Seeing Red

I have spent the better half of a day reading everything there is to read on color. The color red in particular. I have recently become very fond of using the color in decorating my house and I am afraid that it is a passing phase and eventually I will become very sick of it. Lipstick and underwear are one thing, upholstery and lighting are another. It is becoming very expensive to change my mind.

I accidentally did this with the a sage green color in both the living and dining area and ended up quite miserable. It seems that the green in the fabric of my dining room chairs happen to match nicely with a table cloth and napkins I found and then we ended up painting the walls green which totally depressed me. So thinking it was just too much of the green, we repainted the walls a neutral tan which didn't seem to do anything for me at all.

Meanwhile, we happen to find a sleeper sofa in a sage green, tan, and dark pink, stripe fabric that seemed to match the dining room stuff and since the two rooms were connected and we thought we desparately needed a sleeper sofa (when what we really needed was a fucking bigger place to live) it seemed like a good idea to try to carry the colors through the two rooms since they were practically one room. I should have known right then and there that more sage green was going to make me absolutely miserable. Now I just want to throw the couch off the balcony. I have considered a slipcover, but find them extremely annoying.

It seems to me that it is the floral pattern and not the red in my bedroom that I don't love about it. I am thrilled about painting the wall red and I happened to pick up a color brochure that featured a red bathroom with white fixtures and trim and was completely smitten with it. I hadn't really considered red as one of my favorite colors before. I had a brief fantasy awhile back of having a red sofa but it wasn't meant to be. It wouldn't fit into the room we needed it for.

I ended up putting a tall white vase with deep red colored gladiolas on the kitchen counter a few days ago, that triggered everything.

Mr. Monkey wants pendant lighting hanging over the center of our new natural colored wood dining room table. We saw a few different ones this weekend. Some blue, some orange, a few white ones and a red one. I immediately liked the red one. I don't know why. I couldn't put red lighting in the dining room without recovering the chair cushions in a different fabric though. I do think red would look very nice with the light wood. So, before I go buy an electric staple gun and several yards of some variation of red fabric I want to figure out what is going on with me and red. It would look really nice with a crisp white tablecloth though.

I briefly entertained the idea of reordering the red sofa that wouldn't fit into our other apartment. I don't think I can talk him into that though. I like the idea of the red sofa and then saddle brown leather accents. Maybe a trunk or ottoman or something. I have seen some throw pillows like that somewhere, I just can't remember where.

Red is a supposedly passionate color. Um, duh. I read it can cause an increase in appetite and blood pressure. Not sure if that is such a great thing for me. I also learned that it can cause overstimulation and aggressive behavior. I would hate to start having fits of rage and get so fat I can't fit out of the house.

When I played flute in high school our practice room was painted red as our school colors were red and white. I remember our band director saying that it made everyone talk to much and be too rowdy and never pay attention. Over one summer break he painted the entire place baby blue. I can't remember if it had any affect on any of us.

Maybe I hate sage green and light blue rooms because that is the two standard colors for hospital rooms. Maybe I am just passionate and aggressive. Maybe I am just a moody bitch. I dunno.

Posted by gwendolyn on September 22, 2003 at 05:08 PM