Winter: Fog Blog

I love the color gray. I have used it often in kitchens, bathrooms, and bedrooms. It is a calm and peaceful color; ever ready to invoke a subtle, sophisticated and steady influence on the cacophony of our lives. I have been asked to do an apartment in Chicago and spent time there this past week. Floor to ceiling windows on the the 10th floor presented a vista of gray, overcast skies. Somehow, intuitively, my client and I decided on a soft gray for the kitchen walls. Being on the far end of the apartment, yet in view of the windows, it seemed the right visual balance for a typical gray Chicago day. The apartment will be alive with plenty of bright colors, so the grey will act as a neutralizing force.

When I returned to St. Louis, a thick blanket of fog had descended. Again, it is the quiet, the muting of color, that I find so magical about fog. The nuances are infinite, as one's vision makes constant adjustments to focus.

Perhaps because I weary of the bombardment of color, I welcome the respite of gray to collect my thoughts. I also like the way that a familiar place can be altered so as to be unrecognizable. It makes the ordinary extraordinary. But be careful: one can easily lose one's way in a thick fog!

St. Louis Country Club

My daughter is now at University College London. She has been there a few weeks and has seen the sun on only two days. Fortunately, she loves the color gray! When I first went to England, I felt I understood why the English enjoy all those riotous colorful floral chintzes.  They need the color to offset the gray!