Monday, August 10, 2009

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?

18 comments:

pk @ room remix said...

Fun post Tracy! I think I'm with you on a lot of the personal choices, although it seems that I love MANY colors as well as styles so it's a good thing I get to use them in other people's houses!

Pamela Terry and Edward said...

Oh my soul! Herculon!! I have totally erased that word from my memory. And rightfully so, I suppose. That stuff was truly vile.

I really like all colours, except for a certain shade of rose mauve that I happen to find utterly depressing. I look embalmed if I wear yellow. Deep blues, blue reds, greens, browns and the ubiquitious blacks are my favourites to wear.

Content in a Cottage said...

Tracy...Your master bedroom is beautiful and your garden looks like a painting. Thanks for sharing bits of your personal life with us. ♥Rosemary

Tracy Watier said...

Oh, Rosemary... that's not MY bedroom, it's one that's inspiring me and what I would like my room to FEEL like. Phoebe Howard's work is so beautiful, I should only be so lucky to have her designs in my home!

KayEllen said...

Love your blog entry..that one room is a crack up!!
It makes me itch just looking at it! lol

I love creamy yellows too..a happy color:))

Have a great week!

kayellen

Lauren said...

i haven't gotten it yet- mail still cancelled from the vacay!!!

agree with you on merlot and your eyes sound GORGEOUS!!!! (green outlined in blue?!!! so pretty!!!)

xoxo

Room Service ~ Decorating 101 said...

Fun post. I love the girly colors like pink, but never use them in my own home. Thanks for coming by and going ahhhh.

Linda Merrill said...

I think we must have exactly the opposite coloring - I can wear purple well, but never olive! And I used to never want purple in the home, but am now warming to the idea.

Herculon rules!

Maria Killam said...

This quiz is so fun I think you should have tagged some people (maybe I'll just tag myself and add this to my list of posts to write - I love it)

Janet said...

Oooo, I received mine yesterday (along with 5 others) haven't gotten to it yet. Thanks for the sneak peek. ...oh and yeah, for clear gloss, no color, I thought I was the only one. ;)

Julia @ Hooked on Houses said...

Love this quiz. It's always fun to think about color. Enjoyed reading your answers and learning more about you! A lot of your answers happen to be the same as mine, so we've got a lot in common. :-)

the gardeners cottage said...

The test was fun, but I LOVE the photo of your garden. Please show us more!

Janet

Sarah said...

Green makes me the happiest!

DesignTies said...

Hahahaha!! We're total opposites!! Purple is my most favourite colour and I have lots of it in my house!! And yellow is my least favourite colour. I'm not crazy about green either!!

But we can still be friends, right?? :-)

Kelly

Design Esquire said...

Great post! I love yellow and blue/greens too.

Pat @ Mille Fiori Favoriti said...

Tracy we are very much alike -- I cannot wear pink, I did not have a prom dress, and burnt orange was the color of my living room when I first was married in the early 70's..lol

I have green eyes, so when I wear olive I get a lot of compliments as that color makes my eyes "pop."

Our only difference is that I don't use yellow very often. I'm not sure why, maybe I'll try putting a little here and there and see what happens.

Maureen Stevens said...

haven't taken the quiz yet. ur answers are so fab & fun!:)

Unknown said...

Do you have the link for that prom dress? It's the one I want and I can't find the link for it anywhere! Thank so you much!