There’s nothing like green to make a room feel fresh, lively and calm all at the same time. From pale mint to deep emerald, use greens to bring the outside inside and breathe new life into your home.
The jade-green ocean at Burgau inspired me to paint this abstract seascape. We arrived there one evening after a scorching walk over the cliffs from Porto de Mós (we had only planned to walk to Praia da Luz but got carried away, stupidly doing it in the heat of the day). When we arrived, the colour of the ocean took my breath away, it was the most vivid green: the colour of a mojito and the temperature of a mojito too, despite it being August.
Kitchen Greens
If we didn’t smash everything in our house, I would buy these beautiful glazed green ceramic coffee cups, handmade by Cecile Bazire at her studio in Tavira.
These stoneware bowls and plates from Casa in Portimão are great value and come in a range of pretty colours.
Green embossed bowl & plates bit.ly/3NvUhzB
Green Portuguese Tiles
These bright green embossed tiles from Luisa Paixão are a reproduction of the very first azulejos found in Portugal in the 15th and 16th centuries. They would look great in a bathroom as well as a kitchen. Luisa is offering 10% off all orders for Tomorrow readers. Just use the code ‘Tomorrow’.
Green embossed tile luisa-paixao.eu | 10% OFF on all orders with the promocode ‘Tomorrow’
Green sardine tile wall art www.deboracostaatelier.com | 15% OFF on any artwork when contacting through the website
I love this ceramic sardine framed wall art, handmade and hand-painted by Débora Costa in Vila do Conde, if you contact her through her website she’s giving Tomorrow readers a 15% discount off any of her artwork.
Green Bedroom
Splashes of green add warmth and colour to this plain white bedroom. The sage rectangular cushions I bought from Casa and the set of three botanical canvas prints are part of a larger collection of green wall art on my website. I never get tired of painting palms, sometimes I’m supposed to be painting faces and they turn into palm leaves. It’s a bit of an obsession.
For pattern and texture, I love these rectangular cushions from Trendy Pillows in Lisbon.
Green rectangular patterned cushions trendypillows.com
This set of green woven storage baskets from Gato Preto is a great way to hide clutter.
Green woven storage baskets gatopreto.com
Green Upcycling
I’m always poking around charity shops looking for furniture with potential. This old wooden table caught my eye at Nandi charity shop in Lagos (open Mon–Sat, 11 am–3 pm). The blush-coloured solid granite top was in good nick, but the wooden base was really battered. A couple of coats of chalky green furniture paint from Bricomarché and it’s now a shabby chic gem!
I used up the last bit of paint on this stool, sanding and varnishing the pine and then painting its legs green. If you fancy getting creative with chairs, you could take part in a fun event organised by the Art Academy Marina de Lagos – they’re having a show full of chairs (homemade, painted, decorated … ) on 23 September and, after the exhibition, they’re planning to auction the chairs for charity.
Bring the Outside Inside
Artificial palm in green pot from Casa Caravela
We manage to kill all the real plants in our house. Casa Caravela in Lagos has some great artificial palms, so much better quality than the Ikea ones I bought last year. This fake Cycas palm looks so real and it sits beautifully in the pale green clay fibre pot I got from Jysk in Portimão.
Have you ever thought of making your own wall art? I took this photo of a palm tree in my garden last week and had it printed onto canvas.
There are some beautiful plants in the Algarve and most smartphones have pretty sophisticated cameras these days. So long as your picture is high resolution (300dpi) you should be able to print it quite large without pixelation. I get canvas prints made at Cordavida in Lagos, a small business run by Teresa and Martin, who moved to the Algarve from South Africa three years ago. Teresa is happy to offer Tomorrow readers a 15% discount on your first order with code VIDA2023 at the checkout (+351 910 061 535 / geral@cordavida.pt).
Palm leaf photo on canvas www.cordavida.pt | 15% OFF on the first order at Cordavida with the promocode ‘VIDA2023’
