Mandy Moore’s Altadena home is as charming as you might expect from a Sarah Sherman Samuel–designed space. It’s colorful and playful with plush furnishings, tufted checkerboard rugs, and many undulating silhouettes (a Sherman signature). One particular detail, however, stands out among its cheerful counterparts: a pair of Babs accent chairs upholstered in a bright chartreuse fabric—chartreuse velvet, even, to make things more provocative.
Chartreuse re-entered the conversation during Brat Summer, but the divisive color—named after a liqueur bottled by Alpine monks—originated in the 17th century and has inspired lively debate for just as long. “Call it lime green, pistachio, Day-Glo yellow, citrus green, acid green, neon green, pea soup or granny apple, but please don't call it chartreuse,” begins a New York Times article from 1988, portending its return (and rightly so—as revealed by Nicole Kidman’s 1997 Oscars dress, called “absinthe,” and Prada’s 1996 embrace of the hue).
Despite its “puke green” hue, as AD PRO Directory designer Leah Ring of Another Human, affectionately called it, chartreuse does an impressive job of brightening each of the rooms where it’s leveraged. Ring is a self-described chartreuse apologist who tries to incorporate at least some aspect of the color in each of her projects. Other design icons have cosigned it as well, including Eero Saarinen, who considered the shade striking enough for a 1948 iteration of the Womb chair (titled, admittedly, “citron”).
The color’s many other notable fans include Kendall Jenner, whose bunk room bath employs chartreuse tiles; musician Scout Willis, who shared her chartreuse linoleum floors with us; architect Jim Joseph, who cloaks his Livingston living room in the color; Aurora James’ staircase is dripping in the stuff. Extreme Cashmere’s flagship store is another example, cloaked head-to-toe in chartreuse carpet.
And, of course, Samuel herself delivers the shade in a dozen other iterations for her collection: daybeds, rugs, pillows, swivel chairs, benches. In Moore’s house, the chartreuse chairs she designed look dignified, even, among deep blues and dark walls. The chartreuse-ism extends to the kid’s bedroom with a Nordic Knots rug whose titular Loops-Yellow leans green, along with a hand-loomed rug in their dining room that echoes the same palette. Someone had to spread the puke green gospel.
