When I was first married in 1994 and we bought a house, I kept it almost all white for two years. I was so afraid of making a decision about color. Obviously, that changed a lot over the years. I learned a lot. One thing sticks with me about how I learned to love color and not fear it. I realized that green is a neutral. Really. It is. 

Look out your window this Spring. Green is nature's neutral. It's the backdrop for everything we see outside. Green grass, green trees, green stems, green vines. Because it's nature, it's what our eyes are most used to seeing. And that is why when I started adding green to my spaces, I started really enjoying color. That's why I always suggest starting there.

Next, look outside again. The other color you see is the color of the sky. Lovely blue hues. And sometimes that sky has pinks. It sometimes has yellows in it. 

I often wonder why it is we fear color when truly, color is all around us. Nature isn't a white, grey or beige box. Our world is color. So why would we create tiny boxes to live in filled with nothing but grey, white, beige and call that neutral?

We call that peaceful, and it absolutely baffles me. Sure, tastes run the gamut, and some may truly love plain white (you do you). But the most peaceful I have ever felt was surrounded by green trees, by the ocean waves, by a serene blue lake, and watching a brilliant, pink Arizona sunset.

Think about it... even in the desert where it's dry, you are not naturally surrounded by only brown and beige. You have beautiful skies of blues and pinks and yellows. You have flowering cacti and beautiful, bright bouganvillea. When it rains during monsoon season, the plants perk up and not only is there green, but the creosote bushes let off the smell of greenery. The green smell after a rain in the desert is lush. It's anything but greige.

If you ask me, we weren't meant to live in whitewashed homes. We weren't meant to use a paint called, "Agreeable Grey". We were meant to live in color. So, if you, like I was are afraid to get started using color... do yourself a favor, and start with nature's neutral... Green. Once you do that, you'll start to recognize that color is really life. Watch for patterns of color in nature. I promise. You will not be sorry. You'll be hooked.