“I’m afraid of color.” she said wistfully, seated on her oatmeal sofa in front of a tasteful, beige wall. Let’s call her Ellen. I’ve met a lot of Ellens. I don’t seek them out but they seem to gravitate to me. I would venture to guess that Ellen isn’t afraid of color at all. She’s afraid of not getting it right, of wasting money, or worse having to live with some garish mistake while not having a clue of what to try next. When she’s feeling brave Ellen might buy a teal cushion for that oatmeal couch but it stands out so much she stuffs it in a closet, proving to herself that neutrals are more calming (since they don’t bring on an anxiety attack!)
Life is too short to live in fear
There is no magic potion or boxed set of ‘rules’ to make boldness of any kind completely safe and risk free. Really that’s part of the fun. And that brings me to the phrase or style, “Bohemian”. Look it up in the dictionary and you’ll find geographic references (Bohemia is now part of the Czech Republic) and vaguely disapproving notes about artists and writers living a bohemian lifestyle in defiance of cultural norms. It’s left up to your imagination as to which rules they’re breaking, but painting walls bright colors was probably one of them.
Ellen’s pretty sure I’m a Bohemian but she’s polite so she calls me a free spirit instead. It’s a bit like when a surfer dude complimented the window-high mud splatters on my car (which happened exactly one time). I felt all cool and daring. But really when it comes to color I just go with what I like - its that simple.
Your turn! What’s the most daring thing you’ve ever done with color? Put it in the comments below 😊