Teal? Turquoise? Sea foam green? What color decorative pillows to choose for the new décor? The sofa is the color of a warm sandy beige and
image:freeipadwalls
the hardwood floors are light oak, so teal or turquoise or sea-foam green, any of the three will work as the accent color. The choices are distinct yet often have minute differences. Sea Foam Green with just a touch more blue in this decorative pillow than that one and you have teal. Or just a touch more of brightness to the teal on that decorative pillow and you have turquoise. Then there are two decorative pillows marketed as turquoise, but side by side, one is slightly duller and it looks more teal than turquoise. It’s subtle these differences. All on the same side of the color wheel or the arc of the rainbow, yet teal is not turquoise nor is it sea-foam green. And turquoise is not teal nor is it sea-foam green and sea-foam green is not teal nor is it turquoise.
They are all blue with green in them, but they are not a pale blue or a dark blue or a cornflower blue or a baby blue or a navy blue or a levi jeans blue or a royal blue or a slate blue or an Azure blue.
And they are not green. Not a jade green or a summer green or a moss-green or a spring green or a forest green or army green or an apple green or a split pea soup green. In fact, next to green they aren’t green at all. And next to blue, they aren’t blue at all.
Neither are they purple; not any shade of purple – not lavender or violet or amethyst or lilac or orchid or indigo or plum or mauve.
They are their own colors. They are teal and turquoise and sea-foam green. They are rich and deep and distinct in their hues. I close my eyes after staring at samples and color charts and catalogues and in my dreams the teal and turquoise and sea-foam green swirl around me; they lift me up, they carry me out beyond the city, we rise above the mountain’s height and we float past the greens of the Amazon forest and across the green Hawaiian islands in their ocean of blue.
The teal and turquoise and sea-foam green and I glide over the Amalfi coast and its Azure Sea. We fly slowly over the endless horizon of the sand of the Sahara, my teal and turquoise and sea-foam green shining bright and brilliant in contrast. We dip like clouds over the icy white of the Antarctic’s mountainous icebergs and continue on, constantly moving. My teal and turquoise and sea-foam green and I push our way through low-lying clouds across Great Britain where we emerge to skim across the emerald-green hills and valleys of Ireland.
Eventually, my teal and turquoise and sea-foam green and I return to sunny Southern California where the wild golden poppies on the rolling hills of the high desert and the brilliant scarlet Bougainvillea blooms in the yards alongside the freeway call us back to earth and when I open my eyes, the teal and turquoise and sea-foam have floated to their rest here in the house where they bring life and light and color. Teal and turquoise and sea-foam green. Which one? Or all? Teal for the decorative pillows and the lap rug on the sofa; turquoise for the dishes in the cabinet; sea-foam green for the tile accents and the towels in the bathroom; all beautiful colors, not blue and not green, but to me they define the colors of home. Teal and Turquoise and Sea Foam green.
VictoriaJoDean 
teal looks great 😀
I’ve always loved it but never used it widely in a room and I’m loving it.
I’d love to see a picture blog of the finished product!
I bet it looks great. I love dark wood, chocolates, browns and beige. My favorite colour is aquamarine, though I have never been brave enough to try it on a large scale in my home decoration.
#needtotrysomethingnew!
I was thinking just this morning that it would have been good to use a pic of the new colors – after it’s all done, I may just do that. Still working on getting the hardwood floors in shape – they were buried under 30 years of red carpeting.
Aquamarine in pillows, vases – accent pieces would look fabulous in a room of dark woods, chocolates, brown, beige, etc. That’s sort of what we have here – I changed out Mother’s red and orange for teal and jade green. I’m loving it and she trying to adjust. When you move into your elderly Mother’s home so that she can remain in her home and then you make changes – whew! The fur flies!
I imagine such a move has really been a wonderful adventure for you. One that is no doubt providing many challenges as well as opportunities to grow.
Wonderful thing you are doing, and I really hope you do post some pictures when you are finished. I would love to see!
It is an adventure – one I never expected to have but I’m grateful that God loves me enough to toughen me up to do the right thing even as he softens my heart. And yes, more pics to come as I get further along in the house projects.
I can’t help but wondering if this post is a metaphor for something deeper and more personal, such as identity and exploring one’s self?
I’m sure you’re right – I’m in my mother’s house so that she can stay here in her final years. I’ve been doing some remodeling and redecorating – it’s tough on my Mother, but it makes me feel happy to see the fresh, new colors – they help me feel this is my home as well.
I always feel a sense of awe when I learn about other people caring for their parents. For some of us, our folks wouldn’t welcome the intrusion; I find myself smiling that you know despite the difficulty your mother has with change, you can still ask for it. I expect that my husband and I will care for his parents when it is time; we are moving to be closer to them, and I can see that this brings them joy.
This time is such a conflict of emotions – joy and irritation to name two of them, but it’s worth it, no matter how difficult. When I first came, I asked their permission and said it could be temporary until I found my own place and that let them agree easity. It was as time went on and they needed me that they were so glad that I hadn’t found my own place near-by – so we eased into to and I expect that knowing you are near-by will bring comfort to your husband’s parents.
I remember becoming a parent and feeling my daughter’s wise eyes staring at me with this look of, ‘don’t you know what you’re doing?’ I was reading in to it, but I was sometimes grateful and sometimes frustrated that she couldn’t just say what she wanted. I am suddenly wondering what it will be like to have a conversation with the one I am caring for.
Just remember that all of your life up ’til then is making you who you are and who’ll you need to be in that situation. Mostly, though, the point is love and the elderly need that and respond to it.