Decorating Guides
Elements of Style: A Passion for Pineapples
See the many ways you can infuse your home with tropical-fruit-inspired decor
When we design enthusiasts prattle on about how our interiors should be personal, expressive of individual style, we’re issuing a subtle challenge to be fearlessly ourselves, to lay open our quirks and idiosyncrasies with abandon. If purple is your favorite color, slather it on your walls. If you’ve had a lifelong obsession with collectible cherub figurines, make room on the mantel and let them sing. Your visitors may not get it, but if you style your curiosities well, everyone should be able to appreciate your home as a reflection of confidence — the confidence to be unabashedly you. This article shows the ways one motif, the pineapple — a symbol of hospitality — has been carried throughout a variety of homes for an extra dose of character and whimsy.
Multiples of the same item displayed as a collection can be styled to look incredibly chic, and this tactic works especially well when the collection is interspersed with functional items, as in this gorgeous kitchen cabinet setup. Paint your pineapples metallic and watch them shine among your everyday items.
Fence and shutter cutouts are also great way to highlight a pineapple’s silhouette. In coastal locales across the U.S., there are companies that specialize in creating one-of-a-kind wood products featuring cutouts of your favorite motif. Maybe for you, a horseshoe cut into the barn door of your Texas ranch feels just right. Never pass up an opportunity to transform a functional item like a door into a source of joy.
Luscious Lights
These pineapple pendant lights are sophisticated, but they are still a taste of something different where an ordinary globe light might have been tempting.
These pineapple pendant lights are sophisticated, but they are still a taste of something different where an ordinary globe light might have been tempting.
It is rarely difficult to find a range of home decor products, from lamps to pillows to wall hangings, painted or sculpted to resemble some familiar object. The base of this lamp by British lighting designer Rosanna Lonsdale pays homage to the pineapple.
Fabulous Fabrics
Pineapples are a favorite motif of coastal home decor companies, including Tommy Bahama. Pineapples and embroidered palms give these sheets and shams by Williams-Sonoma a distinctly tropical flair and highlight this room’s sprightly green and white color pairing.
Pineapples are a favorite motif of coastal home decor companies, including Tommy Bahama. Pineapples and embroidered palms give these sheets and shams by Williams-Sonoma a distinctly tropical flair and highlight this room’s sprightly green and white color pairing.
Here, a printed linen pillow delivers the same motif in subdued colors and an artistic design. I’m always on the lookout for fun DIY projects, and for talented illustrators, this one is perfect. Since motifs or emblems that remind us of something we love (a tree for outdoorsy types, an anchor for boaters, a crown for little princesses or princes) are usually fairly straightforward shapes, they are in a way a blank canvas upon which to unleash a little creative magic.
Wow-Worthy Walls
I had to restrain myself from going wallpaper crazy in this article, as there are so many funky papers out there that use a motif like a pineapple the way they would a polka dot: as a simple shape at evenly spaced intervals. A wide pineapple print in muted colors like this one can hold its own in a fairly conservative space like this elegant bathroom, and pairs well with the tropical bamboo mirror frame above the sink.
I had to restrain myself from going wallpaper crazy in this article, as there are so many funky papers out there that use a motif like a pineapple the way they would a polka dot: as a simple shape at evenly spaced intervals. A wide pineapple print in muted colors like this one can hold its own in a fairly conservative space like this elegant bathroom, and pairs well with the tropical bamboo mirror frame above the sink.
These cheery pineapple decals sweeten a crisp white wall and work just like stickers, though they look just like wallpaper. Being removable decals, they can be put pretty much anywhere: a tabletop, Ikea furniture in need of a good hack, cabinet doors…. Your own creativity is your only limit.
Nature’s Beauty
Let us not forget the power of baskets as a means of showing off collections and containing items colorful or practical. The pineapple is both, and serves as one more bit of decorative natural greenery in this light-filled room.
Let us not forget the power of baskets as a means of showing off collections and containing items colorful or practical. The pineapple is both, and serves as one more bit of decorative natural greenery in this light-filled room.
Pulling It All Together
Since a simple motif or icon can be rendered so imaginatively as art, it is possible to have multiple pineapples (or whatever your chosen motif) in one room and have none of them look anything alike. Variation-on-a-theme artworks can end up looking really clever against a white backdrop, as we see here.
Since a simple motif or icon can be rendered so imaginatively as art, it is possible to have multiple pineapples (or whatever your chosen motif) in one room and have none of them look anything alike. Variation-on-a-theme artworks can end up looking really clever against a white backdrop, as we see here.
Going even further, here we have cutout Frostbrite window film, a pineapple-inspired pillow and a succulent with fronds mixing deliciously with an actual pineapple.
More
Design Mystery: Why Do Pineapples Sprout Up in Home Design?
Pineapple Motifs Add a Slice of Hospitality
11 Ways With Tropical Wallpaper
More
Design Mystery: Why Do Pineapples Sprout Up in Home Design?
Pineapple Motifs Add a Slice of Hospitality
11 Ways With Tropical Wallpaper
Maybe the pineapple motif is your thing, but you’re a bit reserved: Two sculptural little tchotchkes on a kitchen shelf can be the easiest and cheapest way to give your kitchen some personality.