A Soldier in the War Against Beige

Broken color is an approach to decorating that is inspired by nature, where colors are complex and moody. The sandy ochre's and browns of a desert cliff, the dozen nuances of green in a single leaf, the out-all-night neons of a tropical fish. Navajo sandstone, you might say, is some shade of red-or is it? You are not likely to match it using a paint store's color deck. Look closely and you'll see the lowly pebble dressed in cream, roasted peppers, wood smoke and cinnamon. I don't know any person whose moods I could describe with one word. Equally, no apple is just red nor its blossoms simply white.

Do you want a kitchen that is Terra Cotta because the number on the paint can says it is, or rather walls that almost taste of clay? Walls can surround us, partition our lives and just stand there, or it can hold us in cupped hands, radiant and alive.

That is the magic of broken color.