Pantone 15-5519 Turquoise

Turquoise! It’s a lovely green-blue, isn’t it? Nice and soft, like the semi-precious stone, instead of the plastic necklace-bead brashy-blue kind. The first thought that comes to me is a turquoise ocean with a beautiful white sand beach. It seems like I’ve seen a beach like that…where? Hawaii? The Caribbean? Not Greece — that part of the Mediterranean is almost the same blue as the sky. Amazing.

This Color-of-the-Year stuff really has legs. Two years ago, the COTY was Blue Iris, a delicious violet shade. It worked its way through design, from fashion to industrial, even finding its way to vacuum cleaners and washing machines. Last year’s COTY was Mimosa, a perky yellow that is trickling its way through fashion into home design now, coinciding with a slow return to a sunny economic outlook. How did they know?

Here’s what I mean — check out the rug in this newly decorated industrial loft:

Here we have a totally cool, contemporary look warmed up with a wonderful mimosa-infused area rug. Isn’t it great with the greys, blues, and whites? BTW, this is the San Antonio loft of one of the Dixie Chicks (can’t remember which one) as featured in a recent Metropolitan Home magazine. Not our design, alas, but one that certainly inspires. I have already passed this look on to  clients building a crisp, contemporary home in Dripping Springs. I hope they add the window treatments. I just love how the white wall of curtains blends effortlessly into the window wall. Tres chic! Practical, too, when our fierce Texas sun makes its appearance again next summer.

So enjoy the Color of the Year, and look for it to work its way into your home in about a year.I think I’ll start digging through my wardrobe, looking for turquoise to wear now!