LJ Idol, Week 16: Coloring Outside the Lines

[threeplusfire]

I was born in the Texas Panhandle, where my father's family has lived since the 19th century. My mother always hated the dust storms, the dryness, the small trees. The land is flat up on the cap rock, hard and brown. After my sister was born, my parents decided to move back to Austin so my mother could return to the university and finish her degree. Classic 1970's Austin was where they met after all, and there were plenty of live oaks and water.

We moved three times during my first grade year. I went to school in Lubbock, in Houston and in Austin. I spent several months living with my grandparents in Houston while my parents searched for jobs and a place to live in Austin. My grandparents lived in a very different place, suburban Sugar Land where most of the houses had manicured lawns and the neighborhoods were riddled with man made lakes only a few feet deep. sometimes they even had fountains.

Those months in Houston were a strange time in my life. I was just old enough to be paying more attention to what was happening around me. I wasn't old enough to grasp the nuances of conversations happening while I was out of the room. I didn't yet realize how much my grandparents disliked my father or the obscure sources of tension between my mother and her parents. Instead I was obsessed with the strange differences of the place. The water tasted terrible, and my mother complained about how it ruined the coffee. I could taste the unfamiliarity in the shower, even if I mostly drank orange juice everywhere else.

A half down houses down the street was a two story home on the corner. Two children close to my age lived there, a boy and a girl. I can't remember the names of the children now. They had a number of Star Wars toys, Legos and GI Joes. I was awed by such an abundance of toys. I only recall being inside their home twice however as I discouraged from playing with them. The family was being shunned in the way of all such awful suburban homeowner's associations. They had painted their home a purple color, and painted the fence to match. I remember sitting in the back seat of my grandmother's car, listening to her remark about the impropriety of it all. Her house was a brown color, bricks and siding, blending in with the neighborhood.

They must have gone to the same school I attended there. The school mascot was a pioneer wagon, which even then struck as me a funny. For a school with independent pioneers as a mascot they were quite heavy handed about conformity. During a coloring assignment, another boy made a point of telling me I was doing it wrong. I looked at my paper, studying the smooth crayons and coloring in an apple in bright red. Looking around at the other children, I could see they were all dutifully doing the same thing. But first they neatly and heavily outlined the apple inside the lines, making a heavy line. Then they would fill in the rest of the blank space. For awhile I attempted to emulate this fanatical devotion to outlining spaces before I filled them in with colors. It didn't last. I couldn't see the point, being just as difficult at I am now.

In a few years, I plan on painting our house a bright color. Maybe we will paint a giant mural of Austin bats and the bridge on the garage door. This isn't Sugar Land after all. There is no homeowner's association to chide me and I don't care if the neighbors shun me for it. A life less ordinary requires a little color, outlined or not.

Comments

[shadowwolf13]

It drove my grandmother crazy that I painted every room in my house a different color. I've got the degree and knowledge to make it all work. I loved it and everybody that came by found something about it to love as well. :)

If we were closer I'd offer to help you paint. Then again, Austin isn't that far from Houston. ;)

[tsarina.livejournal.com]

Oh, what colors did you use? How did you decide which would go where?

The bathrooms int he house we bought are painted a dark brown - initially I was "uh, what?" about the color. But I sort of love it now, with the pale blond floors.

[shadowwolf13]

The front hallway was a light sandstone color and led off to the stairway which was a dark earthy red and the living room where three walls were a light cream that matched the flecks of cream in the blue couch and chair I had. The fourth wall was the same blue as the couch and chair. That led to the kitchen which was a dark hunter green. I stripped the cabinet doors and stained them a cherry and trimmed them with hunter green. A mural of green ivy vine with little blue flowers wound around the room. The next room was the bathroom in seafoam green and done as though it were under the sea. The alter room was supposed to be directional colors in pastels on each wall but I never got to it. Upstairs the bathroom was tiny so I did it in warm yellow with dark blue trim and my bedroom was dark purple walls with dark blue trim and ceiling. We had dark hardwood floors through out the house.

For me it was simply my dreams and the sense of the house coming together along with the furniture we had.

Sometimes you have to let a color grow on you. :)

[tsarina.livejournal.com]

Those sound like really awesome colors.

