When someone tells me he/she’s moving into a new home, my first question is usually about color. What’s your color scheme? I ask. And maybe this is odd. Or maybe not. I think color matters.
My big girls? Their room is deep purple and bright orange. It’s a happy place. A silly sanctuary scattered with toys and animals – and, yes, oodles of color.
I think what continues to scare me most about adulthood – the territory I’m most certainly treading now – is the idea that I might, if I am not careful, become beige, that prudence and practicality might come to dominate my thinking and my living, that I might lose my punch of color, of youth.
If you’ve seen my home (or my wardrobe, or my nails), you might think I have nothing to worry about. In these areas, color abounds. I hope it stays that way for some time. Always.
But I am also concerned about metaphorical color. About preserving a vibrant host of hues in my ideas, my stories, my choices. It’s easier, I think, to get our nails painted Camera (my latest red/pink summer fave) than it is to prevent the color from fading from our days and our ways. Right?
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Oh, and today I’m wearing this Zara loose knit neon scarf with my gray sweater and holed-up jeans… Zesty, no?
Are you colorful in your aesthetic and existential choices? What colors do you have in your home? Do you think I’m being too hard on poor old beige? What if anything about adulthood scares you? Yay or nay on the scarf?
Well, I have to admit that I am super duper boring about house colors. My walls are ALL WHITE. I honestly cannot choose another color. Curtains, upholstery, everything else can be colorful, but my walls are all white. I’m sure there’s a metaphor in there …!? xoxo
Oh, I love that everything is white. Purity, innocence, blank slate… Love it. Oh, and since you commented, I posted a pic of my new scarf which I am wearing today… Let me know what you think. Too splashy and young? Too zippy and loud? Too trendy?
No, I love! I have been doing neon myself (clothes-wise, not walls-wise!) and like it … xox
Love Camera. And most of the Essie summer collection. But are you having problems with excess chipping? I just got Lights on Friday and already I need another manicure. Bummer.
Hmmm… Wonder if it’s the polish or the polisher that’s to blame for the chipping scenario? Ah, life’s deep questions
and I can’t stop thinking of Friday Night Lights after reading your comment!
We’re signing the contract for our new house this week, and since the day when we got word that our offer had been accepted, I have been obsessed with all things Home. I’m completely into color, and have been choosing brightly hued paint, furniture, and various other home accessories like a woman possessed. I think my husband thinks I’m a little nutty, and I very well might be, but our house is a big blank canvas, and I can’t wait to paint it in color. And Camera? Love. Also try Watermelon and Clambake, my current summer faves.
So much fun that you have a blank slate to reckon with. Let the hubby think you are nutty; color and pattern are important! I plan to check out those nail colors
I think I might just stand up and defend beige and all of its non-punchy compatriots. My home is filled with taupes, slate blues, moss greens, and so on. I find these tones soothing and peaceful. I’m all for accent colors here and there (like your scarf!) but I prefer for the foundation colors of almost any room to be a bit more subtle.
Was waiting for someone to stick up for beige and her more mellow cousins
the truth is I do like the subtler colors too but I believe – and wholeheartedly – in splashes of brightness. I truly think this post is a out far more than color. It’s about vibrancy, life, lust, passion…
I wonder to what extent our digital homes are accurate reflections of our physical homes? My blog looks a lot like my house. Soft, muted tones with small pops of color here and there. Your new blog looks a lot like your home – bright whites and bold colors with a modern edge. I wonder if this is just true of the two of us, or if it’s more universal amongst bloggers?
So so interesting. You could be on to something here. I think this would make sense, right? That our online homes reflect our aesthetic sense just as our physical homes do? Now I feel like I want to run around to all of my favorite blogs and imagine what the authors’ homes look like. I think this could be a really fascinating blog topic, no?
I am scared of being beige too. Even though the stupid shoes I can’t walk in are beige, but that’s so I can wear lots of color. I usually tell my husband I am afraid of becoming like a mayonaise sandwhich– no meat, no zip, no flavor and no color. I would rather die. Surely, the desire for color makes it so, right? And the scarf is great. I wish I wasn’t afraid of scarves.
