wall color

I am very affected by wall colors. I love lighter colors, accented with white trim and neutral colors accented with dark trim. When I walk into any establishment or a person's home, the wall color really tells me what's going on. If it is bulk neutral, but the trim is carefully thought out, I can tell the person is working within the limits they have. If the color is too dark for the trim and there is no accent, that tells me they are confident and tried an experiment, given the restraints of dark wood trim. If the color is hard to determine with chips, scratches and crayon marks, and the trim needs to be replaced that tells me it's my house. We have tried to be bold and stylin with the colors we picked, but some of the rooms just didn't get any attention and as a result we are left with what I like to call "Previous Owner Primer". This encompasses any color that someone moved into and didn't pick themselves. Though usually it's between white and off white. I think Previous Owner Primer is so popular due to those shows on HGTV and A&E, where neutrality is sold as the only road to a sale. However, it leaves me feeling no sense of personality whatsoever. Almost like no one lived there before. It's just so flat. At least with the other end of the spectrum—bold RED or YELLOW that is almost painful to look at, you know someone cared, someone was trying—there was some sense of individuality. We recently had a home up for sale and we painted it a darker color than everyone suggested. In the end, all six rooms were the same color. And you know what? Even if someone doesn't like it, at least it lets people know there once was life in that house. A family lived and grew there. Someone cared to leave a little of themselves behind. That sounds like anything but neutral. It sounds like home.