I am totally having a yellow moment right now. I know. Seems kind of old fashioned, doesn't it? But, I am really, really, really getting the feels for yellow.
I've done a couple of posts and I have seen a couple of posts on Instagram featuring yellow rooms, so I feel like it has been on the bubble for a minute now. A classic, to be sure, but definitely not in the "current trend" category for as long as I can remember. . .
I mean, I have always been a fan of Nancy Lancaster's yellow drawing room above the Colefax & Fowler offices on Pimlico Road. (I made a special trip to London to visit it before that office closed a couple of years ago). But, I have always loved it in a nostalgic way kind of way and not in a I-want-a-canary-yellow-room-STAT kind of way.
And, my bedroom in high school had gorgeous yellow chinoiserie wallpaper (including white parrots!!!) and blue shag carpet and a pale, peachy duvet and bedding. And, I always loved loved, loved, that room (including the U2 and The Cure posters taped to the walls). But, I have never felt a need to bust out yellow as a lead color in any room for anyone, including myself.
Until now.
I was working on a scheme with a client for the downstairs portion of her house renovation. We already had a blue/green thing going on in the family room/kitchen part of the house. Then, I start vibing on the yellow in branches of a green print - which sent me to a yellow Robert Kime fabric for the ottoman. When I started thinking about what direction to go in the living room just off the family room, it hit me like a lightning bolt!! I saw a flash in my mind of Hannah Cecil Gurney's London apartment featured in Architectural Digest France last year. She had this amazing bedroom covered in grass green de Gourney (her family's company) with a bold yellow velvet bed and equally bold yellow billowy balloon shades and a blue and white patterned rug. The colors were so rich and fabulous that I went racing to my computer to track down the image. And, I knew. We had to do a grass green chinoiserie paper and complement it with a rich yellow!!! So wonderful that my client and I have the same tastes!! She is right there with me!!
And, now, I am literally so obsessed with yellow that I want to use it again and again!
I love how it plays off of blue and, especially, green. And, maybe it is best when all three are present in the scheme. Or maybe not.
My obsession with yellow doesn't end with design these days. Yellow shoes are totally - TOTALLY - lit for Spring - just check out my post from earlier this week, Happy Feet.
To inspire you, here just few chinoiserie and other glamorous rooms and some fabulous art where yellow plays a starring role . . .
