When we moved into our home in Ohio, the walls were two shades of gray.
The dining room is two shades of gray. The powder bath is dark gray. The living room and kitchen and laundry room are light gray.
The good quality real wood kitchen cabinets had been texture-painted gray (why?).
The basement walls are gray. The upstairs hallway, two bedrooms, and bathroom are gray.
The cedar siding is gray.
The main bedroom/bathroom is beige. Brown is never a good choice in a bathroom!
We rented for almost five years, never realizing we might buy this home, that my husband could retire from the USAF here.
But here we are, slowly transforming this sad gray house into something cheerier and more our style.
I am not a minimalist.
Vehicles
Not too long ago, many cars came in fun colors like orange or green, but most new cars since the mid to late 90s are all neutral greyscale. And the designs all look the same – rounded rectangles. Maybe this is why we get excited for vintage car shows!
I still occasionally see a yellow or teal car, but they’re few and far between. They sure stand out on the road or parking lot! We even have a pink SUV around town that they got custom painted.
This video mentions the changes are due to resale value and luxury psychology.
Minimalism and Decor Aesthetic
Having a capsule wardobe and neutral furniture and furnishings is fine if there are colorful accents and accessories. It’s frugal and easy to switch up with seasons. It can be classic and classy with quality items.
But some of it just goes too far.
Color theory is important for our moods to be uplifting. Sterile greyscale themes are depressing.
Colorful items are essential to child development. I loved showing my kids colorful toys, books, and natural items on our excursions.
The “sad beige” conceit has become part of the zeitgeist thanks to Hayley DeRoche, who under @sadbeige on TikTok and @officialsadbiege on Instagram makes comedy videos where, in the voice of German film director Werner Herzog, she hilariously narrates marketing images of colorless kids’ clothes and toys.
We live in a HGTV-inspired greige world.
I am bombarded with Internet reels and DIY videos and reality TV shows for furniture and home makeovers where people apparently hate beautiful natural wood, so it all gets painted. So many valuable and lovely vintage furniture pieces, cabinets, and wood trim are ruined by paint, whether it is stripped and sanded and applied well or not.
To prevent any political bias, many TVs in medical and dental waiting rooms are tuned to HGTV and it makes me so upset. I don’t want to see those horrible shows where lovely homes are gutted to make way for walk-in showers and white on white hotel-like or bank lobby sterile rooms.
It’s a weird thing to make people feel temporary in their own homes.
Residential Buildings
All the homes for rent or for sale at least the last decade and a half have been all neutrals. They’ve been stripped and remodeled with gray and beige and plain.
While it looks clean on the surface and is a blank slate for a new resident, it lacks anything personal and many landlords refuse to allow tenants to add any color.
We rented until 2020 and all the homes we lived in had white walls and cheap beige carpet and melamine cabinetry and countertops.
I miss the rich wood tones, wallpapered walls, textured carpets and hardwood floors of my childhood.
Commercial Buildings
All the bright fun buildings and fast food restaurants have depression makeovers.
They’re all gray, purple, brown, neutral. It’s like they want to look like a gym or hotel lobby.
I mean, schools look more and more like prisons or mental institutions, so why should we expect any commercial building to have any fun colors or details?
Many shows were filmed in front of a live-studio audience in Orlando, Florida. But in 2005, this original studio was abandoned and given a dull makeover, forever leaving nostalgic Nickelodeon fans with a dreary image.
McDonald’s and Taco Bell were remodeled and it’s as if they took out their souls.
When did we collectively decide we hate all color? When did we stop having personalities?
I am not a minimalist, but I like order and tidiness and being able to easily clean surfaces is nice.
We are slowly painting rooms in our house and upgrading the kitchen and bathrooms.
I’m all for color and personality and fun.
It’s just paint and decor and can be easily changed.
It’s boring when we are all the same, when we all look the same. It becomes dystopian.
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I love this post! I know gray was “on trend” for a while, but I could never bring myself to paint or decorate anything inside my home with gray. It’s so cold. We need color and contrast and differences. And fun! Thanks for sharing this post at the Will Blog for Comments #27 linkup. Hope to see you next time, too. Have a great week!
Hi Jennifer, Interesting post about shades of gray. I’ve done extensive research into colors and their meanings and discovered many reasons for the ways colors impact individuals. Each one of us is unique and what one person finds soothing, invigoration, anxiety producing, and joyful is not necessarily what appeals or repels someone else.
Saw your post at WWBH. My shares this time are #87 through 90. Enjoy. Nancy Andres @ Colors 4 Health.
I always find it interesting how renovations and decorating go in trends. I have often wondered if HGTV and DYI projects is what keeps certain stores in business. I enjoyed this post as we will soon be painting a few rooms.
Thank you so much for sharing your post with us at the Senior Salon Pit Stop! I’m excited to be featuring you at Monday’s party. Congrats! Pinned
Hugs,
Maria @ kraftyplanner.com
yay! Thanks for the feature!
I love this so much! I love color in our home, but I also find that I get bored with colors very quickly. That is the main reason that I stick with neutrals, and then I try to accent with colors in easier things to change out.
You are so right here. I’m not a fan of gray. I love pops of color. This is such an interesting article Jen.
Thanks so much for sharing this with Sweet Tea & Friends this month dear friend.
So odd, I was just thinking yesterday on a long commute that all the newer cars seemed to be shades of grey, and how that is a deal breaker for me when buying a car. I don’t think neutral color cars are safe – they are hard to see! I also prefer color on my walls so renting a townhouse with that beige carpet and walls that are a pale cafe-au-lait color is rather trying to me. I keep telling myself “at least the walls are not white!” Visiting from ST&F today
I think the gray cars are very difficult to see during the dawn and twilight hours! I love the few that are green and blue. My daughter has a bright blue Prius.