Coral Composition

I can give you the exact time and place that I fell in love with coral; August 1985, coming across this beauty in Long Island. Where is it now? I still crave it. 

Still fancy doing a room in it, perhaps along the lines of these, from misscandydarling on Flickr:

Coral is making a comeback currently, forgive the alliterations. Let's have a romp through some present day use and then a wallow in some of the more traditional, from Victorian to Deco to modern - speaking as a member of The Cronus Club. You're likely to find it paired with pastels such as in The Chelsea House

 ...and Kempe, both in London, as suiting delicate sensibilities with style.

I do love it though when anyone goes for broke with a color (you don't say) and Mount Pleasant doesn't hold back by teaming it with hot pink. Fabulada. 

However, it lends itself well to hot desert climes and evoking cultural design; superbly done here in this Mexican villa. If I had a villa in Mexico, would I call it Pancho? You bet. 

Even just a bit of it livens up an interior and a great eye was had by the person who spotted this piece's potential in W1, London. Particularly fond am I of the hats resting on it, but I do have the same display penchants myself. Hats are art. 

Loft living in New York? No, this is London, an airy space called Zoom Unit. My hammock clambering days are behind me, but it do look great. 

What about the historical I promised? Here is the magnificent Raynham Hall in Norfolk, when coral was exotic and daring - still is, now I consider this collection of pictures. 

And the lovely Belmont House:

Dacha in Kent:

Find a bit of coral and get decorating. You can start with just a little...or dive right in.

credit

Film Noir

Unless it escaped your notice, let me state that I have a habit of barging into people's lives and dropping a shitload of color into them. I do truly believe that unless a room has color, it has no ownership, individuality or personality. It's just your stuff in a room, freshly delivered and arranged at random. You, with the white walls - your home is just a storage container for items. One of the things that most amuses me, while I am standing back and surveying my handiwork, is the frequent comment, 'Wow. It's great..although I'd be too scared to do it myself.'
Would you care to review that comment? You just said, I AM AFRAID OF A COLOR. You have also stated, unmistakably, that you like to blend in with people, you hate to stand out, you are comfortable with invisibility. Your presence is enhancing my life experience as much as that sticky thing that binds a plastic loaf bag; a minor annoyance, but life goes on. It gets worse though. I have the mental equivalent of a jaw drop when a woman has the gall to utter, 'I like that, but my husband would never allow it.' Never say those words, unless inviting a look that would wither Japanese Knotweed.
Right then. For the brave, bold and stylish, a feast of decadence that will have you agreeing, wow, that's great. And maybe inspired to overcome fear and embrace stunning.
I really love black when it makes wood and leather tones really stand out, as in the next two pictures. It actually is rather surprising how good a backdrop black is for creating a dramatic contrast to whatever you want to showcase. With vintage leather:

With Art Deco wood and a few exquisite prints.

Birds! How amazing do they look on a black wall! What a statement. 

A genius pairing of an atomic age clock standing in for a moon.

And here, a brilliant backdrop, defining a dining area. Hitchcockian. I really like the written carpet as a design feature and the chair backs with individual sepias. One very creative mind at work.

Luxury at Blakes Hotel, by Anoushka Hempel. I always loved staying here and soaking in her mono themed rooms of ultimate opulence. Often she imbues her decor with the kind of Oriental expense not seen since Yves Saint Laurent was making Opium commercials. I, for one, was sold. I used to smother myself in it.

 

Look how chic it is in a glossy texture. These are by a company called Walk In Tile and are enough all by themselves to make a room magnificent.

Meanwhile, in Amsterdam, home of artistic masterpieces, this antique facsimile gives the room great character. It's like being inside a painting and every piece in the room takes its cue from the austerity of the portrait. Very cool indeed.

Why should it be that a conservatory is only for worshiping the sun? If you are a rain enthusiast, like myself, this would be the perfect place to enjoy a good storm while dry with a book. And I'm not talking about a summer paperback.

 

I want to go out with a flourish and share with you some fabulous wallpaper that would look incredible just about anywhere it was employed.

And also my favorite brooding roses by the artist Christos Tolera. This piece is titled 'A Perpetual Possibility'. When the possibility of me winning the lottery comes to fruition, this man will be commissioned to paint an entire room for me. Fact.

Absinthe Makes The Heart Grow Fonder

My punning is so shameful I might have been a journalist for The Sun in a past, more evil life. In this one, I started out a working life in an insurance company office and was instantly nicknamed The Green Goddess, being Ms.Green at the time. Not as flattering as you might think, considering it was the term for WWII temporary fire engines, which happen to have been painted a less than fetching shade of green.
We are duly informed that Emerald Green is the decor shade for this year. I can remember moving to LA many moons ago and looking at houses to rent, each having a requisite emerald green carpet which made me quite ill every time. Now it has smartened up, paired with silver and blacks, and makes it to Interestingly Stylish. However, I rather lean towards the decadent deep shades that suggest an absinthe den, so with that in mind I'm going to feature opulent sin bins that you'd loll around in Bohemian wear ready with your sugar cube to taste. Let's go behind the green door and see some envious tones. An Art Nouveau one in Berlin, appropriately enough, with its Green Man emblem.

 

Or this Art Nouveau Parisian apartment at Patrice Bessecouk

It's the mystery of this graphic and the colors of the beetle that inspire me.

Particularly if you are an actress at the turn of the century called Ellen Terry and this dress made from thousands of beetle wings has been custom made for you to star in The Scottish Play.

Mile End house from 1st Option is the place I want to be lolling about drinking absinthe...

And here too - these people know from luxuriously sinful. 

Imagine pouring a glass from this Moser Glass 19th century jug, perfect color combination for...

...Montagu House, here

 Or perhaps using some of my own green Depression Glass:

Definitely here...how rich and jewel-like.

Malachite semi-precious green gracing La Maison Boheme walls and made into a fantastic rug too. Beautiful!

 

One would hope the bathrooms resembled this Turkish number.

Finally, I'm going to round off with three definitely Green Goddesses that could in turn pass for the famed Absinthe Fairy. Certainly after a bottle, you might be seeing them again in your dreams. Tom Ford's Goddess:

 

Absinthe Fairy:

The inimitable Garbo.

The Lapis of Luxury

Lapis Lazuli, a semi-precious stone, has been employed to denote luxury ever since the Babylonians built their showpiece city gates from it - which amazingly still survive today in Berlin's museum:

The Egyptians got in on the act too.

Today it's making just as much of a statement when the deepest blue known to mankind is employed to regalize a room. Whether you use a little as an accent...like this London home:

Or a lot such as here:

It's undeniably striking. The designer Miles Redd showcased it in a glossy, high shine NY apartment:

How blue toned cool is this translucently cobalt dining room? 

Back in the 30's this Bakelite radio was the must have item which would look tremendous today in any of these decors thanks to its streamlined design:

Definitely would work in The Factory, with its jewel toned velvet opulence and industrial chic edged with gold:

Even at Montagu House it wouldn't be out of place, Modern meets Moderne...

Lapis blue beautifully complements other colors and can be used creatively to highlight them, such as Norton in Somerset where they have cleverly enriched the inside of cupboards against a pale aqua kitchen. 

I've used it myself in the same combination! 

Two shots that need no combinations, such as they stand alone: The spectacular Ambleside uses Lapis in its truest sense, deep blue flecked with glittery gold in this ultra glam bathroom - 

Finally, a quirky little find, a London company called Squint Ltd who patchwork cover all manner of unexpected things with lush cobalt velvet. Here, their bedside table (a snip at $780, or many snips if you try it yourself) and Stag Lamp. Marvelously and Englishly Eccentric.