Color my World

Color has been a large part of my life. And I have always felt that the colors around us influence our moods - I am a believer in color psychology. Which brings me to what I"ve been doing the last few days - rethinking the colors in our home.

Let me start by saying that I've never been a big fan of the color blue. There is nothing wrong with the color - but it just didn't speak to me. I have never felt that I had any real connection to it; I don't live by the ocean or even a lake and I don't even have blue eyes. I have no foundation in the color whatsoever. I have also thought that it would be a lovely color to decorate if I lived near water. But I don't. I live in Oklahoma - a state that is just about as landlocked as you can get. The colors I decorate with mostly are the colors I see everyday around me: shades of green ( like my eyes ), yellows, golds, tans and browns. The shades that color the Great Plains in which I live.

But now, all of a sudden, I am finding myself drawn to the color blue - or shades of it at least. I bought a new coverlet for our bed the other day that is turquoise and light blue. I have been switching out my red and brown accents in the living room for white milk glass and items of blue and turquoise. I am finding it all very relaxing, soothing, and most importantly, calming. These 3 feelings are all things I need more of in my life. Interestingly, I find that I am almost unconsciously attempting to create that around myself right now.

Which brings me to my dining room. *SIGH* Currently I have a red dining room. We bought this house in the summer of 2004 and this was the first room I painted. It is painted a color called Ladybug. I still love the color BUT I am just tired of it. It has been 5 years. And also, RED just doesn't speak to me anymore.

When I painted this room, red definitely had something to say to me and about me. I had just landed a big job. I was in charge of 500 employees and I was learning my way through a department of 8 direct reports and how to hold my own in an industry that was ALL male. Red was my color; it was my shield and my safe place.

But it isn't so much anymore. I find that I shrink from red right now. I want something quieter. I want my dining room to softly speak to me rather than yell. I want to feel calmed by it rather than excited. I really want to paint my dining room a warm gray color.

Now, I went round and round with this last November and I just could NOT find the "right" gray. The trouble is that our wood trim, and there is a lot of it, is all stained. It is the original trim and because of that I have flinched from painting it. Well, that and the prospect of all the sanding we'd have to do. But I keep coming back to this and feeling that it is just time - time to do it. I am feeling that it may be time to paint at least some of the trim. Possibly the trim around the windows, doors, baseboards and some of the crown molding. We also have a built in hutch that is the original wood trim. You can see part of the built in here in this picture. I may not paint that. I wonder if it will look ok to leave that alone. I guess we'll find out.

So anyway - this is my next big project. If anyone has any pointers or words of wisdom - I'm all ears. Wish me luck.