When your favorite color lets you down

I would love to know, what is your favorite color? Out of the entire spectrum of hues, which ones really make your heart race? And do you use them in decorating your home?

I have two favorite colors: avocado green and chartreuse verging on mustard. You might be wondering if these really are two separate colors, but here are a couple swatches for comparison sake.

I have learned the hard way that your favorite colors can let you down if you don’t use them the right way. I’ve failed twice when using chartreuse.

The first time was when I painted our bedroom upstairs BM Mustard Olive. I was inspired by this photo:

via

I’ll be honest: I still love that room. But when that paint was in our house, my husband hated it, and my room’s décor could not get along with it. Case in point: This vignette on my dresser.

I mean, that just looks rotten.

So I decided I wouldn’t paint a room that same color after we fixed up our house, but I pegged chartreuse as THE color for our clawfoot tub. I was stoked—until I got it painted.

I stood back and thought, “I hope that will grow on me.” But when one of the guys on our construction team said it looked exactly like “baby-calf sh**,” I had to admit he was right, buy a different shade of paint, and start all over.

But that doesn’t mean I don’t love chartreuse! I just needed to figure out how to use it the right way. So I added a pillow to my daughter’s bed that’s just the most perfect shade (it doesn’t hurt that the fabric is embroidered with pink and red flowers, but I digress).

And in my bathroom, I had to settle for the brushstrokes of chartreuse in this oil painting. When I see, I always think for a split second, “Man, that chartreuse is beautiful. Should I have left it on the tub after all?”

But hearing that people think your tub looks like literal crap will cure you of any color craziness.

I think the takeaway is that it doesn’t matter what color is your favorite. ANY shade can be used in little dabs of moderation and look good. And I mean any shade—hot pink, lavender, lemon yellow, whatever. Maybe certain shades aren’t best used on a large scale like the wall or tub, but they will look lovely in small doses.

If you try it out, let me know if you agree. •