Let's Talk About...In Living Color or Black and White

Ok. You know how they say color influences your mood? Stores are decorated in colors that apparently make you want to buy. Casinos are decorated to make you gamble. School walls are a color that is supposed to help concentration. You catch my drift. So, when it comes to decorating your house, you have to think about your goals.

Serenity? Cozy? Creative?

A friend of mine who recently moved to Niwot told me she is struggling to decorate her home. No kidding! It's difficult and fraught with missteps.

Home décor sets a certain tone. We have walked into houses that look like a museum, and others that look like a flea market.

So, consider what you are going for. If you intend to have formal dinner parties, probably that jungle mural in the dining room isn't going to work. Or who knows, maybe it will.

I think back on my decorating journey, and it tells me a lot about myself and my history.

When we first moved here with two small children, we were able to choose the colors of our walls. However, the more colors we chose, the higher the price. So, predictably, we chose one shade of white. Everywhere. I wanted to create a cozy nest which meant choosing a "warm white" for the walls. You know, so that an evening glow would bathe the walls.

When we had our final walk through, the contractor remarked, "Wow, pink walls! That's a new one."

Pink walls? Not what I was going for. Yet I lived with those walls for the next 10 years.

It was clearly a bigger decision than I had imagined.

Then, as our three children grew up and our house was filled with projects, friends, pets, and general mayhem, I decided to bid on an interior decorator at the school's silent auction to create some order in our lives. When I won the bidding, I couldn't wait for the decorator to arrive and impart some wisdom.

She looked in horror at my pinkish walls, green and white plaid sofa, black coffee table from my first apartment, a bed with no headboard, and an old, faded TV armoire, and then looked at me with pity.

She asked me what colors I like. I pulled out a blanket woven in all the deep jewel colors I love - forest green, purple, red, gold, and navy blue. I didn't know what I was doing.

It wasn't long before we had gold walls in the living and dining rooms, deep red walls in the family room, kelly green walls in the basement rec room, and a bright cherry red bathroom. We had camel-colored leather sofas against the red walls and a red and green plaid couch against the green walls. The kitchen had green marble-like granite-like tile and white cabinets. The floors were "red oak" which, as we all know, is really yellow.

Basically, we lived in a harlequin traveling wagon for the next 10 years.

It wasn't too long before the kids left for college. Once they were gone and the dog was well past the puppy stage, I made a big decision. I wanted calm in my life.

So, we did the big purge.

Needless to say, the Salvation Army, the Vietnam Veterans of America, and ARC all had a bonanza year.

My vision was serenity. Tranquility. No more Sharpies and crayons on the table, no more vampire blood on the carpet, no more murals on the bedroom walls, no more tchotchkes everywhere.

What is more serene than soft gray, soft beige and white?

So, thinking I was a genius, I went for it.

Although it is now very common, I was sure I was so cutting edge with pale gray kitchen walls with white Shaker cabinets (Shaker=simple), and a white and gray dramatically marbleized quartz countertop. Every wall in the house was painted a shade of gray or beige. The basement is actually painted "greige."

But I really went over the top when I bought all white and light gray furniture. White leather couch, tufted pale gray and white chairs, off-white coffee tables, glass tables, white kitchen table, and, get this, white leather chairs IN THE KITCHEN! Crazy!

I splurged on a camelback greige tight-back, tight-seat sofa. Of course, it is the only piece of furniture our dog got so excited about that she dug a small hole in the seat within 2 weeks. (Unflippable cushion, by the way).

The red/yellow oak floors were stained gray and topped white shag rugs. Seriously, white shag. With a dog.

It took a while, but little by little I got the effect I was looking for.

The house now looks like a color-by-number project before the markers come out. Like one of those look-but-don't-touch homes. But let me tell you, with just my husband, myself and a mostly very well-behaved dog, it is perfect. And most important, serene. A safe place, calm.

I still have that colorful blanket draped on the back of the white boucle couch, flowers in wild colors here and there, colorful artwork, patterned throw pillows, and green plants in the corner. But like an Etch A Sketch, I can shake those additions off and start again as often as I like.

But here is the downside. I cannot sit at the kitchen table without seeing "dirt." Maybe a smudge of spaghetti sauce, black dog hairs, a chocolate spot from yesterday's cookie. But you know what? It is our smudge, our spot and our dirt. Of course, when my husband drags in "projects" from the garage and puts them on the white lacquer table "so the glue will dry," I accept what I cannot change.

But I now have the serenity to know the difference.