Gaudy Not Always A Negative Term
Let’s talk about the brave new world of decorating and consider where we’re headed — or at least where some of us are headed. A week ago, I was chatting with some young decorators —...
A Green Scheme To Draw Raves, Not Envy
Special To The Palm Beach Daily News By Carleton Varney
'How Green Was My Valley', the 20th century Fox film nominated for 10 Academy Awards in 1941, starred the Irish lassie Maureen O'Hara as well as Walter Pidgeon and Roddy McDowall. Directed by the late John Ford of "The Quiet Man"fame, the film beat out "Citizen Kane" for the best picture Oscar, and Ford was named the best director. Vivid green is,indeed,the color of the valleys in Wales and Ireland, just as it's the color of the manicured lawns of Palm Beach.Each morning when I drive along the coast on South Ocean Boulevard's Billionaire's Row, I marvel at the lawn at 1600 S. Ocean Blvd.If It were a subject of a movie the title could be "How Green Was My Lawn." It's always clipped to perfection with not a blade of grass out of place.To the homeowner and the landscape crew go my kudos.
Some years back when I was decorating Dromoland Castle in Ireland, i was working with carpet weavers to select the color for the room's flooring. i wanted a color that i reffered to as green-green ,the same green as the sweeping lawns outside the castle's windows. i strolled outside onto the lawn and with my hands scooped up a lump of the grass."Here's the Color," I said and placed the green grass of Ireland into the hands of the carpet weavers of Donegal.
The carpet yarns were dyed a color i now call Dromoland green, and a room was born-one with yellow and white flecked paper on the walls and grass-green silk drapery lined and trimmed in yellow. For a room of your home -perhaps the master bedroom -try a decorating scheme of lawn green for the carpet and pineapple yellow walls. And if you are garden-minded, consider a floral chintz drapery fabric with a colorful pattern in melon,yellow,lilac and soft blue on a white background.
And here is a decorating tip from O'Hara: Never forget red-orangewhen choosing a color to go with green.Orange and green are a great combination-and she would know! The red-headed star always liked to wear a green satin dress with bright green emeralds for jewelry.
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