when conceiving the home's interiors. Nowhere is that influence more obvious than in her dining room where she uses Bordure Pompeii to frame the four edges of each wall. The border is laid just inside a rusty orange painted edge and, inside the wallpapered frame, Jacaranda uses a strié of sea-glass blue/aqua that is just perfection. I am a sucker for an aqua-blue + orange color combination and have used it throughout my own home. Maybe that is why this image calls to me.

So, I pulled out my book and began studying Castaing's work more earnestly: What more have I missed? What more can I gain?