My Color Journey

Color – I have found it is very important to me.  It emits emotions, good and bad; makes surroundings beautiful or ugly.  Color is one of the most important steps in decorating.  A suggested reading for my decorating course is Color Magic for Beginners, by Richard Webster.  I confess that I have not read the entire book, but in his introduction he points out that colors have three main aspects.  It effects the mind and emotions, has healing properties, and can encourage spiritual and developmental growth.

I began to reflect on my color journey.  My first apartment color palette in the late 70’’s was brown, rust, and mustard.  Then my first home took on hues of turquoise and gray, which led me to my southwestern phase of turquoise and terra cotta.  It was during that period that I painted my bedroom this peachy/pink color, and my husband although tolerated it, was not too fond of the fleshy tone on our bedroom walls.  The list goes on and on, but I realize they had one thing in common; they were bold and brave.

Fast forward to the present, I am older and I like to think more sophisticated, and with that my color preferences are more subtle.  Instead of walls with bold colors, I have suddenly turn to white.  In fact I am thinking I should create a new Pinterest board called ”White Rooms’’.  I still have color in my life; paintings, pillows, accessories, etc., but my eye then takes a break and rests on my calming white walls.

As I mentioned earlier, I am taking my decorating hobby to the next level, and studying design.  Color as you can imagine is a part of every lesson.  This new awareness has turned me into a color snob.  When I enter a room I am critiquing the wall colors.  I have an immediate reaction: either I love it (the wall colors at a local museum complement the art perfectly), to feeling uncomfortable (those same awkward peachy/pink walls in my bedroom have somehow popped up on my mother-in-laws living room walls).  This awakening has spilled over to other aspects of my life, like cooking.  Now I analyze my food choices to be sure they are complementary colors on the color wheel.  While shelling purple peas the other day, I was struck by how mother nature could create something so colorful and beautiful (and yes they are compliments on the color wheel).

So my closing thought is respect color, because it is powerful and one of the most important steps in designing a space.  And above all go with what inspires you.

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4 Comments

  1. 1

    Love your insights on color, a subject that fascinates me as well. I’d love to see more photos of your house, as well as some plates of delicious, color-coordinated food!

  2. 2

    I enjoyed what I read. I love colors and I don’t discriminate any color. However, I only like white walls best! With white walls I can decorate in any colors on them. If you look at my different stories on this site you will notice I love colors but my walls are white. Just my kitchen walls are muted sage green/jade color. I like to agree with you about colors!

  3. 3

    Very thoughtful Mindy. I have looked back at former homes and wondered, what was I thinking? 😉
    How exciting and brave you are to start a new chapter in your life. I’m looking forward to hearing more about your studies. BTW I had those peachy walls in the 80’s too 😉

  4. 4

    I don’t know what happened to my comment. So here goes again. I love white walls because I can decorate them with any other colors. It’s covenient. White walls is a clean slate for other colors! If you look at my stories on here, you will notice I love colors, bold, bright, and saturated. I love the color combo in your picture. Beautiful. I do nott discriminate colors; I do discriminate wall colors though.

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