Style Essential: Turquoise Lamps

Tobi Fairley

I've expressed my love of turquoise on this blog before, but I think one of the easiest ways to bring this bright, fun (and admittedly a bit trendy) hue into your home is through lighting. Prior to becoming an interior design amateur, I readily admit that I frequently ignored lighting. It just didn't seem important. Now though, I'm starting to believe that it might be the single most important element in a room. From a practical standpoint, good light is essential to good (and functional) design. From an aesthetic perspective, lighting (much like jewelry) can take the ordinary and inexpensive and transform it into something glorious. And so, as with jewelry, I'm a big believer in splurging on good lighting for a space.

But is the splurge worth it for a pair of turquoise lamps? I'd argue yes. Turquoise is perhaps unique among bright hues in its ability to work with a variety of colors. When paired with neutrals, turquoise accents are really allowed to take center stage. When paired with other equally bright colors (like purple, orange or green), turquoise is strong enough to really hold its own. I've said it before and I'll say it again: you should think of turquoise as a neutral.

Ondine Karady

I absolutely adore how Ondine paired these deep turquoise lamps with orange and that gorgeous suzani coverlet. The disparate color palette works because the walls are left neutral and all of the accent colors are equally saturated.

Meg Braff

This room deservedly made the cover of House Beautiful a few months ago. The pops of soft blue work beautifully with the beige, but I think my favorite element in this space is the pairing of the striped wallpaper with the chinoiserie print (Lyford background by China Seas) and just that ever so subtle hit of zebra print on the throw pillows. It's a veritable master class in how to mix patterns.

Sally Steponkus

I love how the lamp is the only bright color in this vignette. The peacock blue also picks up on the blue undertones of the wall paint.

Bonesteel Trout Hall

In this room, turquoise is the primary accent color as its picked up in the majority of the soft furnishings, the lamps and in the artwork. I think turquoise is a great color choice for a master bedroom, as I think it appeals to both masculine and feminine sensibilities, especially when its paired with clean lines and little pattern as its done here.

Palmer Weiss

I've waxed on about my love for this room in the past, but suffice it to say here that I'm still completely in love with these soft turquoise glass lamps, especially against the rich chocolate brown grass cloth on the walls.

Meg Braff

Aside from the brilliant red of the roses, the pair of lamps on the buffet are the sole source of color in this room.

Jamie Drake

I love the height of this lamp, which really helps bridge the gap between the low furniture and the ceiling. The bright, citrus yellow of the walls can be tough to work with, but in the hands of Jamie Drake, the room feels sophisticated and grown-up, largely thanks to neutral furnishings, accented only by a few pops of turquoise in the lamp and throw pillows. The art work above the sofa ties the entire color palette together.

Kristen Panitch

In this bedroom, I love how the bold turquoise of the lamp is picked up on the peacock-inspired throw pillow on the bed. By repeating this strong hue, the choice appears deliberate rather than accidental.

Melissa Warner of Massucco Warner Miller

This vignette, featured in the most recent issue of House Beautiful, is truly stunning. Not only do I adore the simple ceramic gourd lamp from Restoration Hardware, but just about every other element in here as well. I love how the detail in the cabinet doors is picked out in the soft blue and how the colors are picked up on the art work, which appears heavily influenced by the work of Rene Magritte, one of my favorite artists.

Jeffers Design Group

You can't get much prettier than this vintage Murano glass lamp. The blues in this bedroom are all very different, yet they work together beautifully. Don't be afraid to mix and match shades of the same color. The effect is eclectic, without being cacophonous.

Phoebe Howard

The sea glass look of this large gourd lamp is the perfect -- and subtle -- beachy accent for this bedroom. Take a cue from Mrs. Howard and avoid filling this type of glass lamp with tchotchkes. I don't know why retailers are always encouraging this as I find the look to be entirely too cluttered (and the likely filler here, sand and shells, would take this room into theme territory).

If you're looking to bring a little turquoise light into your life, here are my top ten favorite that are currently available at retail:

Source List (from top left): 1. Art Glaze Floral Relief Lamp (Shades of Light; $299). A great way to bring some more texture into a room. 2. Paulette Lamp (Avid-Home; $337.50). A stylish shape that works equally well in traditional or modern interiors -- and the lucite base is fabulous. 3. Cane Turquoise Table Lamp (Clayton Gray Home; $290). Cane + turquoise = perfectly Palm Beach. 4. Capri Bottle Lamp (Jonathan Adler; $275). You can't get much more classic than this. 5. Stacked Ball Murano Lamps (Swank Lighting; $3000/pair). Jaw-droppingly beautiful (and if you're looking for vintage Murano lamps, Swank should be your first stop). 6. Blakely Glass Lamp (Avid-Home; $375). The neutral shade and more muted hue of this lamp means it will work seamlessly in more neutral rooms. 7. Jamie Young Co. Deauville Table Lamp, Sea Glass (Candelabra; $629). Delicate and oh-so-pretty, this one reminds me of the lamp in Jeffers' room above. 8. Peacock Lamp (Plantation; $365). Absolutely adore the color of this ceramic lamp. 9. Carnaby Hazard Lamp (Jonathan Adler; $225). A simple cylindrical shape is made interesting with a fun, retro pattern. 10. Pagoda Table Lamp (Clayton Gray Home; $350). The scale and shape of this pagoda lamp makes it perfect for a console table.

