I recently moved to California. We decided we wanted to live in sunshine, found a new warehouse for Organic Erotic and found a house we love. The house is nestled at the end of a country road. My closest neighbors are two horses, one a donkey who is said to be 40 years old.
This past week a friend came over. As they were standing in my studio apartment they said….you don’t have enough color in here. I paused for a moment. As if the seconds turned in to taffy and were stretched beyond what I thought they could be, I searched for my reply. My eyes roamed the room and slowly took in my carefully curated items. The feeling of enough, but not quite minimalism, entered my body. I saw all the green in my space. Like waking up from a dream that didn’t quite make sense I replied…but look at all the green.
Every place that my eye lands in my room has a pop of green, a plant. In my small-ish space, I have 13 live, vivid green plants standing back at me. (A week or so ago, I read a study created by Yale that said the best way to diminish toxins in your space was with green plants. This is beside the point, as I choose plants for their beauty, not their working ability). The color of nature is all around, in ample supply in my space. Green is my favorite color.
There are different shades of green. A pop of bright, lime green that gets the direct sun from the wall of windows. One dark green, velvet in texture with lines of deep red running through the leaves. Some are oversized and grab the eye easily. Others are small and tucked away. They delight the eye when you see them. I realized I think there is a lot of color in my space, always has been. I am surrounded by the color of nature.
I haven’t always loved plants in my space. For many years I avoided them telling myself I didn’t know how to care for them, they would all die if I had to take care of them. Then, one by one, I slowly started to incorporate plants into my space. The first one was a small plant atop my then dresser. I got to know it. Read up on how to take care of it, when to water it, etc. I learned they don’t need to be watered daily (they tell you by turning yellow if you’ve given them too much water). Then one day I realized the joy of tending to something in my space. Plants need care and attention, but not too much. What they give back to my space is beauty and feeling of softness and lusciousness. Being with plants is something I learned over time.
This morning I am grateful for the plants in my space. I never thought of them as the “color” in my home until this week. A whole new appreciation has arisen. This is how I build the felt sense in my home, slowly, one moment of feeling at a time.