Color Me Quizzical

Finally! My September House Beautiful has arrived! I'd seen hints of it here and there. A sneak peek of Windsor Smith's beautiful, colorful home, something about Eric Cohler's bold color choices. Actually, the whole issue is about color. Color theory, color "personalities", color trends for fall, you name it. The most fun part though? The tidbits of expert color psychology beginning on page 94 and the color quiz on the very last page. If you don't already have this issue, or don't plan to pick it up, here are the color quiz questions. And my answers. As much to entertain myself as to illustrate for you that, when it comes to colors, there aren't really right and wrong answers. Personal preferences and better or worse choices for sure. Answering these questions, according to the HB editors, is meant to lead you to choosing better colors for your home. Or show you that you're already on the right track. So here we go:

1) What's the first color you see in the morning? Creamy ivories and golden tans on my bed linens and furniture.


This creamy, dreamy bedroom by Phoebe Howard is inspiring my current master makeover.

2) What color are your eyes? Green outlined with blue.

3) What color do you wear the most? Greens, blues and browns.

Colors I wear all the time, although not so flamboyantly, stolen from Rosemary.

4) What color do you never wear? Purple makes me look like a corpse. Pinks don't often make it into my closet either.

5) What color do you wear when you want to feel sexy? Green or black, maybe both at the same time.

6) What color gets you the most compliments? Olive green.

Greek olives. Yum.

7) What color is your lipstick? Gloss only, no color.

8) What color was your living room when you were growing up? Burnt earth-tones and browns. It was the Seventies!

Mmm. Remember Herculon? The teflon of textiles.


9) What color was your bedroom when you were growing up? Yellow and gold and cherry blossom pink then yellow with sky blue and spring green.

10) What color are your sheets? Creamy, buttery ivory.

11) What color was your favorite crayon as a child? Blue-green and green-blue equally.(Those were two different crayons right?)

Picasso's "Fleurs", 1961. Pastel and crayon on paper.

12) What color is your car? Silver. (isn't everyone's?)

13) What color was your prom dress? No prom, no dress.

Do you think an olive green prom dress would have been a good choice in 1979?


14) What's your favorite gemstone? Peridot, my husband's birthstone. I used to say Emerald, which is mine, but I like his better. As a girl, my favorite gemstone was Opal... which turned out to be my daughter's birthstone. Weird.

15) What is your favorite flower? Alstroemeria; pretty from a distance, amazing up close.

Yellow alstroemeria, above, lower left, and apricot-coral, center of photo. Pretty, bright spots in my garden.

16) What color makes you happiest? A warm, sunny yellow. See it above and below: the color of my yellow alstroemeria and the label on my favorite wine.

17) What color depresses you? Burgundy. Wine. Merlot. Whatever you want to call it, I don't like it. Unless it's in my glass.

The only "wine" that comes into my house!


18) What color calms you? There's a lot of red in my living room and, contrary to what color theory tells us about red being stimulating, I find that room very cozy and calming. (What does that mean? Maria, are you reading this?)

Red chair, red ottoman, red rug. Too much red? Not for me.

19) What color makes you grind your teeth? Bright, pumpkin-y orange and burnt, rusty oranges used in the wrong way. Like on a house. (You know who you are, my neighbor around the block. ugh.)

20) What color would you like to try, but are scared to? Colors don't scare me but I would never use purple in my own home. Lilac, maybe. Periwinkle, definitely. But no purple.

Periwinkle agapanthus are welcome in from the garden whenever they're in bloom.

So that's me. In living color. My answers reveal that I'm partial to creamy warm yellows, earthy olive greens, little bits of blue and a healthy dose of red, all tempered with ivory and brown. Yep, sounds like my house! Take the quiz yourself and find out what colors you are. Did any of your answers surprise you? Make you rethink your decor? Make you nostalgic for the Seventies? If nothing else, isn't it good to know that interior design doesn't always have to be so serious?