Passion for Purple

Jamie Drake

Can I just state on the record how excited I am that purple is starting to creep it's way back in style (both in fashion and in home decor)? I've long been a fan of purple, in all its many forms (though particularly in its richer, jewel-tones of plum and aubergine), and it's been frustrating trying to incorporate the color into the decor of our new house as there are precious few options in the hue. But, as I see more and more purple popping up in interiors magazines, I feel confident that is in the process of changing and that in a year or so purple will be as prevalent as yellow and turquoise are today.

Jamie Drake

When I saw this gorgeous guest room designed by Jamie Drake and featured in the most recent Traditional Home (see HERE to check out the entire house) I was instantly in love. I absolutely adore how Jamie so beautifully incorporated several shades of purple. The fact that the purples don't precisely match makes the room all the more appealing to me and works particularly well with the Moroccan touches (that trio of lanterns above the bed and the mirror featured in the reading nook above are particularly eye catching). I also like the lavender grass cloth, which brings so much texture and visual interest in the room. Drake papered the low, slanted ceilings as well, which is a great way to help visually erase those awkward angles.

Sixx Design

This bedroom was featured on the cover of Sixx Design's recently published book Downtown Chic (which is a great read by the way) and for good reason: it's gorgeous. I love the gorgeous fabric used on both the bed and curtains, especially juxtaposted against that rug.

Canadian House & Home

While purple isn't the dominant color in this room, it's certainly the pop of color needed to really turn up the volume in this otherwise neutral room. Again, there's a vaguely Moroccan feel to this space and I think the color works really well with the rich golds and browns the style often incorporates. Moreover, the intricate patterns and fretwork that are hallmarks of Moroccan style are a natural pairing to purple as purple only serves to heighten the sense of luxury, drama and richness that this look is famous for.

Kishani Perera

I love this office designed by LA designer Kishani Perera. Again, lavender walls act almost as a neutral with bolder iterations of purple working as accents. The chartreuse is a nice balance to the purple. As yellow-green is the opposite of purple (or red-blue) on the color wheel, the pairing is particularly attractive and a fresh, modern take on the traditional purple-yellow.

Katie Ridder

Just a pretty, pretty room. The modern art helps take the sweetness off while the giant arrangement of cherry blossoms lends a less structured, more organic feel to the traditional room.

Lindsay Coral Harper

Again with the Moroccan vibe and chartreuse pairing (okay so the headboard reads as a little more of an apple green, but still!). I love the deep, rich aubergine of the walls; the cocooning effect of dark walls in a bedroom can be incredibly calming and it's a great backdrop for the brighter headboard (and it's incredible shape!).

Amanda Nisbet

Chartreuse and purple strike again, this time in the very capable hands of Amanda Nisbet. My favorite feature in the room is the bolder plum band right underneath the crown molding. Nisbet repeats the crispness of this trim in the trim on the white linens. Such a great accent on the space and a great alternative if you don't want to wash the walls in a dark color. I also like how Amanda has hung the art straight up to the ceiling and around the headboard, which is incorporated into the arrangement as art in and of itself.

Kishani Perera

The wall colors in this bedroom are masterful -- and easily replicated by painting the same color in three different shades. To maximize ceiling heights, paint the darkest color on bottom and the lightest on the ceiling. Since the walls should be the stars here, Kishani rightly kept the rest of the room relatively neutral, with fresh white bedding and white furniture and accessories. The pale lavender rug echoes the pale lavender on the ceiling and helps create a pleasing symmetry.

Canadian House & Home

Again, a predominately neutral space with purple accents. In reality, the only purple items are the modified wing back chair and the lamp shade, with the rest of the room awash in whites, gray and beiges.

Katie Ridder

Love, love, love this office. The walls are so gorgeous and, while I usually prefer white molding, the nearly tone-on-tone lilacs are spot-on as a greater contrast would have made this way too busy. The zebra rug is a great addition here, too, as it ups the glam factor and adds a jolt of pattern that's a nice contrast to the grid created by the molding.

So what about you? Do you have purple in your home? If not, would you consider incorporating some into your design?

