I see a red door...

[Rogar]

...and I want to paint it black? I've been doing some slow morning bike tours of my area of 50's and 60's homes. Maybe I've not paid close enough attention, but the trend for blacks and greys has become hard to ignore. I think about half of the old brick homes have been painted black or grey, with doors and garage doors that match or with a light natural wood. Similar for the siding of frame homes. And black window frames. The nice pastels of my neighbors houses have been gradually replaced with some shade of grey. It all seems a little ominous and lacking of color and variety. Perhaps a bit of a personal rant, but a trend I've not noticed that seems odd. I suppose at some point those mid-century homes need a face lift to be current.

[catherine]

My daughter's MIL and I were talking about that the other day, and she sent me pictures of houses that had been painted dark colors:

https://www.hgtv.com/outdoors/landsc...ouses-pictures

I don't get it either.. I can see it for a particular style of modern house, but not for many other styles of homes. The little Cape Cod in the article that's half black and half natural cedar shingles is just ugly.

The first picture in the article looks a little like a mid-century modern re-do.

[JaneV2.0]

The circa 1911 house I grew up in was painted charcoal gray. My favorite paint jobs ever were shades of purple. I kind of like black doors.

[bae]

When I repainted mine a few years ago, our HOA was considering implementing a "natural tones only" restriction(*). So, I repainted my house using several different shades of purple, tones selected by walking around the neighborhood and observing the purple colors of some of the native plants. It looks so much nicer than the dull multiple-grey scheme it had previously.

(*) It was pointed out to our new residents from CA that, well, this HOA only has the power to maintain the road and water system here, and they had no authority to impose anything at all. They seemed grumpy about that.

[ApatheticNoMore]

I believe a red door is good luck in Feng Shui (which I don't subscribe to, but one reason one might see them). I've read it can symbolize a house is paid off. Of course a red door might be just a red door because they liked the color.

[frugal-one]

I've also noticed many houses in my area are also painted very dark colors. BTW My house is white with 2 red doors.... has been for years. And, I love it! Many have commented on it as well. Didn't know it had any connotation??

[KayLR]

Yes, entire developments here have the look of dull greyish-brown-tan boredom. It is depressing. Bad enough that we are being overdeveloped in the first place. And homes which aren't in the developments are following trend.

Further, for some time I have noticed the lack of automobile color range too. When we bought our last one, I told DH, NO gray, silver, white, tan, or black. It was HARD to find one! And in the winter, when it's so awful gray, drizzly and pouring rain, it's not easy sometimes to see the other cars in traffic. They all match the gray skies and the gray pavement and the passing gray buildings. Ugh.

[pinkytoe]

I noticed a house in our hood that was recently painted black. I thought at first it was in a fire as it looked so odd. Speaking of car colors, DH showed me a slide of his Dad's first family car - a 1956 two-toned Ford Fairlane - coral and black. I wonder why they no longer do two tone cars

[Tybee]

You see some of those dark grey capes here; we call them House of Usher houses because they give us the creeps.

[JaneV2.0]

I noticed a house in our hood that was recently painted black. I thought at first it was in a fire as it looked so odd. Speaking of car colors, DH showed me a slide of his Dad's first family car - a 1956 two-toned Ford Fairlane - coral and black. I wonder why they no longer do two tone cars

I still love two-tone cars--probably why I find Fiats so appealing.