Tuesday, April 15, 2008

Living out loud.... in COLOR!

Looking around the Hampton's today, I had a stiking revelation. Maybe not stiking to anyone but myself but it was a good one none the less....


I suddenly realized how loudly I live my life... how much I LOVE color.... how much I HATE blank white walls, or plainness. How I mix the two as a form of expression. How good it makes me feel to live that loudly, everyday, because it's beautiful.


It hit me today when I was painting royal blue on the walls at the hamptons, trying to cover up the glossy white (yuck!). I can't express how much I think plain is boring. I look at all these nice new houses that contracters build and then sell for half a million dollars and they bore the shit out of me! Sure, they look clean. Sure, neutral is good for some people.... people who have a neutral lifestyle. In my head it's WAY TO clean.... WAY TO neautral. I think color in a house is what makes a home.... In my house, I've got green in the foyer, red in the kitchen, crimson in the boys' room, yellow in Zane's room, purple and silver in the bathroom, and tropical nut in my room. It's like an explosion of color! And best of all.... it makes me feel so at home! John and I also just picked color's for the hamptons and it's gonna be so pretty when it's all done! Royal Blue, Velvet Crush, Verde, Tapper Brown, and Teracotta! Slap some paint on that white wall and make it come to life!


It also hit me how proud I am of having so much color in my wardrobe. Yeah, sometimes I get into "black" slumps but I LOVE wearing black with mustard yellow pants, or white pin stripes.... Big floral skirts, bright orange tank tops, red thigh high boots, and lime green rain boots! I used to worry what people would think about what I was wearing.... i still do a bit I suppose but I'm trying to teach myself that it's beautiful to wear a bright expression of yourself! Kind of started when I started dying my hair purple and pink. Some people sneer at it but I've learned to not care anymore.... And I'm not doing it to "be different" (it obviously does do that when I got three kids with me :-) but I did it to add COLOR to my life....


Maybe that's why I'm so ready for spring too..... Mother Nature just spills color EVERYWHERE! Beautiful flowers in bloom, grass and trees turning green, my garden full of colorful veggies and fruits to eat, even the mud is pretty! (Hey John.... I LOVE MUD!) No more white winter snow and brown trees everywhere, instead she paints a beautiful picture on this big blank canvas :-)


One last thing that just dawned on me too.... how lucky I am to SEE all this color. Some people aren't blessed with this ability to see so much color. I am thankful to have this ability and I plan on living my colorful life more and more everyday :-) I hope I leave a colorful footprint in someone's eyes :-)

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

What an expression! Yes, you are a colorful person, even before you began coloring your hair different colors. You did your bedroom colors years..........ago! It's just now coming out of you more! Wonderful to see it. You can even FEEL the COLOR!!!

Nina said...

Dana- as long as I've known you, you have always been vibrant- or a bit eccentric. I have always LOVED your plaid pants. And I love the atmosphere at your house. It will be so nice when Rik and I buy a house...I cant wait to have something other than white walls!

We only live once- might as well live it with purple hair and rainbow walls ;)

PS: Now I feel like dying my hair red and dreading it. I have intended to do this for awhile but I keep putting it off. It feels good to break free and be who *YOU* want to be- not who *everyone else* expects you to be. Time to free the walls and hair damn it! ok. now I'm getting manic. Better stop here.

ChiTown Girl said...

It's so funny that you would acknowledge those who can't see the colors you do. My son is color-blind, but thankfully on the low end of the spectrum. The thing is, he's one of the most artistic people I know. He doesn't go ANYWHERE without his sketchbook (much to the dismay of his teachers!) and he's constantly creating art. I sometimes wonder how much more he would do if he could actually see all the colors there are out there.