Good Morning.
In my city there's a house with a big red N on the front. The owner is a fan of the University of Nebraska. At Christmas he gets out his ladder, climbs up to the N and adds O E L. In January he takes those letters down and we're back to Nebraska. The house itself is painted a pleasant gray with white trim. For many years the place nearby was a vibrant shade of
turquoise accented with dark brown, but apparently someone had a chat with the owners because last summer the house was painted taupe.
The problem with taupe is that every house in the newer areas of town is taupe. It's apparently a neighborhood association mandate that came about because of some people's tendencies to express themselves through choices like hot pink or
banana yellow in a part of the country that is anything but tropical. Tangerine and aqua are delightful in Key West but perhaps not Bismarck or Milwaukee. A friend who used to live in Vermont told me about a woman who moved from Florida to a town nestled in the Green Mountains and painted her new home lavender - really lavender. The matter actually landed on the agenda of the town council, the woman refused to take some gentle advice about repainting, even when the neighbors offered to pay for it, and eventually moved away in disgust. In some New England towns, residents have to select a house color from a pre-approved list rather than have a field day at the paint store that results in a historic Colonial suddenly wearing lime green with the other people on the block seeing red. Even Victorian homes are traditionally done up in a reasonable color with two or three interesting accents, but they are Victorian and allowed to flaunt their curlicues. A Cape Cod charmer up the street from me, however, started out in a soft yellow but a week later was trimmed in a garish purple. When the new owners moved in, they promptly repainted and everyone gratefully brought them wine, cheese, and casseroles.
Houses are like people; they wear clothes with accessories. The executive in Cleveland prefers a classic gray suit with a soft blue button-down shirt and a patterned red tie. The editor chooses a gold silk dress with pearls at the neck and shoes and a matching purse in a subtle shade of green. When these two head south on vacation, the guy may turn up on the golf course in red slacks and an orange shirt while she is in polka dots with magenta, but back in Cleveland, they're in their gray and gold. In any case, a flash of color on a person is one thing, but a 2500 square foot house is another. The point is to compliment nature rather than compete with it, and that, of course, lends itself to a certain amount of interpretation.
Best regards,
Elisabeth
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