As I prep for an upcoming Today show spot on color, I am indulged with color wheel upon color wheel from many of the the top paint companies.
As I spin out the hues with delicious names like Violet Driving Coat, Sage Sweater and Cymric Silver, I wish I had a hundred rooms where I could give these colors a proper home, the chance to shine in the ever changing light that comes with four fabulously fickle seasons. And it’s not just the luxury of coating entire walls in shimmery Atlantic Winter or pragmatic Starch Apron or naughty Temptation that gets me. The potential combinations all these colors could have with one another make me as hungry to pair as a matchmaker. A chocolate brown with Tiffany blue? Dreamy for the girl’s room I’ll never have. A tangerine orange with palest yellow? Makes me long to escape somewhere warm and provincial. Aborigine with glossy black? A luxurious library filled with all the Russian novels I never have time read.
These colors seem to link me as much to potential feelings as they do to rooms: nostalgia, happiness, confidence, desire…I span out all the colors again and again: they’re like intriguing strangers you see across the room at a crowded party. Tempting to judge them by their appearance but of course looks can be deceiving. Besides: we all thrive and change from proximity and relationships with others. That cold white simply blossoms when snuggled next to a chartreuse green which seemed a little overwhelming on its own but has calmed itself due to its rightful matching.
Someone once said there’s no right or wrong when it comes to what color “goes” with what. You only have to look outside to nature to understand that. Pinks with reds, browns and greens happily abound. Perhaps it is best to not look at colors as risks that could alter a space negatively, but as a mood that waits to find its rightful place both inside a home and a soul.