Today as I was sitting for several hours in the sale barn at West Plains, I read the August Issue of American History magazine from cover to cover. The lead story is called "Washington's Obsession" and covers an article written about George's intense desire to make his home his in every detail. The one quote that I took exception to included these words, "Inside his home in the dining rooms and parlors, one finds a hint of the vain inner self that it was Washington's life's work to tame. The walls are painted with insistent eye-popping colors"
The author goes on and on about his obsessive need to get every detail correct in his home.
At what point does the soul needing color make an individual "vain"? I just burst with possibility every time that I walk through my home. The colors call to passion in my soul, as the colors of the sunset rim the day in gilded gold.
When I first saw Mount Vernon with a group of kids from Mountain Home, I was astounded by the colors that took your breath away. I had seen 100's of famous homes while growing up, but here was one that I could pieces home with me in my memory and emmulate the fragments into my own home in Arkansas. I told Eddy that I wanted all of the colors of Mt. Vernon in my home. I wanted to close my eyes and feel the green caress the back of the lid as it was reflected there. I had to have that blue for my kitchen. More importantly, I wanted to design my home with that same idea of the front seeming very austere, and plain. But the back would be huge porch that looked over our domain, as his piazza looked over the Potomac. I was entranced with George and still am. Seeing the inside of his house lets you see the artistic desire to control your environment , slashing the spectrum through every paint chip.I have a link here http://www.mountvernon.org/virtual/index.cfm/ss/2/ that will take you straight to a virtual tour of Mount Vernon. Then once you do that, come back and finish my blog tour. When George and I feel that the fever for passionate, showy, color has struck you, we'll go to Lowe's or Home Depot with you. Just think the stir we'll cause as he doesn't like to wear his wig in the summer. Brushes and paint samples loaded, we'll help you reach that place snarky historical authors call, VAIN, and you'll love it becuase your inner sanctum will have what George and I already know about--peace, order, color, passion, welcome, and satisfaction.
