Ready for Red

As many of us get ready to start decorating our homes for the holiday season, I encourage you to think of the traditional holiday red in an out-of-the-box way. The Benjamin Moore color of the year for 2018 is AF-290 Caliente Red. If you look at it closely it is definitely red, but it is not "Hello I'm a red velvet bow off the store shelf"red.

My thought for this week is to carefully select your holiday color theme to make sure it goes with what you already have going on in your home. No clashing. You still want your rooms to feel right even during the holidays. That goes for any holiday.

The most important part of your holiday décor is that accent color, or pop. Browse the reds. Go to your local paint store and grab a color chip of the ones you think will work with your style. Double check them at home and then carry them in your purse for when you hit the stores to buy holiday plates, napkins, ribbons, placemats, candles, table runners, ornaments and so on.

There are alternatives to red that speak holiday to me like teal, turquoise, purple, blue and copper. Sherwin-Williams' colors of the year for 2018 is SW6496 Oceanside.

Let the greens of nature do the talking for the green part of the equation: pine, cedar, balsam, holly, fir, spruce, boxwood, juniper. They all have different textures and hues of green.

Sometimes only things that come from nature are just what the doctor ordered. It is often the most economical way to decorate. I live in the suburbs with the woods all around me. There are so many kinds of greens to cut from our own landscaping and the woods, birch logs, red dogwood branches, pinecones galore, and the simplicity of Winterberry

branches growing along the side of the road. My kids hate when I pull over and cut branches from along the side of a wooded road. It's so embarrassing!

Finally, don't forget the sparkle with either silver (cool) and gold (warm). Choose based on what you have going on. Don't be shy, but stay classy. Go ahead and hum that Burl Ives tune, "Silver and Gold", while you shop and decorate. Don't be afraid to mix and use both in your holiday theme.