I’m working on a theory that tortoise shell is a neutral for your home in the same way that leopard print is a neutral for your wardrobe. That’s it, that’s the whole theory. I actually don’t think it requires any more work. It’s baked.
This isn’t to say leopard print can’t exist in your home (if you don’t already know, I am a staunch advocate for doing W H A T E V E R you want in your home) but I feel like tortoise can be bit quieter and won’t veer off into Flintstones/glam rock if you go wrong.
Tortoise, to me, is akin to the chocolatey brown we have all welcomed back into our hearts recently with a touch more visual interest because of the variegated pattern.




Luckily for us, the internet is full of vintage and secondhand tortoise shell-patterned objects for us to indulge in (or just spend an evening on eBay considering), should we so choose:
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