Getting ready for Valentine’s Day… minus all the red

I subscribe to lots of blogs on fashion, lifestyle and home decor in my Bloglovin’ news feed, and everyone has been writing lately about Valentine’s Day. Of course, all of the posts about this heart-filled holiday are loaded with red. Red boots. Red sweaters. Red pillows. Red flowers.
I’m all for filling the world with love. But every year, I have to figure out how to do it without surrounding myself with the color red.
 

I guess you could say I have some strong feelings about color. I’m slightly obsessed with color, in general. I love, love, love organizing things in rainbow order and bringing as much color as possible into my world.
Just not red. I have a terrible relationship with red.
 

I think my bad feelings toward red started in college. I had a favorite sweater that was red. It fit me perfectly. I loved the length of the sweater, and it was super warm and cozy. But every time I wore it, people would say things to me like, “Are you feeling OK?” “You don’t look well.” “Are you getting sick?”
Inevitably, by late afternoon, I would come home and change clothes. After a day of wearing red, I actually WAS starting to feel a little ill.
Since then, my negative feelings about red have only increased.
My closet is arranged in order by color, but I don’t have one scrap of clothing from the red, orange and yellow end of the spectrum. I have discovered that I need to stick to the G BIV side of ROY G BIV to look my best. And, boy, do I LOVE green, blue, indigo and violet!
I think other people look GREAT in warm colors. In fact, I totally admire people who can wear red (or orange or yellow or pink for that matter). I, on the other hand, avoid even standing next to people wearing red. You couldn’t pay me enough money to take my photo in front of a red wall. Red scarves and boots are out.
Red clothing has become the gluten of my wardrobe.
When it comes to decorating, even at Valentine’s Day, you will find as little red as possible in my home.

The only red I have in my Valentine’s Day decor are these little hanging hearts. Even the Grinch of Valentine’s Day colors has to make at least one concession.
 

I do enjoy little hanging hearts enough that I can deal with their scarlet hue.
 

(It’s kind of hard to find hanging hearts in any color BUT red, so I cope.)
My Valentine’s decor has a very short lifespan in my home, so it’s mainly a transition from all of the winter white.

 
I like to bring in a little color before I get to go ALL SPRING. The hearts and LOVE letters are a sign that spring is coming, which makes me so, so happy!
 

 
In fact, I just noticed that the time will change in one month! Four more weeks until the darkness starts to recede, and we get our lives back!
 

For now, Valentine’s Day around here is mostly maroon and white, mixed with a little pink. It’s more of a subtle take on the love decor, but at least these colors don’t give me a headache like their evil sister on the color spectrum… RED!
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So, how about you? Do you have strong feelings about color? Do you have a color that your can’t go near? Do you like to decorate for Valentine’s Day?