Karla has been going through a divorce for over two years. The split is still pending and the home in which they raised their two boys needs some repairs and TLC. Money is scarce, but her desire to take control of her home space is strong.
Her ex never wanted to paint the walls, so every room in their otherwise lovely home was barren white. When I visited her home last week for the first time in a couple of years, something was very different. At last, she was living in color.
“Whenever I have $18, (the price of a can of paint),” she said, “I start another room.” Over the past few months she has busily picked out shades that make her feel alive and well.
The formerly boring white kitchen is now a deep color of yellow squash. Plain family room walls are now burgundy. Her children’s artwork, particularly the ones done in shades of red and yellow, are framed on the walls, tying the two rooms together. Upstairs the computer/spare room has morphed into cream and sage, with a ribbon of sage framing the window, and saturating one wall.
If there were a good simple metaphor for the complexities of a marriage gone sour, it might be a home without color, a space that does not envelope you with welcoming images or invite you to touch, to linger, to enjoy.
And even though Karla has a warm, generous heart and a lively family, the new colors had changed something. It felt like freedom.
Her home was the focal point of our most recent “girl weekend,” when four of my high school friends drop everything and regroup. Though the weather was not great, we always have fun. One of our side trips was to a farmers’ market where we happened upon some healthy looking jade plants being sold by a Chinese couple.
I had a flash of inspiration. Along with Karla’s $18 decorating, wouldn’t some low-cost feng shui be just the thing?
In feng shui, the Chinese practice of decorating and arranging spaces according to yin and yang energy, jade plants are also known as “money plants,” which attract wealth into the home. Since Karla does her bills in the dining area between kitchen and family room, a ledge between the two spaces was the perfect place for her new jade plant.
Another one of my friends has been actively pushing everyone in our circle to add jade plants, red scarves and mirrors to their “money” rooms as a way of combating the recession. When I explained all that to Karla, she was delighted, and picked out a jade for herself.
While feng shui has gained popularity over recent years, with books, web sites and professional practitioners who will improve your decorating, it also seems to be based on beliefs that one might or might not share. Some people regard it as astrology for interior decorators.
For Karla, me and most of my friends, it doesn’t really matter. When it suits us we use it, almost as a playful form of decorating. Why not? We’re not professional decorators and we can all use some advice. And if it involves plants and color, what’s not to like?
