Sunday, May 6, 2012

Is Mauve the New Avocado?

If you are a child of the 70's, you very likely had a kitchen with colors like this:
(used from the Charming Zebra website found HERE)

OR this:
(found at THIS website)

Or, as "Miss Charming" from the Charming Zebra site says, "There was a time when everyone had either brown, orange or harvest gold appliances. They were very stylish at the time--not so much now." 

We had harvest gold, but LOTS of decor in orange & brown. I'd forgotten that til I read Miss Charming's comment. I think I might be a bit nauseous now.

I thought we had moved past all these colors until a few years ago when I was at a Pampered Chef Leadership conference (back when I was a director, before I stopped being a consultant and then started again). They showed us this new "fun color cutlery line." FUN color. FUN???? See for yourself:
It is NOT a fun color, in my most humble opinion, however it IS a very sharp knife (and you can order one from me if you'd like!). I have scars to prove how sharp it is. I have a former host of PC shows who can also tell you how sharp it is. The first time I did a show at her house I caught my oven mitt on fire. The next time I sliced my finger open. She had to leave the room so she didn't see it while a former Army Medic, who happened to be at the show, bandaged me and I told someone how to make dessert! Clearly, there is NOTHING fun involved with something this color. 

Now, the next decade brought different shades. If you survived the 80's, you know the colors I'm about to mention. Country blue and.....everyone say it in unison...mauve! I'm pretty sure I had 2 mauve bridesmaid dresses. My wedding also had shades of blue & a rosy pink that were similar to country blue & mauve, but brighter. The country shades were just a tad to grey for me. And those of us who were children in the 70's and grew into young adulthood in the 80's vowed we would NEVER have harvest gold or avocado green (or brown with orange for that matter) in our homes.

Most of us who married and had kids in the 80's & 90's now have kids moving into adulthood or already there. What I want to know is this: Do kids of the 80's & 90's detest country blue and mauve as much as we detested harvest gold (not just any gold, of course) and avocado green? And did our parents vow to never use turquoise or pale pink in their homes? 

I stumbled onto this fantastic website with all kinds of color schemes called Color Schemer (click on it to get there). When I searched for 40's colors this page came up. I kind of like the colors there. By the way, what a cool site for anyone wanting to see colors put together for home decor, quilting, stamping, scrapbooking, or even cake decorating. 

What colors do you think will be the "harvest gold" or "mauve" of the future? I guess only time will tell.