Tuesday 19 February 2008

tapioca

I have this weird war with colors going on. My mom liked bright colors and always dressed me in them, so I've never worn plain things.

I had a pumpkin orange baby blanket.
Tie-dyed dresses. (Guess which era I just missed growing up in?)
Red velvet boots.

My pictures in high school are rainbow-ish - one year brilliant blue blouse, the next jeweled purple (with three shades off purply-pink silver dangly earrings.) One year in yellow. One year in sage green with an orange oversweater. (I blame the fashion icons of the day. It was hard, like, keeping up with Muffy and Brigid, y'know? .) My senior pictures were taken by my Dad, and even though they were black and white (I had THE COOLEST senior pictures EVAH) I was wearing a kelly green silk top. Always bright.

I have always gravitated towards brighter, more sunshiny shades of the spectrum. Until a year ago, I had never owned anything brown. Sometimes the colors were loud, and sometimes - well, seriously I think about some of those clothes and wince now - they didn't really work, but I had a huge issue with looking like everyone else* and so wore glimmering colors with reckless abandon.

Now that I'm away from that cess-pool mixing pot of culture and life-lessons, I've stuck with the louder end of the rainbow. Maybe turned down a bit, though, since I don't really feel the need to look like a peacock so much anymore. Plus there's the growing older/settled in/Mom bit which (like it or not) does affect the way you look and view yourself... I've made peace with colors.

So. Why, after all this sturm und drang, am I so hesitant to paint my walls pale and soothing? I like them. I really do. But I go to buy the paint and I...freeze up.

Why tapioca? Everyone has tapioca. I want mince pudding. Or pistachio.

It's got to be a hold-over from high school.




*Jesus Gay. My whole rebellion in high school? I thought I was SO DIFFERENT because I wore blue jeans and primary colored shirts while everyone else wore blue jeans and...more muted t-shirts. Although I did wear bright tinkly mad earrings. Mostly silver. Damn. I was SUCH a rebel.

14 comments:

Stomper Girl said...

I love bright colours too. O feel slightly claustrophobic when looking at navy blue, grey or brown clothing and the idea of a uniform bothers me unreasonably.

Anonymous said...

Go with color. Life is too short to be surrounded by neutrals. My house is all colors. My class room is painted a color called Sonic Lime. I miss my Sonic Lime box.

Anonymous said...

Psst...what is Jesus Gay?

tut-tut said...

Or conversely you could paint the walls tapioca and cover them with wonderful art--kids and otherwise.

Anonymous said...

No tapioca pudding for me. Or mince. Just chocolate or vanilla, please. Yes, I'm that boring.

Joke said...

You...maniac.

-J.

Jennifer (Jen on the Edge) said...

I love bright colors too, but then freeze up when it comes time to decorate or buy clothes for myself. My wardrobe is black and khaki, as is my living room.

Leaking Moonlight said...

I paint walls with color. Lots o' color. Life's too short. And I can always repaint. And have. Lots o' times.

What I've learned is that it's a color scheme. Emphasis on a making a whole house plan.

So the Mexican Yellow (think hacienda roof tile drying in the sun) in the dining room turns around the corner into the living room and entry to Peanut Butter (think, uh, peanut butter); into the bedrooms, and down the hall to the back of the house with Linen (vanilla with a touch of red); ending in the kitchen with Mexican yellow popping up again.

(Did I mention I learned this planning thing after repainting over so many awful color choices I can now hire out as a professional?)

~Molly~ said...

I have been contemplating paints for our bedroom walls for over 3 years now. At first I wanted a beautiful goldish yellow-green(called Dancing Light because its the color of afternoon sun on a white wall), then to various shades of mushroom and taupe, then a muted lavender and back to soft brownish tans. FINALLY(yesterday in fact) I chose one. It is called Sterling and is a medium gray. But, on my walls it looks purple, which I wanted to avoid. Grrrrr. Thats why I hate choosing. They never look like the chip. Ever. I'll live with it though, hopefully it will be pretty once it is all over the walls and not just in patches.

Molly, who loves colors of all sorts!

jAMiE said...

I love colours on the wall, the darker, more intense the better...depending on the room of course.

Can't lose with colour.

jAMiE said...

I love colours on the wall, the darker, more intense the better...depending on the room of course.

Can't lose with colour.

molly said...

With you on the paint. Love colour and use it daringly in quilts, but just thinking about painting a wall anything but "eggshell"[which I'd love to do since I'm fed up with "blah"] and I start to whimper.....

Elizabeth said...

What is it about kids in high school? I was teased when I wore red jeans. It was a very academic conservative school/town. I forgot about this until recently when my daughter started her new school and suddenly she had to wear only blue jeans. Even her black jeans were not right. And we LOVE colour here.

Jeanne said...

bright colours make me look washed out, so I avoid them like the pest... however I do like nice deep colours and I also love colour on walls... no white for me please... I do happen to like browns too though...

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