It's So Easy Being Green

I have a few more thoughts to follow my post on our failed adoptions, which received such an unexpected, overwhelming response---I can't thank you enough for your encouragement. But I've done so much serious writing in the last few posts that I'm taking a little break today, and I'm going to try not to let a multitude of new readers intimidate me. Ever since my dear friend Kim, the Lady in Red, posted her challenge to find half a dozen things of a color I love in my house, I've been wanting to play along. Because this was a no-brainer for me.

Trapped in a rental house with both white and off-white walls, floors and cabinets, I've tried to fill my home with as much color as possible. I love many hues and all things floral. Burgundy, light yellow, various shades of blue and purple. Ahhh. But, as I've read in Baby Kermit's Color Book far too many times, "Of all the colors I have seen...my favorite is the color green."

Not any green. I'm not that wild about dark forest or bright kelly. I like a cheerful lime but would never decorate with it outside of a kids' room. The green I love is that trendy cross between sage, moss, and olive. I'm not even sure what exactly it is called, but I do seem to love it. Here...let me show you.

It's in the living room...



We've had these sofas for over ten years and just reupholstered them in this pretty green tapestry---very appropriate for Belgium although I bought the fabric off a clearance table at a Hancock's in Ohio. The colors in the Chinese painting match the fabric so well, and I never intended to put them together. Providence?

and in the kitchen...

Way back in the day, I used to be more of a blue person. My mother-in-law bought me a lovely set of blue Dansk stoneware, which held up perfectly for years and years...until my girls started doing the dishes. Then they started disappearing one by one. You can see a few of the teacups here. I briefly considered restocking them and opted instead to go for this very basic green stoneware. So basic that it cost only $7.49 for four place settings. So basic that when I tripped and broke six bowls in one split second, I swept it up and said, "oh well." That's my kind of basic. (I do however fully intend to make a pottery run to Poland before we leave Europe. I'm just not sure when I'll ever be able to let the kids wash them.)



in the bathroom...





What can I really say about a stool and some towels?

in the bedroom...

Okay, this photo is more than a little embarrassing. Exactly how many shirts and sweaters in the same color does one person need anyway? And this doesn't even show the turtlenecks and t-shirts I have in various shades of this hue. I think someone once told me that I looked good in this color (since I have green eyes), and I haven't been able to stop buying them since. That's probably where this whole love affair with green began. If it looks good on me, it's got to look good on my home, right? Oh, vanity.

and even in the driveway...

Yes, I still get to drive a minivan---it's an eight-passenger with lots of cargo space. It has faithfully toted our family all over Europe and back. And we are just one baby away from having to give it up, much to my poor Toyota-loving husband's dismay.

But the best display of green by far is.....

on my favorite little guy!


Two houses and five kids ago, we renovated a rundown townhouse and installed carpeting and tile in this same mossy shade of green, as well as a few walls in a lighter tone. I loved it and hope to do the same in the next home we own. So warm and inviting and peaceful.

Well, what do you think all of this green says about me? That my heart is full of envy? That I've got too much mold growing in my brain? That I've always longed to cut grass but my traditionally-minded husband won't let me? Alrighty then. After you've thought about that (for about 2 seconds), mosey on over to the Starry Sky Ranch and see what some of my other friends have to say about color. I'm late to the party---as usual---but thankful to come all the same.