I’ve always wanted to be a candle person: you know, the kind who always has a flame flickering in a pretty jar on her kitchen counter and whose home smells recognizably welcoming.

But it turns out I don’t actually like most candle scents (in my own house, at least)…

… I decided to embrace the darkness when we first decorated in 2018: we painted the dining room Benjamin Moore’s Evening Dove, a charcoal-tinged navy. As Homes and Gardens observes, “Instead of trying to create the illusion of light (which is always going to be tricky), color experts recommend leaning into the low light and creating a cozy, dark, and cocooning space.” We get tons of compliments on it - and have had a few friends actually use it for their own homes after seeing it in ours, which is the most flattering thing ever - but I just found out that Jon wants to go lighter after we renovate.