[shadowwolf13]

Thank you! I loved it and I am really looking forward to having my own home again in the next year or two to do a whole new set of colors. :)

[brightflashes.livejournal.com]

A life less ordinary requires a little color, outlined or not.

Beautiful conclusion, and great entry. : )

[tsarina.livejournal.com]

Thank you! I am glad you enjoyed it.

[boxsofrain.livejournal.com]

Interesting! What color do you plan to pain your house then? I love bright colors. If it was up to me I would paint each room of my house a different but bright color.

[tsarina.livejournal.com]

I am partially tempted to paint the house red. ;) But I think it would look really awesome with a mossy shade of green and keep the white/cream brick. When we were house hunting, I saw an incredible house very similar to ours that was painted black with white trim that looked amazing. Eventually we are going to have the garage turned into a theater room. We are thinking about in the meantime painting the garage door in some crazy fashion. Maybe with giant bats!

[theafaye.livejournal.com]

I have a rule never to use white when decorating when there are so many other colours to express yourself with. Since in NZ most houses are built out of wood you get some amazing colours outside too. I really don't understand shunning someone just because they've used a certain colour to decorate with!

[tsarina.livejournal.com]

Do you have neighborhood homeowners associations where you live? One of our prime criteria for buying was finding a house in a place without an HOA. They are vicious. Especially in a place like where my grandparents used to live (ie upper middle class to wealthy) they can be as petty and vicious as any country club. They often have a lot of stringent rules about property appearances, under the guise of preserving property value. Some places restrict the color you can make your home, your landscaping, even whether you can keep a boat in your driveway or other such nonsense.

[theafaye.livejournal.com]

Possibly in some areas but not where I live. I know you do in some parts of the UK and as you say, they can be brutal.

[jenandbronze.livejournal.com]

This is an interesting read, it reminds me of the bright red house, that stood out from the rest of all the houses in the neighbourhood in a small town called, Carson, in Washington state, that I saw when I went to go visit Nixon's puppy raisers. I couldn't for the life of me, figure that one out!

[tsarina.livejournal.com]

Perhaps they were from New England and missed those traditional red barns?

As Texas shifts to having a majority Hispanic population, I hope one thing we will see is a rise in more colorful homes. In primarily Hispanic neighborhoods one gets so many more houses that are say, canary yellow and bright turquoise. I love it.

[abbismom.livejournal.com]

Great take on the topic, and the ending is poetry itself. Absolutely lovely!

[tsarina.livejournal.com]

Thank you! Yay.

[puppetmaker40.livejournal.com]

I like the contrast between then and now and how you see your life then and now.

Coloring outside the lines is fun.

[tsarina.livejournal.com]

Thank you, very much.

[solstice-singer.livejournal.com]

I would like to have a purple apartment. Somehow though, I don't think the complex would appreciate it quite as much as I would. Lol.

[tsarina.livejournal.com]

Hahahahah, perhaps not. You could wait for a sale at a fabric store and get yards of fabric and pin it to the wall perhaps.

[baxaphobia.livejournal.com]

Purple! I love purple! But unsure how it would look on ahuge colonial house in New England! hahaha.

[tsarina.livejournal.com]

I bet it would lovely with white trim!

[baxaphobia.livejournal.com]

My house is now blue with white trim.

[tsarina.livejournal.com]

Awesome - and that's just a short hop on the color wheel towards purple... hee!

[baxaphobia.livejournal.com]

hahahaha. Dunno if I could convince my husband!

[alycewilson.livejournal.com]

My mother abstained from painting the entire house, but she's always loved to paint the garage and the porch bright colors, ranging from a brilliant blue to a dusky rose.

[tsarina.livejournal.com]

That sounds so lovely. I'm envious! My parents painted the house brown.

[alycewilson.livejournal.com]

Well, we didn't have a home ownership organization in the neighborhood. Across the street was a mint green ranch house, and at the end of the block, a house with Pepto Bismol colored trim!

[stardragonca.livejournal.com]

I loved you literal approach to the topic!

[stardragonca.livejournal.com]

*your

[tsarina.livejournal.com]

Thank you muchly.

[imafarmgirl.livejournal.com]

Nice entry. I want a purple house.