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June 11, 2009

Hooked on… turquoise!

Turquoise_with_quartz wiki

This week’s Hooked on Fridays is doubly fun for me. Not only do I get to share something I’m hooked on with all of you, but I also get to announce the winner of our Jamie Drake giveaway!! One lucky DesignTies reader has won a signed and personalized copy of Jamie’s fab book, Jamie Drake’s New American Glamour.

You know how Dancing With the Stars keeps you in suspense for two hours before they announce the winner in the last two minutes of the big finale show?? Yep, I’m going to do that too!! The giveaway winner’s name is at the very end of this post. Well, OK, I guess you can scroll down to the end right now to see if you’re the winner… but where’s the fun in that?! Let the suspense build!! Let the anticipation take over!!

Still with me?? Good!! Isn’t turquoise such a fresh and happy colour?? It can be kind of green, kind of blue, fresh and breezy, bold and bright…

Turquoise pebble wikiSome info about turquoise to start off, courtesy of Wikipedia.

Chemical formula: CuAl6(PO4)4(OH)8 4H2O

  • Turquoise is an opaque, blue-to-green mineral that is a hydrous phosphate of copper and aluminium.
  • The word turquoise was derived around the 16th century from the French language—either from Turquois (Turkish—although turquoise doesn’t actually occur in Turkey) or pierre turquin (dark-blue stone).
  • Turquoise has a maximum hardness of just under 6, making it just slightly more than window glass.
  • Colour can range from white to a powder blue to a sky blue, and from blue-green to a yellowish green. The blue is attributed to idiochromatic copper, and the green may be the result of either iron impurities or dehydration.
  • The lustre is usually waxy to subvitreous, and is usually opaque but may be semitransparent in thin sections.
  • Turquoise is typically found in in arid regions, including the American Southwest.

We don’t actually have any turquoise in our house. But we do have a turquoise car :-)

smartie

Beautiful turquoise beads(pics from Flickr)

beads flickr necklace flickr necklace with copper flickr

Random turquoise objects

famille summerbelle

I can’t figure out what this is, but the picture was taken at the Phoenix Art Museum and because it’s funky and abstract and turquoise, I thought I’d include it :-)

phoenix art museum flickr

Tantalizing turquoise tiles

bathroom wall cococozy sicis tiles cococozy tiles tchochkes tiles thetilesource uk

Glamourous chandeliers

chandy everything turquoise

chandy everything turquoise 2chand light my house co uk

turquoise-lamp rubypr

This blown glass chandelier is called Nuutajarvi Turquoise Chandelier and was created by artist Dale Chihuly. It hangs in the San Jose Museum of Art. (Picture from Flickr).

chand flickr

Kitchens. Check out the turquoise on the ceiling in the first kitchen… love it!!

kitchen apttherapy 2 kitchen apttherapy

How cool are the turquoise appliances?? :-)

kitchen houseofturq

Love the glossy pale turquoise floor — like walking on water

floor cococozy 2 floor cococozy

Of course, if you have a turquoise kitchen, you have to have a turquoise pizza cutter!!

pizza cutter everyturq

Turquoise dishes and Lenox “Chirp” table linens

lenox chirp table linens everytur

Beautiful turquoise bowls

bowl alibaba turq bowl crushed chili co uk spike turq bowl shoprelish

Silver Liberty cymric bowl with a turquoise accent

Liberty cymric bowl_Liberty cymric bowl leopard antques

Some bright turquoise bedrooms

AGD4 bedroom flickr

bedroom houseofturq

bedroom vivalabuenavida

And a more subtle use of turquoise in the bedroom….

chair decorpad

turq BR elizabethannedesigns

bed flickr

Isn’t it cool how the stripes visually create a headboard behind the bed and then carry right up and onto the ceiling…

chaise strip cococozy

turq BR hookedohouses

I love turquoise & purple together…

turq and purple casadec turq BR channel4 desk decorology

turq dresser alkemie

turq bedroom alkemie turq LR channel 4

This turquoise & purple tassel is TOO CUTE!! How adorable is that frog!? If you like it too, check it out at The Tassel House on Etsy…

tassel

Turquoise with chocolate brown is nice too (from House of Turquoise)

turq desk cptnrin smugmug turq BR houseofturq

Turquoise in the living room

LR decorpad

Love the wallpaper and the striped armchair

turq LR idealhomemagazine co uk

This room makes me feel beachy :-)

turq LR imagecows

Great turquoise detailing on these black chairs…

turq hall elizabethannedesigs

suzanna kasler casadec 2

A dining room designed by Sarah Richardson

SR dining room ceiling arch

Turquoise & frames

turq desk elizabethannedesignsturq frames alkemie

Bright turquoise cushions & bedding — love the pompoms :-)

dream cushion everyturqpom pom bedding everyturq

Ottomans… I absolutely LOVE this first turquoise tufted ottoman. Brooke at Velvet & Linen designed the gorgeous bedroom where this ottoman lives :-)

ottoman brooke

turq ottoman brooke 2

Super-glam!!

