The Wonderful World of Color!

People have teased Molly and me for years about needing sunglasses just to be in our home! True...we like color - and A LOT of color! In previous blogs I have mentioned that our home has been a virtual "learning lab" for the last eighteen years as we constantly progress in our tastes and moods. Recently we added sort of a tomato bisque to the walls of the Playroom (specifically designed to keep the grand babies happy!), and a blueish steel gray to the Living Room (formally a deep red). Color makes us happy! Why have ho-hum off white or beige when you can express yourself?

Hard as we try, we just can't get the colors we work with to be as spectacular as God's! He is the Master Creator who makes full use of a magnificent palette of colors we cannot even imagine.  Just look at His handiwork:

Even the iridescence are non-reproducible! But that doesn't keep us from trying! One Interior Designer had us mix twelve sample shades of robin's egg blue - for the MAID'S QUARTERS! We've seen and played with reds, celadon greens, and even mottled burnt orange in a venetian plaster. The requests never end. If you have the patience, it can be a lot of fun!

My first real exposure to color was when I was fifteen. Can you imagine a teenager with chocolate brown walls, stark white trim and gold carpet? I'm sure my basketball buddies thought I was nuts! But I loved it - called it the "cave" in fact... This gorgeous room (above) is in one of my client's homes, painted over grasscloth for an additional, subtle texture.

Many people believe that they have to have an Interior Designer to "go colorful." We highly recommend that avenue when trying to coordinate color with an overall look in either a room or a home. The trained professionals have a real eye for the subtle and a sense for what will look right (although even the experts sometimes miss it and have to re-do!). BUT...start with what makes you happy! You don't need an Interior Designer to tell you that! If it makes you happy and you feel you can live with the color - PUT IT ON THE WALL!