apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

Color = Happiness is such an interesting topic. When I look at that fuschia/lavendar bedroom on the top I think it would be a fun room if I were at a boutique hotel for a weekend. I couldn't live with it however. I don't think I have a 'fear' of color, it just seems like too much visual stimulation. I tend to stick to neutrals and add accent pieces in bold colors which can easily be swapped out when I want to introduce other colors or just feel like a change.
Now when I saw the picture of the room at the lake house, I felt instantly relaxed. Does that mean I have 'fear' of color or that I'm boring? I don't think so, I just think its a preference. The New York Times article was interesting, I'm curious to know how other AT'ers feel about it.

i lust that purple ice-creamy apt, but if color were enough to make people happy there would be no bitter, cantakerous people south of the tropic of cancer.

i do find lack of color depressing though, just as i find the dull-colored flowers and birds of the north dissatisfactory.

It seems like a pretty big leap to assume that everyone who decorates with wild colour everywhere is ecstatic and everyone who decorates with neutrals is "dour and oblique." *rolls eyes* Is a spare Japanese style interior, done in neutrals and natural materials, "dour and oblique?" There are probably many people whose colour preferences are influenced by their cultural backgrounds.

I'm also a bit disturbed by the idea that joy and happiness can only be found in saturated colour, as though people have no capability of appreciating and finding pleasure in the more subtle qualities of neutral tones. Or that colour must be the first thing you notice about something, or the most important quality, rather than the shape or the texture or some other property. It seems simplistic and naive.

And I am writing this as someone who has a LOT of colour in my home! I love colour....green, purple, turquoise, blue, red. But it's all balanced with texture and neutrals. I also love black! And white, and cream. And wood. LOVE natural wood, and seagrass, cane, and bamboo. And silver, and chrome.

Living in a constant state of euphoria, which is what happiness is, is unnatural. Somehow, many people have reached this place where we expect to be happy 24 hours a day, as though living in an unnatural state should be normal. What happened to experiencing the full gamut of emotions? Serenity, for starters? I think, for me, balance is the key - the serenity of neutrals and the joy of colour, in whatever balance works best for the individual person.

I agree with you, Mags and Dorianne! And I also feel sorry for people whose color schemes are so restricted that they can't find a place for lovely gifts from friends or meaningful objects from their past. My sister once passed on to me a lovely wooden pencil box wrapped in that wonderful, hand-decorated (expensive!) Italian paper that someone had given her, simply because it was BLUE, and her entire apartment was decorated in greens and browns. (Her loss ... my gain.)

Some of the color combinations in the slide-show accompanying that article are quite sophisticated and lovely. But the monochromaticism of that stupid all-lavender room is the sort of thing that appeals to cowards who are afraid the things they pick won't "go together" unless they all match. (Reminds me of someone I used to work with years ago whose idea of an "outfit" consisted of a turquoise dress with a turquoise belt and turquoise shoes, topped off with a turquoise bracelet and turquoise earrings ... all matching, solid color! I once wore a turtleneck that picked up on one color in the trim of a corduroy jumper, and this woman informed me that "your turtleneck doesn't go with your jumper, you know"! )

And as far as those "happy happy happy all the time" pillows are concerned ... I guess, if you come home from work or wake up in a bad mood, you can always PUNCH them!

Dorianne, the "dour and oblique" comments made me roll my eyes just as much as the person who said that beige is not a color found in nature. Guess she's never seen sand, or birch trees, or baby deer, or river rocks...
Jane, how dare you wear an outfit that isn't monochramatic! Actually, I think I've worked with your former co-worker before. My co-worker made her own jewelry so that it would match each outfit.
I don't dislike the lavendar bed linens, but would love those colored linens much more if the headboard were a dark espresso brown and the walls were ivory. I think Dorianne hit the nail on the head - there is no right or wrong with color vs. neutrals - it's just about finding the balance that you enjoy the most.

Mags, that sounds great. I've wanted a brown/lavender/white room for a while.

I like color, but I get sick of the same color on my walls after a fairly short time and prefer to swap out fabrics and accessories, and temper things with neutrals and dark wood.

I think the mix of all-same-value pastels would make me feel as if I'm living under a Baskin Robbins sneeze guard.

Mags, ditto on the beige commentary....I had a similar "huh?" reaction. I live in the interior of British Columbia, Canada, where nature still runs WILD. The dominant colours are greens and blues...AND what are considered "neutrals," i.e., browns, beiges, greys, etc. The bright colours are much more limited. I think that Park Avenue decorator must have a SERIOUS disconnect with actual nature.

On reflection, this all seems a form of cheap "pop psychology" to try and pigeonhole personal emotional and psychological conditions alongside individual visual preferences. The sentence, "Your home should be like a good dose of Zoloft," seems the most telling. WHY should your home be "like a good dose of Zoloft?" Is there an assumption that everybody who's NOT "on Zoloft" is depressed and in need of fixing? And if people are experiencing unhappiness, when did "Zoloft" reach the point of being the first cure you turn to? Yes, I realize it's a metaphor, but it's apt, because it seems like wild colour is being used - and almost imposed - as a "happy pill" by some of these "doctors," when it's not necessarily what the patient requires.

If this is what happiness looks like, I'd rather be moody. Those interiors are hideous!!!

color=happiness only for those whom color=happiness!

Actually, the person in the article said that beige isn't a colour in the rainbow, (not, as other commenters interpreted her saying, that beige doesn't occur in nature)... well, no, it isn't in the rainbow, but a rainbow is something that only occurs occasionally, as a brief flash of colour to momentarily enhance the greens and browns and grays and yes, beiges, of everyday nature. I'm with Dorianne and Mags, I like adding accents of color -- little flashes of delight -- in the predominantly neutral and muted colors of my decor.

On the idea of color being a dose of Zoloft -- I think of Zoloft and its ilk as not creating an artificial high, but as calming and regularizing a person -- nothing about that pepto-bismol room is calming to me! I'm glad I don't have to live in it. Or visit it. (I think I'll stare at my beige wall for a while, sitting in my muted green chair...)