Choosing colors for your home can be fun, and also challenging. There are so many options! Does the color name ever sway your choice? I know it has for me! The trim color in our living room, for example, is Shaker beige–chosen partly for our love of things that are clean and simple, but also for our interest in the Shaker communities we have visited over the past 10 years. Shaker beige just seemed like the natural choice.
I also love purple. I love all its shades and variations, from light periwinkle right up to a dark, rich plum, and all the shades in between. If there is a purple paint called “Wisteria” (and I’m sure someone has a paint color by that name), I would use it to remind me of the flowering vine that my great-grandparents planted beside our porch years ago (represented so beautifully in this photo from a nursery). It’s a sturdy plant with surprisingly delicate purple flowers-kind of an interesting contradiction in a single vine.
Recently I was talking to a couple who were searching for just the right shade of blue (to match the color of his favorite sports team). Although the fan guide we were looking at didn’t have a color that specified his team’s name, I was quite sure we could find a shade to match. But what if the name of the color didn’t match their concept of what they wanted the color to represent? They weren’t ready to commit to a color that day, but it left me wondering if the color name would have made a difference? What do you think?