A Light to Guide the Way

The lighthouse in St. Michaels, Maryland

After much agonizing, I finally decided on a color. Two things helped catalyze the decision.

1) We visited open houses this weekend, where I discovered what my house has been trying to tell me. It didn't want dark, deep and rich. It really wanted to be light. It said, "I am not a 1920's neo-colonial with dark woodwork and high ceilings. I am a light airy cottage with big windows." The other houses we looked at somehow clarified this for us.

2) My sister, who has a special eye for these things, honed in on a color from 1000 miles away, in another state, over the phone. I've always trusted her design expertise. So even though I had already previously tried (and literally tossed out) the color she picked, I decided to go dig the board out of the trash and consider it again. Lo and behold, it was somehow perfect. Not too peach, no hint of green, not at all muddy. I originally tossed it because it was light, but once I listened to the house and stopped looking at darks, and with a little push in the right direction, I found my color. Benjamin Moore's Lighthouse. And guess what? It's on the same color strip as my other yellow, Morning Sunshine, just one shade lighter.

Sometimes, we waste a lot of effort searching for something without realizing that what we really want is right under our nose. We simply need to slow down, listen more closely to our surroundings, and be willing to alter our perspective, even if only a little bit.