Magical Visitor Vanquishes Killer Beige

When ice cream selection is between plain vanilla and strawberry-cheesecake swirl, I prefer the richer, creamier, fruity choice scooped into a waffle cone. It has not always been that way. 
            Ben and Jerry’s Ice Cream with their pints available in the grocer’s freezer case changed my preferences.  The same is true with a change in my color preferences after a magical visitor swooped like Mary Poppins into my den.
           In the mid-seventies, my Mamaw left me a bit of cash to use for my new house.  Down to Ethan Allen Gallery I journeyed, dog-eared catalog pages and budget in hand. Selecting a full array of den furniture, I was a happy shopper. 
           At home, I leafed through magazines looking for color combinations and fabric inspiration.  I decided on the oh-so-70’s look of navy blue, burgundy, and cream. I still needed to choose the fabric and patterns, but was gridlocked in indecision.
            “You know, with your purchase, our design services are free,” the sales-clerk explained.  “Free?”  “Yes…when would you like her to come out?”

           The doorbell rang and the fashionable Virginia Rippee breezed into my den; countless flip-books swirled around her. She placed fabric swatches before me, adding a spoonful of sugared suggestions. She encouraged me to be bold in choices of color, pattern, and texture. She exclaimed, “You’ll also need an area rug to pull it together and some window treatments, also.What colors would you like to look at?”

            I’m silent, thinking…what color would tie all this together?
             I say, “hmm….beige…maybe?”
            “Excuse me?”
             I repeated my hesitant choice in a whisper.
            “Ultimate dread, pestilence descend, and a Plague upon your House. Might I have a glass of ice water and some digitalis, perhaps with a bit of sugar?
             Surviving the attack of killer beige, she opened my world to a mix of plaid, floral, solid, and print… as long as the colors compliment or are in the same family. She pulled the cream-color film from my eyes and let color dance across roof-tops and slide down banisters.
             Her lesson left me no longer anchored in neutral, but roaming free, experimenting in patterns, combinations of color as festive as a carousel.
              Like Ben and Jerry challenged me to try chocolate turtle caramel supreme, cookie-dough, and chunky monkey flavors, the designer from Ethan Allen encouraged me to mix it up with the aid of her rather extraordinary magical powers.

          My magical visitor Virginia Rippee, now retired, is much respected among the design community and by her clientele. In her days before Virginia Rippee and Associates Interior Design, she was a design consultant for Ethan Allen Gallery in Memphis.
        
            Rector Crafts Fair - Saturday before Thanksgiving - Rector Community Center - "2-Cute Aprons" will debut with new designs and colors for all seasons.  (The purchase of an apron carries no expectation of cooking!)-
see BLOG: More Than a Bracelet