Brown

I have a curious relationship with the color brown. For years -- ok DECADES -- I HATED it.

To me, brown was the color of dog poop and the naugahyde on a Lazy-Boy and ugly panelling and DIRT. Brown is the color you get when you get carried away and mix too many other, colorful colors together -- the color of the water you rinse your brush in while painting rainbows and butterflies. It is the color of mud. And old stations wagons. We had a brown station wagon when I was a kid. With fake wood panels on the sides. Actually, we had TWO of them!

My aversion to brown was so ingrained that my husband (Matt, the first one) always joked that he was going to buy me a brown dually truck (also something I detest) -- with brown interior, of course.

I'm completely oblivious to when the courtship started. Insidious little gestures in unexpected places, I suppose. I'm not sure what year it was that deep dark brown was voted "the color of the year" but I remember being aghast about it. But then I saw it used, and used well, here and there. In catalogs. In decorating magazines. In retail decor and products.

There's something delicious and alluring about shades called "chocolate" and "expresso" and "sable". Maybe it's all in the presentation. There's a lot of persuasion in nuance and association. If they came up with a name that made the color of dog poop attractive, what might we be won over by next?

Those luxurious shades of brown... they lured me. They charmed and romanced me. Their bold drama. Their sophistication. Their deliciousness.

Maybe I just finally climbed onto the bandwagon. I'm like that. I'm usually the last one to come around to a trend. But come around I did. In a big way. When I finally hoist myself onto the bandwagon, I can suddenly see very plainly that everyone else was right.

If you had told me anytime in the 40 years before 2006 that my wedding colors would be pink and white AND BROWN I would probably have fainted dead away. But, indeed, brown was the dominant color at my 2008 wedding. Pink and white were just the accent colors. And all that brown was GORGEOUS, if I do say so myself! (Pictured are my girls and I getting ready to walk down the aisle.)

And I painted my master bathroom an exquisite shade called "chocolate truffle". And there are photos to prove it! Every time I walk into that bathroom I LOVE it. The sparkle still hasn't worn off. I've had to restrain myself from painting the rest of the walls in the house brown as well. I painted our master sunporch bedroom in our little house in Enid "chocolate truffle" too. One room per house -- that's what I'm allowing myself.

When I think back, I remember that my mother hired a decorator once, long ago, to re-do our dining room and the adjacent tv room. The walls were deep, chocolate brown with white trim and white wainscotting. The furniture and curtains were in shades of creme and tan and the accent fabric was a plaid of black, brown, tan, and creme. It was gorgeous. I was very proud to have it be seen by my friends when I brought them home with me from school. I would have the exact same decor today if given the option -- and that was 1977! What else in 1977, stylewise, would I gladly embrace today? Not much!

Now I have to be very careful not to have the all-brown wardrobe. I could wear brown every day. It's the new neutral. It even matches my hair. And I LOVE it. Recently I bought three new tops at my favorite thrift store (for $3 each, I might add). Two of them were brown. One was a designer that I totally covet -- a long-sleeved, brown velvet, v-neck, button-down shirt by Eileen Fisher. For THREE DOLLARS! It probably would have sold new for about $129.00. The other was also orignally expensive -- Banana Republic. I made myself buy a gorgeous green cableknit cardigan too -- just for a little variety in my closest.

So I'm a complete (yes, COMPLETE!) convert to brown. A traitor to my previous staunch position. What really worries me though, is that, lately, I have REALLY come to hate burgundy. Will burgundy come to be my new favorite? Will it overtake my closet? Will I drive a burgundy car? Or maybe even a burgundy DUALLY TRUCK!

P.S. I just read this to Emily (who, by the way, is wearing a burgundy Hollister t-shirt at this very moment). She says that burgundy -- and another of my least favorite colors, navy blue -- are THE new colors! I should have known. I already drive a navy blue car. I guess I'm on my way! Maybe this time I won't be the last one on the bandwagon!