Eye For Design: The Pineapple Decor Trend......Something Old Is New Again!

The use of this exotic fruit in decorating is a prime example of the "fashion-led interior". We have seen pineapples adorning the fashion runways en mass and now this tropical element has worked it's way into home decor too. However it is not a new thing. Decorating with pineapples has been around for a long time thanks to early American colonists who used this fruit as a symbol of wealth and hospitality. They were imported from the Caribbean and were a rare commodity so when guests would be served these treats or see them used as centerpieces, they looked on it as a sign of hospitality, much like they did the pine cone, thus establishing the pineapple as a welcoming symbol. It has been a standard for decorating from the US and European for centuries.

There are three styles to choose from when decorating with pineapples.

1. Tropic-Cool This is the style for those wanting to embrace the colorful, energetic, tropical trend at home. Bright colors, palms, pineapples, exotic flowers,and brightly colored birds are flamboyantly printed onto fabrics, ceramics and just about everything else.

2. Tropical Colonial The tropical trend is not all about wild colors and can be embraced as part of a relaxed Colonial villa vibe with crisp white fabrics, low key palm or pineapple prints and natural materials such as rattan furniture, natural fabric flooring such as sisal, hardwood floors, bamboo blinds and wooden plantation shutters.

3. Classic This style is never trendy, but is a well established design element in architecture, ceramics, and art. Imagine pineapples carved into woodwork or a high-relief pineapple set inside the split pediment of a door. This style will feature a silver tea caddy with a finial in the form of an ivory pineapple with a little silver crown on top. Or maybe molded mortar pineapples on gate posts of historic homes. This style is gracious and elegant and has more of an old world feel.

However you decide to incorporate it into your home, from wallpaper and carpet to vases and lighting, pineapple decor has become a major high-end home designer trend.

The Pineapple at Dunmore Park, Scotland

The Pineapple is an elaborate summerhouse of two storeys, built for the 4th Earl of Dunmore. Sailors would put a pineapple on the gatepost to announce their return home. Lord Dunmore, who was fond of a joke, announced his return more prominently.