Find Your True Colors

What if personality and lifestyle, rather than aesthetic preferences, dictated the palette of one's life? Kaitlin Petersen, editor in chief of Business of Home, reveals why choosing hues has become more personal than ever.

- Kaitlin Petersen

TEXTILE DESIGNER LORI WEITZNER HAS A unique window into how Covid changed our relationship with color. For her 2016 book, Ode to Color, Weitzner identified 10 essential palettes and then teamed up with a psychologist to develop an 18-question quiz (offered on her website) that helps readers figure out which palettes suit them best. Questions touch on everything from preferred genres of books, music, and movies to one's tolerance for risk-taking and sentimentality.

Before the pandemic, the quiz results reflected a need for creativity, connection with nature, and relaxation, with the Alchemy, Fragrant Woods, and At Ease palettes as its most frequent outcomes-fitting for a go-go-go world. Then, starting in 2020, Weitzner noticed a change in the data: “Waterside is by far the most up,” she says. “It's about feeling grounded in a world that is disrupted, about creating a world for yourself with no surprises or shocks. And Earthly is about people discovering their passions and following through on their dreams.” It's little surprise: As our homes become the epicenter of our lives, what we need from them-aesthetically and emotionally-is more important than ever.

Find yourself in one of Weitzner's 10 palettes, then decorate accordingly. “Start to think of color as a tool," she: says, "and come up with your own color worlds.”

Romantic

Rust, clay, aubergine. The rich, exuberant colors of Earthly remind us to follow our passions-fitting coming off the stagnation caused by pandemic lockdowns. “I always say that you can smile through life or you can sing through life. Earthly inspires you to sing," says Weitzner. At home, she recommends incorporating terra-cotta pots or simply "starting by lighting a candle."