Do you like the colour grey? Now, if you live in Melbourne, then that is the perpetual colour of winter. And, quite frankly, I am sick of it already. I know I am whingeing. Lucky you if you live in sunny climes all the year round and don’t have to suffer from SAD – seasonal affective disorder. Or at least that is what I blame my low mood on. But I realise this problem is far wider than just the lousy weather.
Why does this colour have to be everywhere I look? Go to any online real estate website, click on the picture of any house for sale and I swear they are all styled by the same person who loves GREY! A throw rug on the bed? Nicely rumpled, of course – grey. Cushions on the bed – grey, against a virginal white bed set. Print on the wall? – some cheap attempt at art, a few splashes of grey with maybe a tiny hint of colour, picked up by single solitary coloured cushion nestled amongst the dominating grey. Carpet? – you guessed it.
I blame the stylists and the real estate industry that have decided that none of us actually live in real houses with chaos and mess and furniture acquired over years. Mostly mismatched, because we were too busy paying the mortgage and the kids’ food bill to bother about designer furniture and coordinated taste. Sellers are convinced (for a fee) that they need to remove all their furniture, leave a blank canvas for the designers to sweep in and style, leaving the rest of us to stare at acres of grey.
Once upon a time, it was fun to wander into open homes for inspections, the chance to do a little bit of voyeurism, to see how other people manage their houses. Now all is uniform, the ubiquitous drab shades of grey featuring in every room. And again, what is it with these bloody throw rugs, over beds, couches and chairs? Who lives like this? Even viewing houses online is no fun anymore, the rooms evoking a sameness across the suburbs.
Even new housing exteriors are dominated by grey. Grey render on the outside, grey inside. Why are we so afraid of colour and individuality? In India, they celebrate colour. Houses are often painted bright pink, a lovely daffodil yellow and even purple to add joy to the beholder. Mind you, it takes quite a bit of getting used to, reprogramming your brain to see colour. Perhaps this is part of the culture shock many people feel when they land in India, realising they are no longer constrained by our dull conventions. They even have a whole festival, Holi, devoted to colour, splashing coloured powdered paint over everyone, to signify the beginning of spring. It looks great fun. Just wear your old clothes.
So, I think there should be a revolution, a march in the streets and a torrent of comments fed to real estate agents and interior designers, to say no more to grey! Bring back colour, bring some real art work and photos on the walls of houses, a mess in the spare bedroom, a kitchen bench that has toasters and unpaid bills on it rather than a vase of extraordinary fake flowers and nothing else.
We want reality in all its glorious colours rather than grey winter drab and boring sameness.
What do you think of the colour grey? Why not share your thoughts in the comments section below?
Also read: How paint colour in your home can affect your mood
I love grey and white and black. If I went into a house with all different colours it would definitely put me off buying it. I’m with the real estate agents.
Yes colours seem to have disappeared from the scene, inside and outside the home. Grey is the in colour of choice.
It also used to be the in thing to have a coloured bathroom suite but now it has to be white!
Not just houses, you can’t buy colourful clothing in winter either. Everything is black or grey
I am so glad to read this. I am horrified by this trend. The worst was when I decided to crochet a blanket for a niece, but when I asked what colours she liked I was told charcoal grey. I tried to talk the family out of it but they were set on it. But a week later, after I had bought the wool, I was asked to add some blue, and a few days later, yellow so something registered, but the grey had to stay. Now looking at refurbished or new houses and units and greys are everywhere. Obviously designed by minimalists but aimed at what demography? Obviously not at any of us, nor at for everyday life.