Bringing color and creativity to our communities

When my family moved into our current house, it was known for many things: serving as housing for the needy when it was first built in the early 1900s, sitting on the road to the motocross track that was in operation at the time, or being the house for numerous renters and families over the past century.

But perhaps its biggest claim to fame was its color. The expansive ranch-style home was bright blue from top to bottom with a darker shade of blue for the trim around the windows. The foundation’s bricks were blue. The cement steps were blue. The columns on the porches were blue. There was not an inch on the house that was not some shade of blue.

And there were gallons of blue paint in the basement for touch-ups, but not quite enough to repaint the entire house. We always assumed that there must have been a sale on blue paint somewhere and that is how the house ended up blue.

The color of the house was great for parties and gatherings or for anyone who was coming to our house for the first time.

“It’s the big blue house. You can’t miss it.”

But at some point, as every homeowner must do, touch-ups were needed to keep the house looking nice. My family had to decide if we were repainting the house the same shade of blue on a regular basis or would we be more practical and move to vinyl siding to reduce maintenance.

Now, I could be mistaken but I don’t recall sifting through many shades of the rainbow to determine our vinyl siding. The options ranged from light brown to dark brown and perhaps an earthy green if someone was feeling daring.

Plus by this point in our time at the house, I had one color settled in my mind: brown and more specifically, dirt brown. We live in the country on a dirt road with a lot of semi-tractor trailers passing by daily, going from farm to farm. There is always a layer of dust on everything outside, including our house, so we decided the most practical thing was to cover up the wooden blue siding with the practical, normal, typical, perfectly-acceptable brown vinyl siding.

Even with the new siding, I spent the next year painting over the blue on the foundation’s cinder blocks. To this day, there are still hints of blue that emerge on the blocks when a weed is pulled or a bush is trimmed back. It is like the former glory of the blue paint is fighting to be seen and it is willing itself not to be forgotten.

Looking back, there is some regret in resorting to what was practical and safe.

We were told the new color of siding would be good for resale value, even though we have lived in the house for several decades at this point. When we sell our house, the new owners will likely be replacing the siding and will get to choose an entirely new color.

Plus, there is some longing for something that stood out and was easily recognizable. No longer can we use the house color as a point of recognition. Instead, we tell people to look for the used car lot because of all our children’s vehicles.

Ironically, we settle for boring, safe colors in many aspects of our lives and in our communities. We pick designs that are safe and practical. We opt for colors that blend in rather than stand out. We settle on things that are “good enough” instead of something that will challenge us.

Yet, we actually strive for things that are different.

Whether driving around your own hometown or on vacations, we all respond to things that are different or catch our eye and are simply beautiful.

Recently during a trip to the east coast, most of my pictures featured family members and friends. All the others were things that caught my attention such as artistic bike racks, creative light poles and innovative store fronts. Most notably, the pictures were of historic homes in Georgetown, D.C. that were a rainbow of colors and stood out from their neighbors. As we build new buildings in McCook, is it something we could incorporate to bring beauty and color to our community?

I am a puzzle person with shelves dedicated to puzzles of all shapes and sizes. There is not one single puzzle featuring a row of houses in various shades of brown. Rather, there are multiple boxes with photos of houses in the Caribbean in various pastel shades of pink, orange and yellow or a brick-lined street featuring apartment complexes in every range of reds and blues.

We need color and we need beauty in our lives. On a daily basis, I hear comments about the blooming flowers on each corner of downtown Norris Avenue in McCook as part of the Beautify McCook project. And all the businesses which have invested in flower pots in front of their store fronts shows the importance of color and beauty in our every day lives.

As we move forward with plans for renovations and revitalization in our communities, we need to consider how we add in color, how we add in creativity and how we add in beautify that we all crave and need in every day in our lives.