Going Green

Christina Murphy

In honor of St. Patrick's Day, I thought I'd be pretty uncreative and pull together some of my favorite green rooms. I'm always a fan of bright, monochromatic (or dichromatic) spaces and green is one of my favorite colors when you're trying to go bright and bold, but still have a "liveable" room. Unlike, say, orange or yellow, Green -- and even bold greens like kelly green -- read as a neutral when they stand alone or when only paired with true neutrals like white or black.

Amanda Nisbet

I've been coveting these Ava dining chairs from Annie Selke for months. I also love how Amanda carried the green onto the heavy beams, creating a real architectural feature out of what could otherwise best be described as bulkheads. I also love the soft brass fixtures with the green, the warmth lends a richness and depth to the room that I don't think nickel or silver could.

Jonathan Adler

With its cheerful color palette and midcentury touches, this room is classic Jonathan Adler.

Thomas Jayne

This room feels classic New England to me, with the roaring fire, heavy moldings and quilt on the bed. The color, however, really pulls it into the 21st century. I don't know if you'd call this color a blue-green or a green-blue, but I love it.

Lindsay Coral Harper

I typically try to avoid competing shades of a single color in a room, but the lime green walls and turquoise chairs really works together here. The overall effect is updated Palm Beach, without the hyper-coordination that can often make a room feel stuffy.

Phoebe Howard

Ah, another set of dining chairs that I'd love to own for myself -- anyone know the source on these? All the major elements in this room are neutral, but the room feels very colorful thanks to the green curtains, seat cushions and plates. In a few years the owner could easily switch these elements out with a different color for an entirely different look. It just goes to show you that you don't need a lot of color to make a big impact.

Jamie Drake

The mix of modern and traditional elements in this room is wonderful, but the best feature by far is all that gorgeous natural light streaming in from the floor-to-ceiling window.

Meg Braff

I think I'm increasingly obsessed with grass cloth -- if only I could find a place to use it in my own house! In any case, I love the mix of patterns in this room. The graphic rug, the cheetah print chairs and the grasscloth on the walls all lend different but subtle patterns, the combination of which is really greater than the sum of its parts.

Katie Ridder

Using a great print as a jumping off point for a room is a sure-fire way to achieve a cohesive design. The lavender and lime color palette is pulled from the fabric used on the ottoman and side chair in the foreground. The fabric is then repeated in the pillows on the sofa, ensuring a balance between both sides of the room (after all, it would feel a bit "off" if all the print were on one side of the coffee table and all the solid fabrics were on the other).

Miles Redd

These forest green leather doors with brass nailhead trim make me realize that my hollow-core doors are such a missed design opportunity. I also like how the hallway stands on its own design-wise, yet still works with the adjoining entry as it picks up on the greens in the wallcovering and generally harmonizes with the browns that dominate the adjoining space.

John Willey

I love the tight brown and lime color palette in this room -- it really enabled John to mix prints with abandon: plaid, Ikat, butterflies, geometrics...and yet it all harmonizes beautifully because all the prints contain the same colors (and when they don't, like in the plaid and Ikat prints, Willey added the missing color in as trim). I normally shy away from floral or butterfly prints as too girly, but the color palette and the great mix of other prints makes this room feel gender neutral to me. Also, did you notice the trim on the ceiling? What a great (and inexpensive) way to bring some interest to your fifth wall!

Hillary Thomas

Pink and green is such a classic, preppy color combination, but it's one that never fails to make me happy. It's even better when the colors are turned up a notch as with the hot pink drapes here. The softer neutrals in the rug and chairs help the room from feeling too much like the inside of a Lily Pulitzer store. I will say though that the composition feels a bit unbalanced to me, as all the saturated color in the green sofa and yellow pillows isn't set off by anything. I'd perhaps have included brighter pillows on the neutral side chairs and the white flokati pillows on the sofa...but that's just me.

Martha Angus

More fabulous pink and green, but this time both the pink and the green are in bold, saturated shades. I particularly love the contrast of the modern pop art with the very traditional handpainted wallpaper. Such a great contrast really makes this room stand out for me.

Sixx Designs

As much as I love a serene bathroom, I can't deny that this bright green bathroom from Sixx Designs is tons of fun. The salvaged pharmacy sign is a great touch and picks up on the retro black and white tiling. I really love the strong blue of the pendant light fixture. It's an unexpected, but brilliant touch in this room.

Tobi Fairley

Tobi is definitely a designer after my own heart. She's fundamentally traditional, but she's fond of bold color schemes, patterns and tightly edited spaces, all of which is perfectly exhibited in this green, white and gold living room. It's unusual to see two side tables that are actually taller than the sofa arms, but I like the built-in, cozy look that it lends the room....Oh and I would give my right arm for that coffee table. My only complaint? That Tobi karate-chopped the throw pillows. I hate that! Why do people do that?! Fluff, don't chop, I beg you.

