Steven and I grew up in (what is now considered to be) a suburb of D.C. We were still an hour and a half away, but with the expansion of D.C. and the job market, all the government workers that lived in our town and commuted and the fact that our area was a large Naval hub, the phrase “Suburb of D.C.” sort of works.
I moved to the town when I was 10. My parents took my sister and I through many different houses searching for “the one” and for a long while, my parents seriously considered having a new home built. I’m not sure why they backed out, but it can pretty much go without saying that my parents aren’t the kind of people that do well in suburban communities with giant houses and tiny yards. In fact, once they gave up on the new house thing, we didn’t look at a single house in a HOA community, and every single house had at least 2 acres of land.
But while still in this process, we looked at a LOT of houses, and a lot of model homes specifically. Back in the late 90s, beige was all the rage. To be exact, every room that did not have terribad floral wallpaper, except for the “kids” rooms (which was usually themed. My favorite was the safari themed room), the dining room (which was invariably red) and MAYBE a token sitting room, was beige. Seriously, google images that shit, you’ll see.
This trend continued into magazines, tv shows, etc. And what a terrible trend it was. It was so bad that these days, you can’t watch a single HGTV show without someone eschewing beige, because it was just so over-saturated, trend-wise.
Now-a-days though, it seems as if grey has taken over for beige. Specifically, a medium tone grey with some “pops of color” (which usually ends up looking like a rainbow exploded in a room). As someone who spends a significant chunk of their day reading design blogs, and day dreaming about what I’m going to do with my house, it’s driving me nuts.
For the record, I love the color grey. My living room is grey. My dining room in my Baltimore house was grey. But it’s the tone of grey, and the color of the paired up accessories that really bugs me. I want to refrain from linking any photos, but imagine if you will a grey that is very clearly grey, but not too dark, and has a shitton of blue and white accessories. Or maybe it’s nothing but sunflower yellow and white. If you read Apartment Therapy, then I know you can imagine it, because it’s ubiquitous now. It is THE go-to for decorating when people want “cool” “fresh” and “modern”.
And while it IS “cool”, “fresh”, “modern” and WAY better than beige, the trend should really fall off a cliff at this point. I mean, I’ve seen the look in magazines that prior to probably 2009, featured nothing but beige rooms or some god-awful contemporary look. I feel like this trend has been because of the advent of blogs, which is great for the blogging world, but I’m starting to feel as if it might as well be called “blogger chic” and it has ALL of the negative connotations that could come with that nomenclature.
In short, it’s time to move on. Maybe go with a deep dark grey, or navy blue, or hell even white (though that can get tiresome too — says the person with mostly white walls). And seriously, medium grey and ocean blue? Not a good combination people. It makes my eyes ache. Ugh.
But I don’t want to be completely negative. So here are a few examples of grey rooms that DO work and actually feel well designed and elegant.
From Emily Henderson
Found via Pinterest via Blossoms & Bliss who unfortunately did not link to the original.
Ugh, I love everything about you Abigail Ahern.
This is one of those exceptions to the rule thing. I wouldn’t live here, and I’d probably complain about it being too bi-tone, but overall, I’m kind of digging it. It’s probably the brass and yellow sideboard that does it for me, paired with the interesting furniture. It’s also styled really well. Found via this blog which unfortunately did not link to the original, but has a whole list of shining examples of why this color combination kills me now.
I don’t know. Maybe I’m being hipster about this, but I really liked grey back before it was cool. I blame you interwebs.
32oh7 