I  love paint chips and the names of colors. I have lived in Cameo, Clementine, Venetian Glass, September Leaf, Cobalt, Aria Ivory, Spice Trader, Rain Mist, and Princess Passion rooms. My husband, John T, and I sleep in a Hickory bedroom trimmed with Sensitive White, and we prepare our family meals within our kitchen’s Walking Path and Butter walls.

For Father’s Day, I surprised John T by painting his study. The room used to be my art room, but we built a beautiful tin-sided studio outside, and that is where I paint now. Finally, John T has his own space in the house, but he was not fond of the feminine Lavender Lane I had painted my old art room.

Jess, our seven-year old son, showed no interest in helping me with the “new room” project, even though the transformation was supposed to be from him. He and I wanted a nice shade of green, but nothing too Golf Course or too Hunter. For a while we settled on Tree House, but we decided that Nature’s Abundance had more to offer.

The golden green walls match what we see from our summer windows—Camellia and Pecan leaves, ferns, ivy, and sunlit grass. John T is happy with his room, and he is filling the bookshelves.

Jess was happy to present his daddy with another gift, a woven rug that’s almost large enough to cover the paint-splattered floor that I couldn’t move out with my art table.

–Blair Hobbs