The power to your house is 220 volt off a "center tapped transformer". That is, one hot leg is 110 volt to nuetral in the center. The other hot leg is 110 volt to nuetral in the center. And there's 220 volt between the two hot legs.
Going by colors don't always work, but in general, one hot wire is normaly black, the other hot is red, the nuetral is white, and ground is green. A cheap multimeter to check voltages would help you out.
Karl