Fun, Function, Furnishings, Freak-Outs
After a year and a half, our house has reached a point of relative stasis. No more large appliance deliveries are anticipated, no large furniture replacements are expected, and we’ve had a year-long go-round in our space which means no more holding our breath to see how corners of our home react to the elements and seasons. That’s not to say that there isn’t SO VERY MUCH WORK TO DO OH MY GOD WHERE DOES IT END, but we’re feeling closer to a less all-caps version of that sentiment than we were this time last year. A lower-case/higher-vibration approach to home design is in sight at least.
Now we get to focus a little on the fun stuff. We get to make our home, our place within our chosen community, our family’s headquarters reflect us - who we were, are, and hope to be. I should be meditating on our family mantra, sewing our clan’s proverbial flag, examining colors and patterns that “feel” like “us,” ya know? But no. What I’m actually doing is searching “elevated interiors” on social media/Google and being pulled farther from shore into a sea of neutral fabric and paints.
Perhaps it’s the rise in a focus on self-care that was born out of societal, financial, and climate crises in my lifetime and that of my peers that makes everyone seem to want to live in the massage room of a Turkish day spa. When the reality of the outside world is too much (and let’s be real, when is it ever not) you can project your own Eden on the walls of your home doused in ecru tones that help to facilitate sweet, sweet disassociation. Putting the temporary ahhhhhhhh in the near-constant AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHH of existence seems to be the only thing millennials like myself are apt to want. And I get it, I feel the creeping release of serotonin when I see those rounded edges, soft palettes, and earthy minimalist vibes. Then I remember I have a kid who if left unsupervised for .03 seconds will magic a crayon into being and go to town on the first easel that presents itself as such. So, making my house resemble one giant blank canvas? Hard no.
Plus, looking through staged, soft, wonderfully aesthetic spaces doesn’t give context to living in them. I don’t want to come home and decompress into a puddle of ennui, I want to come home and be home. Home isn’t a meditation retreat - it’s where your life happens. A day devoid of stimulation and distraction: bliss! A lifetime devoid of it: blegh! So, then I rode the pendulum back to the land of living, breathing, life-confirming COLOR! AND IT STRESSED ME TF OUT!
It was exactly as I was being brought, virtually, on a tour of a green, blue, and carpeted bathroom to a lively pink bedroom via Architectural Digest’s website that I realized I could never live that way, either. I mean, an orange refrigerator is kitschy and cute for an Instagram staple (“look at us in our quirky kitchen, everyone! We are so fun and quirky all day, don’t you love it? Coulda bought stainless steel, but where’s the fun in that hahaahahaahaahahahaahelpme,” screams this fridge) but that’s not what I want my home to be either. I don’t want to be the house with the wacky kitchen everyone remembers visiting one time just to say they were there. I want to be the house with the kitchen generations congregate in on holidays that no one quite remembers aside from a feeling of belonging…but what the hell paint color is THAT, Sherwin Williams!?!?
In moving forward with decorating plans, here’s what I’ve concluded:
I’m not relying so heavily on the internet for this one. We’re gonna hone our skills at spatial intuition and hope for the best here.
Remember the promise of impermanence. There are some things in life you can’t Edit/Undo. Neither paint color nor window dressings are one of those things.
Things exist best in a flow state. I might want a pink kitchen, green dining room, white living room, and purple bathroom in theory, but in practice I do not want to live within the disorienting contours of a Rubik’s cube.
And in case, like me, you’re curious as to what the colors of the rainbow (and beyond) communicate to our brains, below is a non-extensive rundown:
Red = Excitement, Strength, Love, Energy, Anger
Orange = Confidence, Success, Bravery, Sociability
Yellow = Creativity, Happiness, Warmth, Cheer
Green = Nature, Healing, Freshness, Quality
Blue = Trust, Peace, Loyalty, Competence
White = Clean, Simplicity, Innocence, Honesty
Black = Formality, Drama, Sophistication, Security
Brown = Dependability, Ruggedness, Trustworthiness, Simplicity
Purple = Royalty, Luxury, Spirituality, Ambition
Pink = Compassion, Sincerity, Sophistication, Sweetness
The above list has influenced me to look for yellow shades to commit to in our living room, which also serves as our home’s primary entry. Now the challenge remains finding a shade that evokes warmth and cheer upon crossing the threshold rather than evoking the feeling of being slapped in the face by Big Bird’s ballsack.