Friday, June 1, 2012

Trendy Marketeers

"What's Selling Where | Paint colors.  Title of a piece in the Wall St. Journal. They list five trendy sounding colors, complete with color illustrations of each color.  Plus lots of fancy words about the grooviness of each color.
   Trouble is, these forward looking trendy colors are the same dreary light pastels that have been slapped on the walls of Army barracks, gov'mint offices, and tired industrial buildings, for the last 50 years.  Nothing new here, just washed out light blues, greens, and tans. 
  Hint to homeowners.  If you are gonna paint a room, there is a lot to be said for good old landlord white (very light ivory).  It brightens up any room, makes it look larger, and won't clash with wall hangings, rugs, curtains, furniture, or pictures.  If you want to use a strong color on the walls, have your decorating plan well in mind, everything put into the room must either match, or at least harmonize with, the wall color.  Done right, it can be effective, but it's hard to do right, especially on a tight budget.  
 Second hint to homeowners.  Think about wall paper.  It goes up easily, it hides all sorts of really horrible flaws in the walls, and can transform a room.  Wall paper is less demanding than strong monocolors as to matching and harmonizing with the rest of the stuff  you put in the room.

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