Amanda Nisbet

I love the sophisticated, yet tropical feel of this bedroom. Again, I love the grasscloth wallpaper and its chartreuse hue is a very modern touch against the cottage-style bed as almost any other color green could have read as too country here.

Green is, ultimately, a natural color choice in interior design. It pairs well with both complimentary colors (like pink) and analogous colors (like yellow or blue) and is a great accent color for predominately neutral palettes. Green can read as energetic or calming, intense or calm, glamorous or laid back. Green also works in a variety of design styles, from traditional to modern. But whichever direction you choose to take green in your design, you can be assured that you'll be bringing in a little bit of Irish luck into your home.

May love and laughter light your days,

and warm your heart and home.

May good and faithful friends be yours,

wherever you may roam.

May peace and plenty bless your world

with joy that long endures.

May all life's passing seasons

bring the best to you and yours!

~ Traditional Irish Blessing

A Craving For Citrus

As most of you know, my home is largely decorated in cooler tones: blues, grays, purples, etc. But that doesn't mean that every now and then I don't get a craving for something different. Like these citrus-inspired interiors from the West Coast design firm Bonesteel Trout Hall. I don't typically gravitate towards greens, yellows and oranges (particularly altogether) but these rooms are so cheerful and bright that I can't help but think they're the perfect anecdote to (another) gray February day.

Citrus brights are a great option for a playroom that's fun and kid-friendly, but still chic enough to show off when guests come over. Besides, secondary colors are a welcome change from the primary colors that typically decorate young children's spaces.

Overall, I love this room -- it's casual and homey, but still put together and sharp. I'm normally not a fan of denim sofas, but the slim, modern lines of this sofa lend it a touch of sophistication, while the workaday denim ensures that it's still casual enough for a family or media room. The bright orange chair and coordinating pillows are a great contrast to the dark wash of the denim upholstery.

I'm always drawn to a bright, white kitchen with pops of bright accent colors in the form of dishware, accessories or even food. Since kitchen renovations are so pricey, this is a great way to bring in color without the long-term commitment. Besides, I can never get enough of vaulted ceilings!

I love how all that orange is balanced out by the light, natural materials on the chairs, floor and even light fixture. And those orchids in the giant clam shell are such a statement! I'd love something like that in my bathroom.

The choice of green glass is a bold one to be sure, but it's well balanced by all the other classic choices in the room: black granite countertops, nickel hardware, and classic sconces. The overall feeling is modern, but still timeless.

The linens here remind me of the linens at the hotel room I stayed at earlier this week while I was attending a conference in Austin. [As with everything in Austin, the room was decked out in burnt orange, complete with orange-trimmed bed linens like the ones above. Here though, they're much more tastefully incorporated with all that breezy white instead of the heavy orange leather headboard and orange accent wall in my hotel room.] I'm particularly fond of the large green artwork on either side of the bed as it was such a great choice to go big here -- I think the natural inclination would be to go smaller given the space, but it's far more impactful this way. Note also how the lamps don't match, which is a great way to break up all that symmetry.

If you're looking to bring a few pops of citrus into your own home, CB2 currently has a huge selection of brightly-colored furniture and accessories to get you started.

To help keep these citrus brights in check, I'd follow in BTH's footsteps and mix them in with a lot of white and a few organic touches (think grass cloth wallpaper, sea grass rugs, rattan, etc.) . The white will keep the room from feeling too retro and the organic touches will ensure your room is more eclectic and less Pop Art.

Weekend Update: Going Turquoise

This past weekend Dave and I decided to perk up our dreary (and windowless) guest bathroom with a bright punch of color. I've been itching to go really bold with paint in the new house and decided this secondary bath would be the perfect spot for some serious experimentation. I selected Capri Seas from Benjamin Moore, which is a classic turquoise, a perfect balance between blue and green. All in all, I like how the paint really brightens the small bathroom, especially the interior shower-area which was dangerously dark. Nevertheless, such a bold color does take some getting used to and I'm hoping the overall effect is more beachy than kiddie...but the great thing about paint is that it's a choice easily changed should I decide in a few months that it's just too much. For now though, I think it's fun and I love how it really makes the white trim and vanity pop (despite them being pretty builder-basic).

Last time I used Benjamin Moore, I went with their zero-VOC paint (Natura), but this time selected their low-VOC version (Ben) just to see if I could tell any difference. And I did. The Aura paint is all but odorless and, while the Ben paint is significantly less toxic-smelling than regular latex paint, it still had a noticeably unpleasant odor -- not a good thing when you're working in a small, confined space without any ventilation.

We also updated the vanity area by swapping out the large, frameless mirror with a slick white version of the Hutton Mirror from Restoration Hardware. We used the same mirrors (but in the espresso stain) in our last house (see HERE) and I can't say good enough things about them. Not only are they extremely well-made and easy to install (the mounting hardware even comes with a built-in leveler), but these mirrors are also well-priced.