Daily Archives: September 29, 2009

I really didn’t care what we scanned. As Rick and I chose the items that would fill our first home, I was too excited about getting married to care about any of the stuff we would get. Towels, sheets, dishes … all of that seemed rather insignificant. I just nodded my head and went along with a ginormous smile across my face.

Months later, after the wedding, the honeymoon and a few weeks back at school, I looked around our little apartment and realized it didn’t reflect me. In my giddy love-struck state, I let him choose everything. Not that I didn’t like it! We had nice stuff, but everything was either blue or beige. While I still agreed that it was all rather insignificant, I decided that I wanted more of me in the home made of us.

Blue and beige are not me.

Two states, ten years and three homes later, I felt our house was perfect. Well, maybe not perfect, but I loved it. It was finally me! A red kitchen, a green living room, bright blue for Zach’s room and bold black furniture in our bedroom. I was convinced anyone who visited us would envy our cozy cape and all the lively decor.

Rick, however, felt we lived in a clown house. (His words, not mine.)

Bright colors are not him.

His confession was the catalyst for finding center. We started out all him, then ricocheted to all me. We needed to find middle ground. And he had a good point: when and if we decide to move, we’d have to repaint everything while stressing over packed boxes, changing schools and whatever else would come with that decision. Better to neutralize now and be ready. Just in case.

Yesterday I began The Great Neutralization.

In the morning, our living room looked like this:

If you visited in the afternoon, you would have seen this:

By the time Rick arrived home last night, it looked like this:

One wall down, several more to go. And don’t worry — I’ll get my color in there eventually; it just won’t be on the walls. I’m actually pretty excited about the new room, but for the moment I mourn the cloaking of my lovely green. It didn’t help that Zach and Ellie kept singing the Imagination Movers’ color song:

“Brown and white make beige.
Boring, boring, boring, boring beige!”

Any Imagination Movers fans out there? The kids constantly tease Rick about being too much like Uncle Knit Knots. He’s the one on the far left. (Uncle Knit Knots, that is, not Rick.)

It is Tuesday.

Mama Loves color. But I love my husband more!