HELPING YOURSELF, ONE COLOR AT A TIME
Journey of self-discovery starts with bold choices in the home and in life
Don’t be fooled by the cover of Moll Anderson’s latest book. You’ll think that “Change Your Home, Change Your Life With Color,” which publishes Tuesday, is about home design. By the time you get through the introduction, you’ll know it’s instead a self-help book urging you to let go of issues that leave you under a dark cloud and move into a more vibrant life.
The book’s 256 pages are filled with encouraging words and much to think about: Why do you love green and hate orange? Why don’t you buy flowers for yourself ? Can you live like it’s spring — even through winter?
Get to the answers of these questions and others, and you might just have an “aha moment” about your own life. And you might just stop to drink a purple cocktail, buy a new yellow handbag or fill a vase with vivid red flowers.
She writes about “color stories” or the colors we are drawn to or away from, based on good and bad life experiences.
Anderson, a Dallasite who first built her reputation as a designer of seductive interiors, then as an author and lifestyle guru, will visit Houston on March 30 for a book signing at Forty Five Ten in River Oaks District. She took time recently to talk about her life and her new book.
Q: You write about color as something to have in your home and your wardrobe. But you also write a great deal about our “color stories.” How do we know what ours are?
A: You can’t tell someone … they have to go on that journey themselves. I was in Mozambique with UNICEF … and at the end of the day we all met up in the bar. It had been a tough day. A woman in the group asked me about my new book. I told them my theory about color. If we had a happy childhood, we like those colors we grew up with. One woman wasn’t saying much, but the next day she pulled me aside and said, ‘When you were talking, I realized I have a color story.’ ”
She said when she was a little girl, her parents wanted a girl and everything that went with it. She was a tomboy, yet she was surrounded by pink, never getting to
choose her own colors. She grew up hating pink.
When she got married, she didn’t want to do that to her own child. She had a little girl and decorated her room in an ambiguous purple-plum. When that little girl was getting ready for preschool, her mother asked her what she was going to wear the next day. She looked down and said, “Don’t bemadatme.Iknow you hate pink, but I love pink.” She realized that she had done the same thing to her own daughter.
Everywhere I go, people tell me their color story. It was such a poignant moment.
Q: So what is your favorite color?
A: You’re not going to believe this: It’s black. It’s my signature color. I’d gone through trauma as a child, so I fell out of color at a young age. When you go through trauma or unhappiness, black is a protective color.
Q: How do you incorporate color into your life, if black is your favorite color?
A: I use black as a foundation color. When I wear black, I wear a pop of color. Look at the little black dress; we love it. But go to a function in a red dress and every head turns. They think “Wow, she’s got confidence.”
Q: You began as an interior designer. How did you discover your sense of style?
A: I haven’t done interior design in years, but I had an innate ability as a small child. I was making slipcovers for my classic Barbie furniture. I was, literally, taking socks and other pieces of clothing — which I’m sure my mother didn’t like — and converting it.
I pushed the living room furniture around if I didn’t like it, but no one ever said, “You should go to school for this.” I’ve often said people in design work ought to go to school and get a psychology degree. You spend time creating a happy home when there isn’t one or creating a vibe when there isn’t one. I really want to be in self help. This new book is inspirational self help.
Q: That’s funny because I thought the same thing when I read it. I thought it would be about home design, but it’s so much more.
A: My book agent, Jan Miller Rich, said, “Tell me what you want to do with your life.” I want to be the Tony Robbins or Joel Osteen of home and life. There’s a lack of truly living, sensory awareness in our world. People have candles they’ve never lit, fireplaces they’ve never used, bathtubs they’ve
never used.
Today, I’m saying you will be so much more successful if you shop at the store on your way home and buy a big bag of lemons or buy limes and put them in a green bowl. Put fresh mint in a container. Change your thinking. If you love green, wear a fabulous green scarf and gloves and it will look phenomenal.
You don’t have to change everything immediately.
Q: You’ve been a guest on a wide range
of TV shows, from “Dr. Phil” to “The Doctors,” “The Talk” to “Today.” How do you fit into so many topics?
A: I have a such a wide range of interests. I believe in a whole life experience. It’s not just about the home, but the life you live and what you do in that space. The good part of being 57 is that I’ve been through so much. I want to share it and mentor other women.