ottoman mirror decorpad

Love turquoise with black & white

ottoman decorpad ottoman houseofturq stools turquoise

Modern turquoise…

kitchen vivalabuenavida

turq LR flickr colourblock cococozy

Now let’s go outdoors…. first some birds, starting with a Turquoise Honeycreeper in Brazil (bird pictures from Flickr)

turquoise honeycreeper flickr turquoise honeycreeper flickr 2turquoise honeycreeper flickr 3

A parrot in Australia…

parrot flickr parrot flickr 2 parrot flickr 3

The unmistakable blue of a robin’s eggs

eggs wiki

OK, not REAL birds, but they ARE turquoise!! They’re Tweet candleholders :-)

tweet candleholder everyturq

Some turquoise houses

house force-10house terrain org

turq house flipflops house houseofturq

Turquoise on the patio

picnic houseofturq

patio table chairs channel 4

tablecloth wrapables

And how about a big turquoise caterpillar in the garden?? ;-)

caterpillar paintwithbarb

Turquoise waters from around the world, starting with Australia

water about australia

The ancient Mayan city of Tulum in Mexico

water mayan flickr

Old Head, Ireland

water ireland

The Indian Ocean

water indian

Bora Bora in French Polynesia…

bora wandermelon

Wowsers!! Seriously turquoise water in Greece!!

water greece

Lake Louise in beautiful Banff, Alberta…

Lake_Louise_Canada_Banff wikimedia

Can’t have turquoise sea without some turquoise sky

sky flickr 2

sky flickr

sky bubbles d sharon pruitt

The sun is setting

sunset

…and the Northern Lights are glowing(pics from Flickr)

aurora borealis flickr 3aurora borealis flickr 2050118-F-3488S-003

And one last picture… a yellow & turquoise room designed by Jamie Drake

JD 1

Which means that the big moment has arrived!! Time to announce the winner of our Jamie Drake giveaway!! First, a big thanks to Maria, Paul, Tiaa, Christy, and FifiFlowers for helping us spread the word about our giveaway :-) And thanks to everyone who participated in our giveaway by leaving comments this week. We love to know what you think of the posts that we write, so your feedback means a lot to us :-)

Here’s our very official draw bag, courtesy of Zellers ;-) All 129 entries are inside!!

draw 1

And hubby reaching into the official draw bag…

IMG_1308

And the winner is… <insert dramatic pause here)…

draw 3

Ann Marie at That Girl Designs!! Congratulations!! We’ll send your book off to Jamie to sign, and then he’ll send it on to you. The book is loaded with pictures of beautiful and inspirational rooms — enjoy!! :-)

I wish you all could have won, but I can’t afford to buy that many books!! But don’t worry, we’ll be having another giveaway soon… stay tuned!!

DOH!!! Just realized I should have used a TURQUOISE bag for the draw!! Wouldn’t it have been impressive if I’d used a Tiffany & Co. bag?? :-)

tiffany

Now for more blog party fun, head back to Hooked on Houses and check out what everyone else is hooked on this week…

sig

If you’re hooked on turquoise now, here are a couple of web site you should check out:

Everything Turquoise

House of Turquoise

49 comments:

amariaf2000 said...

Fabulous post!! Dale Chihuly, on my. All of these lovely turquoise items!! And I am so honored that you included Just A Hangin' Tassel ;) By the way, turquoise must be on the brain because I made another tassel tonight that was turquoise!
Hope you have a wonderful Friday & Weekend!!!
~angela @ peonypatch

Julia @ Hooked on Houses said...

Holy cow! This post must've taken you all week to assemble! I know how long it takes to upload each individual photo, let alone find them all in the first place. I'm impressed!

Loved these photos. There's something about turquoise that just makes me happy. So your post made me happy!

Congrats to Ann Marie! Cracked me up that you made us wait like they do on those reality competition shows.

Linda@ Lime in the Coconut said...

Man, guys...I don't think I have ever seen so much of the beautious rock in one place!

I'm intoxicated! Gorgeous!

Jasmine @ The Suburban Sentiment said...

Impressive, Kelly. This is the mother of all turquoise posts! I can' believe how many pics with turquoise you've posted. And they're delightful.

What a cute little smart car with an eye-popping color!

I thought, while reading your post, that I had nothing turquoise in my home, but then I saw a pic with a few glass jars and vases on a table, and it reminded me of my lone turquoise jar sitting in our guest bedroom. Your post has inspired me to build on that lonesome decor jar and fill the room with more of this beautiful color.

