Vindicated!!

I was lucky enough to spend last weekend teaching at VKLive. It's a super event from beginning to end.

I open my class with a little talk about how we create colors at Lorna's Laces. I think people are kind of surprised that we're not all about color theory and the color wheel. We work more organically than that around here.

I discuss paying attention to the world around us. After all, we are surrounded by color. Think about the row after row of towels you see at the department store. (photo Wilson's Dept. Store)

Instead of just picking up the green towels you need for your bathroom, have you ever stopped to think about how they play off one another? Look at the jumble of colors, there's no rhyme or reason here, but they all look wonderful. Not a single one of them is asking if it's OK to sit next to their complementary color or across from their secondary friend. They all coexist in a delightfully chaotic fashion. 

What about the walk you took last weekend? It's been a beautiful fall and I bet there were a couple of houses with pots full of mums on the porch. (photo kdhamptons.com)

Again, all the colors are living together happily. They aren't fighting or bickering. So what's up with all the rules we hear about? I've always thought they were kinda stupid. Something thought up by some scholar somewhere to suck all the fun out of something pretty. And fun. 

Lo and behold, when I got home on Sunday evening, my weekly Houzz.com update was in the mailbox. I opened it up and towards the bottom was an article by Becky Dietrich about breaking the rules in decorating. Most of what she talked about was color. There was some discussion of texture as well, but mostly color. 

Let me quote just a little bit of it:

Wait a minute; what about the rules of the color wheel? I gotta be honest: Primary colors, secondary colors and tertiary colors make my head swim. Talk about taking all the fun out of decorating! 

Tamar Schechner

Here's the deal: The color wheel was developed in the 18th century by painters, for painters. It was never meant to apply to using color in our homes.

Design heresy? Yes. But consider this: Studied rooms, where the palette was chosen nose-to-color-wheel, almost always feel ... studied. Rooms like the one shown here take a much freer, more organic approach, using color the way we see it in nature. Just look at the bit of the flower arrangement we can see. Revel in that natural approach to color!

We never worry whether the bright lime green of new needles on an evergreen tree works with the darker gray-green of the older foliage. We never declare it anathema because a warm color is mixed with a cool one. If you want a rule for how to work with color, simply take notes from nature.

Elizabeth Gordon

One more word about the color wheel before I crawl off this particular high horse. Look at the comfy chocolate color of this nursery's walls. Isn't it yummy? But did you know that brown does not even appear on the color wheel? Enough said.

Yes, 'nuff said.