Letter from the Editor: Decorating with Color is Complicated

I love color. So much so that my bedroom is sage green, my bathroom is near-navy blue and my entire downstairs is painted in shades of yellow. Throw in bold-orange accents in my office, a mix of colorful prints, pillows and throws and my most recent addition (an antique side table spray-painted chartreuse), and it's safe to say I've got color covered. But am I doing it right? That's the question, of course, and-after reporting for this issue's cover story-the verdict's still out.

That's because color is complicated. It's personal, emotional, psychological. Different cultures view hues in different ways, but so do people living on the same block. So what's the person who's afraid of using too much color-or the wrong color-supposed to do? We spoke with designers, decorators, paint-shop owners, professors and more about the topic in "Color Your World" with the goal of making decorating with color a little less scary.

In this issue, we also feature ways to make garden-planning less daunting and found subdued, classic options for decorating for the holidays. Our "At Home" feature takes a look at the newly redecorated Gahanna home of Yvette McGee Brown. And Powell native Gina Gibson-someone who really knows how to decorate with color-shares what it's like to move back into a childhood home.

It's hard to believe it's already time to put outdoor living on the backburner for a few months, but I hope this issue provides some inspiration for indoor revamps and springtime prep. I, for one, will be rethinking my color scheme-but only slightly.