The better half and I have been on a bit of a decorating frenzy since we moved into our house last year, liberating it of its drab 1970’s decor and attempting to turn it into a palace of peace and tranquility…… with a touch of class.

I think as ‘moving in together’ goes, I have been very lucky that the better half has fairly compatible tastes with my own, and despite making the odd compromise over curtain material and the odd fixture or fitting (admittedly on his part…), it can be almost guaranteed that let loose in the same homeware store, we’d walk out with an almost identical basket.

Our ‘taste’ on the whole is uncluttered, clean and fresh. We like to use natural materials wherever we can and subscribe to using ‘proper wood’ wherever possible. These are all happy admissions, however when people ask me the colours we have chosen, I always feel slightly embarrassed to say “its all mostly neutrals”….

I’m not sure why I find this particularly bothers me, especially as I have recently arrived at a very liberating place in life where I have stopped apologising for who I am – which is maybe why in fact, I am afraid of being regarded as ‘neutral’…

You see, as anyone who has spent as long as me glued to ‘UK bright Ideas’ or queues at the newsagent on the 3rd of every month to pick up their copy of ‘Living Etc.’ will know, ‘neutrals’ are generally associated as being the ‘safe option’ – they are used to make somewhere universally appealing to everyone, most show homes are drenched in them as generally they don’t offend anyone and will go with everything. That’s why when people ask me what colour we have painted our rooms, often a reply will follow “Oh, are you looking to sell when you finish?”

No.

Well not straight away…

Interior design magazines are currently filled to the brim of smug home owners showing off their designer flocked wallpaper, intricately designed table lamps, tartan carpets and red perspex coffee tables. The homes of people I know even contain black gloss skirting boards, purple living rooms and ‘accent walls in’ green and gold’ – the reason for this – they “like them” and represent a little bit of their individual personality.

So what does that make me? Am I the unimaginitive Mrs Beige therefore? Does my love of ‘soft chalk’ and pale voile curtains make me the human equivalent of a white clad Kingsoak ‘Show Flat’ – one amongst the masses and largely unforgettable?

Having never really thought about this before (though to be quite frank it is probably not something that would ever bother ordinary people), I pondered as to what the answer was. And I came up with this:

Modest that I am,  I would like think my life consists of many colours, but it is the home the better half and I are making that reflects how I strive to feel permanently inside and how I think we are; united, together and calm. I don’t want drama, I don’t want fuss and I don’t want anything that is going to cause an arguement with my senses and give me a headache.

Plus I just like soothing colours. They look nice.

So… with this post I will hereby make a bold step out of the interior design closet and admit to something that ‘Ideal Homes’ would regard as strictly faux pas:-

I’m remaning neutral.

So sue me.