A More Simple, Plainer America?

[JaneV2.0]

I've come to admire gray, but my favorite shade is taupe. I hope that doesn't become trendy any time soon.
I like chartreuse, puce, and coral, which--if I were a decorator--I'd punch up the taupe with.

[Gardnr]

Thing is, so many people are so attuned by the trends (well, several million people can't be wrong, can they?) that you deviate from that at your own risk. I've lost count of how many things we changed in houses when we put them up for sale because what we liked was considered "extreme".

We are super trendy Builder beige walls. Corian counters in kitchen/bathrooms that we installed 20 years ago. Original solid Alder kitchen cabinets circa 1989. Original siding-light green w/dark trim. New paint in 2019 (every 15y right?)

Trend hounds. That's us

[catherine]

My favorite decorator is named Lauren Berg. Her own furniture walls and upholstery are a kind of light chartreuse. My living room is slightly darker yellowy-green. She recently linked in her blog to another decorator who had yellowy green walls and accents. I’m beginning to think that’s the color of us oldsters. I plan to use that color in my Herman house because I still find it pleasant After living with it in the city house for a while.

I think it's really interesting how after 44 years of "keeping house" I still migrate to combinations of green and yellow. The very first house we lived in--upstairs in a charming Victorian home--we painted the walls yellow and the trim and moulding green. Naturally. This was 1977.

Fast forward to the house we bought in 2017/2018, and guess what. Many, many pictures my eye is drawn to on Pinterest happen to be combinations of green and yellow. Different tones and shades of course--now the green is less "avocado" and more "seafoam" and the yellow is less "harvest gold" and more "buttercup". but there is something about green and yellow that's baked into my lifelong preferences.

[ApatheticNoMore]

For anyone who missed it: In post #27 of this thread I was playing devil's advocate. Yes, I really am that cynical about the future, but there are still some slim reasons to hope things will get better and we'll somehow muddle along as a species for a few more centuries. I just wouldn't bet on it unless all the corporations and powers that be suddenly realize saving the planet is a better investment than maximizing this year's profit margin.

Oh I 100% agreed with you. But into my 40s, it's probably not my problem anymore either. Unfortunately I probably still have around 3 decades to live to see it all collapse.

[Teacher Terry]

I like having a accent wall or 2 in a room. Green is my favorite color. When I use a accent color than the other walls are cream. 2 of the condos I am seeing have very high end finishes and used some bold color in accent walls that I wouldn’t have chosen but are beautiful.

[LDAHL]

When the nihilist mobs break into my bunker for what’s left of my canned beans and toilet paper after the predicted collapse, they will find it decorated in taupe and puce.

[SteveinMN]

another decorator who had yellowy green walls and accents. I’m beginning to think that’s the color of us oldsters.

We follow Gardnr's schedule for painting -- every 15 years; we're due now. DW and I rather quickly agreed on the color in which the inside of the house will be painted (except maybe for the main bedroom): white with just the faintest intimation of green. A few years ago we painted the room DW uses as a dressing room a color called "Celery" but which was far darker in a 10x10 room than any stalk of celery I've seen (and, of course, much darker than three square inches of paint chip). We figure a white that sat next to a can of green should be dark enough once we paint an entire house with it.

[razz]

I love a pale taupe with trim either cloud white or light wood grain. It is timeless, neutral and I can go nuts with accents of bright colours if I choose.

[Yppej]

There is one budget HGTV show, Home Town. In one episode they could not afford a vanity so they taped or glued cloth around the bottom of the freestanding sink, for example.

[catherine]

There is one budget HGTV show, Home Town. In one episode they could not afford a vanity so they taped or glued cloth around the bottom of the freestanding sink, for example.

Home Town is actually the one HGTV show that I typically don't wind up yelling at the TV when I watch. Yesterday they had an episode where they did the typical "here are two houses which do you want" and the buyer said that she didn't want to mention it, but her father had left her the house she grew up in which had been destroyed by Katrina and abandoned. So Erin and Ben (the hosts) checked it out and agreed to do what they could. They carefully removed the mahogany panels that had been installed by her grandfather so they could create a porch but they used them for French doors. They kept the old-fashioned armoire. They saved whatever they could, refinishing the floors and barely touching the old fireplaces except for replacing ruined tiles. They really do appreciate the houses and they seem to even appreciate the rougher elements and the things that really make a house a home.

So this woman was able to get a respectfully restored version of the home she shared with her dad and loved.