In the mid 1960s, my parents decided to move to the suburbs. With 3 young kids, they wanted to move away from a crowded, foggy urban environment to a grassier, roomier spot in the nice, temperate Diablo Valley. Our new home was being built in a nice neighborhood and we made regular treks from San Bruno to Concord to visit the house as it was being built. We visited it when it was just a foundation, then subsequent visits as the framing went up, and so on, as it became a finished house.
Somewhere along the way, my parents had to choose the colors for the new house, and this is where I first heard the word beige. My parents loved beige. They gleefully selected various shades of beige throughout the house. As a 5-year-old, I really didn’t understand beige. I had no crayons of that color. If I did, I wouldn’t use them – what would I use it for?
Americans love beige. When I bought my first house, the developer claimed to have a homeowner’s association (I never heard anything from them or about them after buying the house) that stated very emphatically that we must agree to never paint our house bright colors without first seeking approval. This offended me greatly. This is my house, I’ll paint it whatever damn color(s) I want!
When I see pictures of houses in other countries in Europe, Mexico and South America, I see brightly colored houses – and they look fantastic in juxtaposition with the surroundings – why is this frowned upon?
Our senses are designed to detect changes in our environment – I wonder if the predilection towards muted tones hereabouts is intended to help avoid strong emotions. I like my senses to be piqued by my surroundings, personally. I like strong emotions. I like to smell interesting smells, I like challenging and surprising colors, and I like being delighted by sound and music that challenge me and excite my senses. It reminds me that I’m alive.
Now, this doesn’t mean that beige can’t be part of a bold color scheme that features exciting interplay among all the other colors. But a neighborhood of drab, almost colorless homes is a blight. And music that just limps along, with nothing to make it grab you – that’s useless, too.
As they say in the Internet world – YMMV (Your mileage may vary). We all get to choose what we like. But for me, give my bright colors in every real and metaphorical sense. That’s what makes life really worth living.