Gayle said...

Oh my gosh! I'm with Julia, this post must have taken a long time to put together. I just love the kitchens and the turquoise appliances are so cool!

Tiaa @ EYInteriors said...

Kelly, I think you found every picture of turquoise ever taken! :) What a great post! Turquoise has such a calm but elegant feel to it. I love House of Turquoise Blog! Her photos are so lovely!

Glad to support!

Tiaa

Terry said...

Good grief, I'm feeling a little turquoise dizzy. I think I'd show off my turquoise in shutters if I could.

The Pennington Point said...

Goodness gracious that's a lot of turquoise! Is that really your car?! How wonderful. Everyone would know it was you. I have lots of that color (well, maybe a toned down version of it) in my home. Lovely. But even better, I'm enjoying wearing it a lot this summer. Thanks for the great post! Lisa~

Verdigris Vie said...

This was such a fun post... torture.. but fun all the same.. you know I am a big fan of Verdigris.. turquoise's cousin.. so I was thrilled ot see this beautiful colour posted today !!

Vitania

Peacock Blue said...

Such pretty colors! I LOVE turquoise too!

Mrs. Petrie said...

Gorgeous! I love turquoise. I wear turquoise jewelry all the time and I carry a turquoise patent leather bag. I also have sandals with turquoise.
Come by my blog, I'm having a giveaway. :)

Claudia said...

OOOH my goodness, you had me talking out loud, saying Yes.. yahhh...oh yes... yes ..

YES to all of your finds. (ok.. not so much to the lil kid at the snack bar :)

Simply lovely and congrats to the winner!!

TTFN~~Claudia

M2JL :: STUDIO said...

Very inspiring color palette. Thanks :)
- Marie

Sharon said...

I've fallen in love with Turquoise all over again, thanks to your amazing post!;)

abeachcottage said...

phew you seriously got me reaching for the turquoise paint, now that is something!

Sarah

Robin~All Things Heart and Home said...

I've nearly died looking at this post! I've started splashing turquoise here and there all around my little house...At some point last December I thought, "I'm going to pretend turquoise is neutral and goes with any color..."
I'm in love and I've never seen so much in one place like this scrumptious post!!! Thank you~
Robin
All Things Heart and Home

Ashley @ AshleysBusy said...

Wow, every single one of those photos is to die for, come on, Bora Bora? I'm melting, a girl can dream...

Elite Home Decor said...

Wow! Great post! Love this colour - you can match it with so much!
thanks for the One Lovely Blog award!

Christy said...

Turquoise is one of my favorite colors. Fabulous pictures - and so sad I didn't win. Oh well - there will be more drawings, right?! :)

Susan @ Your home, only better. said...

Wow...thanks for all your hard work! You must be very organized! I too love turquoise - I used it as the "pop" color in my daughters room (against black and white) and it looks great! I also used it in the master suite. Great job!

Maria Killam said...

Wow that is a serious post about turquoise, it's hard to say what image I like the best there are so many as it's such a great colour! Great work!

Lara Harris said...

Gorgeous choices!Turquoise always makes me think of the ocean...something clean & fresh...thanks for sharing!

Tiffany said...

Wow! That was a ton of eye candy. Thanks for accumulating and sharing all those beautiful photos.

Kathy @ Creative Home Expressions said...

Loved looking at all those pictures! Such a fresh color. I like the various ways it was used in rooms, especially with the brown (one of my favorites to combine with other colors). I definitely want one of those chandeliers!

Congratulations to Anne Marie.

Erin {House of Turquoise} said...

UNBELIEVABLE! Never seen so much eye-candy in all my life!!! Thank you so much for compiling all of this turquoise goodness for us! :)

Marie said...

You did a GREAT job pulling all those turquoise pictures, definitely some great inspiration and a wonderful pick me up at the same time. I really love all colors but I am most partial to turquoise, it just makes me happy.

Unknown said...

Kelly - don't know what to say that hasn't be said already but this post must have cost you a lot of time. Thanks for your effort to make people happy and it definitely makes people happy - I am one of them. I cannot really say why the colour turquoise is so attractive -maybe because everybody has an affinity to water in one way or the other, no matter whether it's the warm waters of the carribean or mediterranean or even the artic waters or just neighbour's swimming pool.
In my stack of fabric I have 2 big pieces of cloth, one is a sheer of the purest turqoise I have ever seen, the other a more bluish turqoise crèpe, that is supposed to become curtains and all that will go into a room, that will be painted in various turquoise hues one day when we finally have our own little house...

DesignTies said...

Wow!! It's great to see that so many of you like turquoise :-) It took a lot of hours to put the post together, but it was fun. And I REALLY appreciate all of your comments!! :-)

If I haven't visited your blog yet, I will later today -- have to go outside and do outdoor stuff while the sun is out :-)

Thanks for all the great feedback!!

