I like color.
Pretty much always have.
My number one excitement when we bought our house – I can’t wait to paint the walls actual colors! (my idea of actual colors – something that is immediately identifiable…doesn’t matter the shade/tint/whatever…it’s blue, green, orange. If you have to think about what color it is {um, tan-ish creme with a hint of beige} it is not a color to me. I lump that all into a color I call blah.) After living in dorm rooms and apartments where everything was shades of blah, I was ready for some excitement on the walls! (As an aside here as well – I would like to mention my hate for colors considered “off white”. Seriously, off white, what are you doing? Nothing other than looking like dirty white, something that used to be white, or something that is supposed to be white. I would also like to point out that if you like off white or blah colors, I am cool with that. I don’t live your life so I don’t expect you to like the things I like, it’s just my opinion, ya know! I also change my opinions a lot, so next month I might love off white. Probably not though.)
So anyhoots, after our initial house project of taking down the awful curtains, tearing up the carpet, and refinishing all the beautiful oak floors (ok, initial few projects…) we went to pick out paint. Now, I am not one of those people who goes to the store, brings home 30 paint chips, narrows it down, then buys 5 samples, paints them on the walls, lives with it for a few days, then decides. Nope. I walk in, see one I like, grab it and do it to it. So husband and I decided on a really beautiful blue color called “Nemo.” We bring home a few gallons of it, start painting, and the nail biting starts.
Oh my gosh, that is really blue…are you sure you don’t want to do a lighter shade?
Um, isn’t that going to clash with the red couches?
Wow-that is really blue.
Are you really going to want to come home to this everyday?
(Some of you are probably looking at this and thinking – well that isn’t so blue, it’s nice! And some of you are probably thinking the same thoughts as above…OMG, what is she thinking?!)
Now let me say, that this nail biting was not done by husband or me. No, no! We were in love with the color and really excited to get our red couches moved in. (And yes, I do mean red red!) But let me tell you we got the HEAT put on by people stopping over to see how things were coming along in our new little home. And I politely reassured everybody that yes, it is blue and yes, the couches are, in fact, red, but it will work beautifully I promise. No, it will not look like the 4th of July. No, it will not look like a 2 year old picked the colors. And no, we will not regret it. (And seriously, even if we did, it’s not that hard to paint over!)
Fast forward over four years later and almost every person that comes into our home gushes about the beautiful colors! It makes me happy to hear that other people like it, but mostly it makes me happy, well, because it makes me happy! I love it. I mean, come on people! Up here in the north country, it is white/grey/blah outside like half of the year. Do you seriously want to come home to a house that looks the same? Talk about depressing! Geesh – if I can’t have sunshine, at least let me have some color! And by some of course I mean like a whole ton! (And on a side rant here, it’s our house, not yours – I don’t come over to your house and tell you how much I dislike your paint colors, or carpet, or style of furniture. Live and let live my friends! Stop bustin my balls. {but that is opening a big ole can of worms})
So, here is a little snip of it with the {gasp} RED couches.
It’s pretty freakin awesome, right?!
So, getting back around to the title of the post, let’s ask mother nature. Does blue go with red? Or am I just a crazy lady? I went through some of my picture archives to answer that question.
Beautiful Maple in Brookings, SD at SDSU's demonstration gardens
Fall colors at Goosberry Falls north of Duluth, MN
Answer – Um, hello?! Have you ever seen anything more beautiful than bright red fall leaves against a crisp, blue fall sky?!
Yeah, that’s what I thought. It is amazing and breathtaking and gorgeous. And what’s weird is that I think mother nature just sinks these thoughts and ideas into my subconscious. Would I have ever brought in a picture like this and said – here, I want the couch to be this color and the walls to be this color? Probably not. Although now that I’m thinking about it…maybe I would! But I can’t really help but think that almost all of my inspiration comes from nature. I relish days spent outside and I’m pretty sure that all the colors, textures, and inspiration out there just becomes part of my brainwaves.
Fall at the farm
(I know the red paint isn’t “mother nature,” but it’s another good example of the striking beauty of red and blue)
Yes, mother nature knows best…maybe you should follow her lead the next time you are thinking about repainting. Who knows what colors you’ll end up with!
