The Purple Door

That's a very young me (in my twenties) on the porch.

Peter and I once lived in a purple house.  No kidding.  It was a grand, 100-year-old Queen Anne Victorian in an historic Maryland neighborhood just to the north of Washington, D.C.  that we restored and painted during, what now seems and is, a lifetime ago.  That royal "grand dame" was the beginning of my lifelong foray into and love affair with the world of lavender--plants, that is. Fast forward 24 years later and now we live in a grey-blue colonial saltbox, surrounded by lavender plants, that boasts none other than a purple front door.

Our house here at Blooming Hill, this
past summer just before we took the
leap of painting the front door purple.

A side view of the house and just some of the lavender,
this past summer.  In the early evening light, the grey-blue
takes on a purple hue.

A home's front door says a lot about the person or persons who live inside.  It's one of the first things you see as you often take the hand of the homeowner in greeting and are welcomed into the heart of their humble abode, whether it's a tiny trailer or a magnificent mansion.  Often, brides are carried over the door's thresh hold in celebration of life, love and happiness. A door, like the pineapple, is the quintessential symbol of hospitality.

My beautiful front door in winter.

My beautiful front door in the fall.

I've thought a lot about this in the past several months as I've began to notice more and more front doors on all sorts of houses painted in shades of pale lavender to deep purple, the colors of royalty, love and good fortune.  And, as the owner of a lavender farm, I've come to believe that if people who don't own a lavender farm think a purple door is a good idea for their front door, well then, it's got to be a great idea for my front door by showcasing a little bit of our welcoming Blooming Hill personality. So, this past October, we painted our front door a lovely shade of purple to compliment our field of lavender any time of the year! I hope it says that very welcoming, lavender-loving people live here, too.