Kelly

Maya@Completely Coastal said...

Wow. You've put together quite a collection. Awesome. The color just feels so beachy to me, especially when combined with whites or other pastels. Love those small cars and spotted lots of them when I was in Switzerland.

Ann Marie said...

I won, I won!! I'm so thrilled. Thanks!

Now, let me say that this post is awesome. What a fantastic round up of images. I really enjoyed that you covered so many aspects of the color turquoise, taking us outside the home. I have always loved the color and often use it in my designs and artwork. It is one of those colors that I love to have around me.

Michelle @ Sweet Something Design said...

What beautiful pictures!!! I love turquoise too! There is a Chihuly hanging at the Missouri Botanical Gardens...It is really stunning. Great post!

Donna @ Paisley and Perspective said...

My love affair with turquoise has been rekindled - heck it's turned into a blazing fire! I love ALL the photos - and agree with others that it must have taken you some time to put together.

Love the flow of the post too -- building of the excitement for the big announcement! The turquoise pictures were so interesting and beautiful, I never once thought of cheating by scrolling ahead to see who the winner was. Good Job - yet again!

Now I'm on the hunt for all things turquoise!

TTFN...donna

Donna @ Paisley and Perspective said...

Oh - and forgot to say - I'll know you when I see you on the roads in your cool SMART CAR!

daily decorator said...

I have to say my new favorite is turquoise and red! It is such a cheery combination. You really did your turquoise research with this post! I felt spoiled having so many great images to take in!

--Tracy

Michelle, All Home and Love said...

Wow, lots of great pictures! My favorites were the chandeliers.
~Michelle

Astrid in Bristling Acres said...

Oh wow! I'm loving all that turquoise...I think I need to go & look through those photos again.

TTI said...

What a thorough, beautiful, amazing post! I have a huge appreciation for the time and effort that it took to put this together - and I enjoyed every image (especially the Northern Lights and the birds and the Suzanne Kasler - all in one post!).

Things That Inspire said...

That last comment was from me :)

Tom Erdman said...

Hi Kelly,
Sorry, I've been very, very busy lately...no time to play. Congratulations on Jamie Drake. It's fun to get that first dose of confidence. It will carry you forward. By the way, I think you may have all the world's turquoise on your post. I'm exhausted!

DesignTies said...

Holy smokes, you guys have left a lot of comments!! THANK YOU!!! :-D We LOVE getting comments, and this post now has the most comments of any of our posts EVER!!! Weeehoooo!!!!

If I haven't visited your blog yet, I promise I'll stop by tomorrow :-)

Once again, thank you all so much for taking the time to visit, and for leaving all the wonderful comments :-)

Kelly

mrsben said...

My goodness Kelly, what can I say that hasn't been said already. The contents within this post was just like browsing through a favourite magazine. I commend and thank YOU for all your time and effort! I do love Turquoise.
-Brenda-

Maya@Completely Coastal said...

I have seen some smart cars in the US..., in Newport, RI. A small seaside town (25,000 population -2 million in the summer!) near where I live. The streets are narrow there, and in the summer parking is sparse, so it's ideal. They are super cute, but super small (inside).

Anonymous said...

Sorry it took me so long to get over here. I'm trying to catch up on my delayed blog love this weekend. Thanks for the sweet comments about the wrought iron.

Loved all your turquoise pics. I thought I had a fav with the boats, until I kept scrolling down the page. OMG!!! I love so many of them. I can't pick a fav. Anyway, have a great weekend!

Velvet and Linen said...

I'm exhausted! This truly is everything turquoise, including my client's bedroom (thank you!!!). I love turquoise. It's such a great color. I think I would be completely content living in a completely neutral home with accents in turquoise....at least for a while!
Great post my dear.

xo
Brooke

Ruby said...

We stayed at the nines in Portland and i fell in love with the touches of turquoise in the rooms. Check out their website...http://www.starwoodhotels.com/luxury/property/overview/index.html?propertyID=1757

Anonymous said...

I just found your blog and WOW, I LOVE the turquoise spread you did. It's my favorite color, too, and I have to thank you for providing so many gorgeous pictures. I'm going to redo my sewing room in turquoise, white, and a little black, and have so many more ideas now! LOVED this!!!

MissBliss said...

this is quite possibly the biggest party celebrating turquoise ever!

lovely work!

Anonymous said...

Fabulous pics.
Was woundering if you could help me with a paint color for my computer room. It has tourquoise and white curtains, medium brown capeting, and double decker medium brown computer desks. Computers are black.

Thanks so much!!!

Anonymous said...

I was searching for some turquoise inspiration for my drab living room and I happened upon this site. Wonderful and Canadian too,eh?! Thank you.

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