Love love love the mayo sandwich metaphor. And the funny thing is? That used to be my favorite lunch as a girl. In retrospect, so gross. But I remember just adoring them at the time. I am the opposite of afraid of scarves. I think they are going to be my “summer staple”
And I said it on your blog, but I love the shoes. They are actually beige, but they are so not beige if you know what I mean.
Oh I just love you! I, too, am terrified of beige, but never thought of it in quite those terms. I’m a mom of three kids who watch me all the time, so I have to stay pretty even-tempered, but – truly – I love drama in everything. I love superlatives. I love living in an extreme climate. I love the jagged mountains I can see out the window – the ones that scratch the sky and tell me I should climb them someday. I love bold colors that mean something – each of my rooms is painted a different color to match the feeling I wish to have when I sit there. And I love your scarf.
And I love this comment! I must say I read these words last night as I was spinning away on the elliptical machine at the gym trying to process my day. For some reason, yesterday was tricky. It was also exquisite, full of feeling, decidedly not beige. Anyway, your words floated in at a perfect time and made me smile and goofy smile, so thank you. From this comment alone, I know I must spend some time on your blog. Oddly envious of your view… The concept of jagged mountains is a stretch for this city creature. Thanks for leaving a colorful, and appreciated, trail of words here
I was just thinking about this! My 17-month-old’s clothes are so colorful and fun and my clothes are so neutral and boring. I feel like people might think I’m nuts if I wear cow-print leggings and hot pink rain boots, though!
Also, we just bought a new house and I’m hiring a colorist to help me choose paint colors. Color is SO important! XO
Color is so important. I am sitting here wearing a blinding yellow sweater and it makes me very happy. Another interesting post would be about mixing patterns. It seems that the wee ones get away with this much more than we ever could, right?
So fun about picking colors for your home? Which way are you leaning? I LOVE this stuff!
I too am a color-junkie! right now where I am living I am not permitted to paint the walls and they are white – ugghh !! A visit to my previous apartment would have gone like this (hope you are good at visualizing colors) : Orange Burst entrance hallway – with gold hand- and footprints done by friends at a ‘paint party’, Summer Plum livingroom (a very deep purple) with Very Violet edges and ceiling (!!), Burnt Caramel walls and ceiling with Brilliant Blue accents for my study, Bright Yellow in the diningroom, with Twilight Blue on the walls and ceiling of my bedroom. To add to this, my livingroom, diningroom and study were all rather open plan….. It took me six months to make a final decision about all these colors but they all came out perfectly and worked wonderfully well together. I had some friends who would position their chairs a particular way when they visited, to be able to feast their eyes on certain colors ! hahaha !! I, too, dress very colorfully and avoid white (too many colors added together!) and black (the total absence of color).
By the way, I love your neon scarf and will now be adding “I am terrified of beige” and “I am afraid of becoming like a mayonaise sandwich” to future conversations. Thanks, Christie and Susanna.
Your home sounds beautiful. I was kind of worried when we were designing our home and picking colors and papers that the final product would feel icky and rainbow, but it really came together well and just feels happy and cheeky to me. Which is good because I live here
Hi Aidan,
I really enjoy reading your blog although I confess that I rarely comment. Your post about comments yesterday convinced me to remove my cloak of invisibility for a brief moment
, so I wanted to 1) say hello and let you know that I am one of your loyal readers, and 2) comment on this post in particular because it made me think of another blog that I love to visit called “design seeds” – have you heard of it? It is a collection of beautiful color palettes. Sounds simple but it really is quite inspiring.
In any case, thanks for being so inspiring yourself! I love the new design of your blog and the thoughtful virtual community that you have nurtured.
Hey there, G! Thank you so much for removing that cloak and saying hello. It really means a great deal when people decide to comment, and particularly for the first time. I have not heard of design seeds, but I am about to go find it. It’s 5:30am and I likely have a half hour before the kiddos are up, so should be time enough to poke around. (Random aside, Husband is away on business, so these days are, well, extra colorful! So so thrilled that you enjoy my new design (I cannot tell you how much this fresh start has reinvigorated my blogging!) and that you are enjoying the community here as well; I certainly do.
Fingers are crossed that this first comment leads to many more!!