What My Favorite Color Isn't

It's a common question:  "What's your favorite color?"  Usually people have an answer.  When someone asks me, I usually say it's green (sometimes I'll say it's purple).  The answer isn't that simple for me, though.

We bought a house today.  We call it our "interim" house.  It's where we will live until...well...until we live somewhere else.  :)

THE PLAN says that eventually we will have a cabin on our property.  We even have a wild idea of having a little place on Lake Superior someday, too.  At that point, we won't need an interim house anymore. 

Anyway, what this has to do with my favorite color is this:  the house we bought is a cute little Cape Cod style 1950's house in the no-longer-existing town of Paynesville.  Supposedly, the town is named after someone with the name of Payne, who settled in the area, but this is strange because most of the early settlers were Finns with names like  Hirvela and Juusola and Wierimaa. I would say most of the original houses from those times are gone, and there are a lot of houses like ours in the area.  I wonder if there was a fire.  

Anyway (2), our house is interesting.  There are some features that are original, like a cute little ogee archway from the front entryway into the living room, and cool retro metal cabinetry in the kitchen. Everything else is the result of MANY years of remodel(muddle)ing.  Some things are nice. Some things show the questionable taste or skill level of the remodel(muddl)er.  The overall impression is, it's a place where I can live and enjoy the quirkiness. 

Anyway (3), the predominant color that was used in the house throughout its 59 years is BLUE. Guess what my favorite color isn't.  There are about 15 different shades of it, from icy steel blue in the kitchen, country blue ceiling fan in the master bedroom, along with royal blue carpet, and dark grayish blue in the bathroom.  Jordan's room is a nice baby blue.  He doesn't love it.  Different pieces of trim in lots of shades of blue, from deep teal, to robin's egg. Sigghhhh.....

It's strange, because I am a BIG fan of color.  And I LOVE blue when it is Lake Superior Blue.

 But I don't love it on my walls. I also don't care for primary colors.  The colors I like best are muted, complex shades.  The kind that my husband doesn't see very well.  For instance, I picked out two colors for our shop in Ontonagon.  Sherwin Williams calls these colors COMPOSED and MYTHICAL.  They are shades of...can you believe it...green and purple.  

I know if I were someone from Nick's generation, I'd be looking at all the grays and beiges and neutral colors to use for decorating.  Zzzzzzzz.  Sorry, can't do it.  I want people to walk in the shop and say, "Wow!" and then just stand around and wonder if they like it or not.  I think they might.  The colors are complex and restful, but weird and exciting at the same time.  If they come in hoping to see blue, they might be a little disappointed.

Anyway (4), tomorrow, I am going to pick up paint and get started transforming places, like in the shop and maybe even getting a rid of a little Paynesville Blue. Expect to see green.  It's my favorite color.

Don't worry, there will be a lot of color here soon.  Just not a lot of BLUE.

 

 

Edit 8/27/9:52 PM:  I bought paint today for my kitchen.  The color is called Leapfrog.  Guess what color it is? Pictures to come!