Call me crazy, but I miss colorful houses of the 80s

The 1950s had 'Feature Walls". Every wall was a different color.

Me too! Our ‘70s house had red shag carpet in the family room, pink carpet in the bathroom, & a floral carpet in the living room (I walked into Bucca di Beppo 25 years later & was shocked to see the same carpet there).

The living room was mirrored on one of the walls & had this gigantic angel candelabra over the mantelpiece. We also had a red front door. My friends used to say I lived in a whorehouse.

Remember when colored Toilet paper was a thing? You always had to match it to your bathroom’s decor. I remember we had pink & my grandma had light green in one bathroom & light blue in the other.

I found the beige (interior and exterior) wave came in the early 80s, not 20 years later...

The 2000's brought on the house flipping craze. Hence the neutral color schemes. Sorry, new home buyers aren't interested in your turquoise shag carpeting and your other questionable color choices.

R4 Is there some rule that you must decorate your house like you’re getting ready to sell it? Isn’t the point of owning a home to make it your own?

R3, I agree. I had the Kreiss beige linen and wicker sofas that were everywhere in LA. Couldn't be more boring.

Nice for a visit but you wouldn't want to live in one of them.

Even the toilet paper was colorful!

Yes i Used those in the 1980s.

If the 50s/60s was the era of grey men in grey suits, this is the era of "off white" human beings.

The pods they want us to live in are also "off white".

All beige/gray/white looks like an institution. So depressing and samey-samey. IT's the real reason why the fraus have to put up the "WE GATHER TOGETHER" and "LIVE LAUGH LOVE": to subconsciously remind themselves they aren't in an asylum.

That Northern toilet paper was legit in the 80's. My father and stepmother lived in a large, Tudor style home. Everything on the main floor was fairly consistent in it's flooring, wall coverings, draperies, etc. Upstairs there were 4 bedrooms, referred to by their colors: Red, blue, green or yellow. Wallpaper, carpet, bedding and drapes all corresponded, as did that toilet paper in their respective bathrooms.

That toilet paper caused cancer

R11 I thought mental health clinics were full of aspirational messaging like that.

These days people just copy what they see on house flipping shows. Then they think they are so creative by picking a few supposedly meaningful words to place here and there. Makes me want to vomit.

[quote] meaningful word

Morons with poor vocabularies add words to their walls in the same way as morons with poor vocabularies have words painted on their flesh.

Last year, a pipe burst in the wall of the den, ruining the carpet. I replaced it with seafoam-colored low shag, a very 1950s shade.

I wouldn't want it through the house, but it's fun and sets the room apart.

[quote] Call me crazy, but

OK, you're crazy!

Think pink.

We lived out on a one mile strip of sand in Boston Harbor with a jail jutting out on an island at the end of the beach. When I was a little boy, most of the houses were only open in the summer and boarded up tight in the winter. They had a wonderful, weatherworn look to them, faded and muted colors with a patina on the wood trim and shutters that doesn’t really exist anymore. You see this in old paintings and the houses each had their own character, quirky woodwork and fancy turned spools and latticework etc. My mom had twin Pennsylvanian hexes and an oxen pull mounted above the front door.

Then sometime in the late 80’s everyone clad the houses in vinyl or aluminum siding that quickly became the norm, with additions and dormers. Now everything is McMansions with little yard space left and lots of cars.

When we went to Lisbon several years ago, we took the train out to a seaside town (Cintra?) and it was like revisiting my childhood, all these little well worn but well loved, weather beaten cottages along the shore.

Paint all the houses protestant white. We don't want to stir any animal passions. And get off the babel box and back to work you slackers!

I'm with OP, I miss colourful homes too. But I prefer the 1880's

[quote]All beige/gray/white looks like an institution. So depressing and samey-samey. IT's the real reason why the fraus have to put up the "WE GATHER TOGETHER" and "LIVE LAUGH LOVE": to subconsciously remind themselves they aren't in an asylum.

R11 Griege! And that is a GREAT post, wish I could upvote it more than once. Applies to a few "homes" I've seen posted on here lately, notably that one in Hollywood Hills

When I was younger, California was full of brilliantly colorful beach houses, every beach town you went to had houses that were briight pink, violet, aqua, yellow, multicolor. It was a thing, if you lived near the beach, or had a beach house to rent, you painted it something bright and cheerful, and incidentally did you bit to make the whole town look colorful, cheerful, and like a break from the humdrum world.

There are still a few left, but yeah, mostly beach towns are now shaded white and gray. And hell, I even read about a case of some homeowners suing a neighbor for painting her house a traditionally lurid color, they said that she was lowering property values on the street.

R19 - I don’t know if that’s an ironic post or not - the details are too fussy but the idea of a small room with dark dramatic color on the walls & Venetian blinds offset by light pastel drapery, upholstery and accents is pretty genius.

Our 1971 house in Tulsa had purple paneling along one wall. Ours ran vertical, not horizontal. I miss that house.

I love the wild decor look of c. 1972, which reminds me of my childhood. I posted a pic from the "Family Affair" house which was reminiscent of it in a different thread. But there's also that recent "Tasteful Friends" thread with the giant "funeral home" and it shows how you could really go too far back then.

[quote] Then sometime in the late 80’s everyone clad the houses in vinyl or aluminum siding that quickly became the norm

On gray, wet days I’ve found faded old aluminum siding takes on a pleasing pastel hue. Vinyl siding though looks godawful rain or shine.

OP- Honey, if we're talking wallpaper we're talking the 1970's.

The 70s were more about crazy “psychedelic” patters etc. than they were about different colors.

R19, that needs some work, but the basic idea is lovely. Thanks for sharing.

R29- Wallpaper has largely been out of fashion for a good FORTY years.

One word: HOA

New Orleans shotguns are the drag queens of houses. I love the colors.

I think those carpets and walls are mostly a bit too much these days but you can provide pops of color with furnishings - curtains, armchairs, rugs -which are easier to replace.

It seems like the only really colorful houses around here are the famous Painted Ladies of San Francisco, wooden Victorians whose gingerbread trip is always tricked out in several complimentary colors. Most of them are absolutely beautiful, and cost millions.

I have no idea how much it costs to renew the four colors of elaborate paint on a Painted Lady, probably enough for a whole house in Arkansas.

R35 those houses are fantastic, just stunning. There's no reason houses like that couldnt be built anywhere though with sufficient budget. A modern accurate replica would be amazing, with the advantages of modern materials but with that beautiful Victorian aesthetic

R36 Most homeowners can paint their house a bright colour though; no reason why you can't (yes, maybe you have some restriction but most homeowners don't). It takes a culture/social shift for multiple people to do it though.

You’re crazy, OP.

There were a few small pink houses in my (very old) neighborhood, they have been pink for at least 30 years, probably much longer, but that is how long I've been in the neighborhood

I noticed recently that some asshole painted them tan. This is an historic neighborhood, and changes like that require approval, so I assume they got permission, but I want to turn them in just in case.

Paint them back, fuckheads. Little pink houses for you and me, motherfuckers.

R39 Don't assume they did get permission if they did need it. Check.