Relatives who just don't get it

[Just Joe]

Gray is pretty common when selling a house or for people who want flexibility when decorating because it's quite a neutral color so it can match well with any furniture/picture colors etc. A lot of our rooms have grey walls and white ceilings. It provides a lot of flexibility for decorating. Of course not all shades of gray are equal.

Ponytail. We've bought two houses entirely painted ponytail inside - a medium beige. Not bad in moderation but the whole house???

Have been shopping houses with friends. They want to move. We've visited SO many Chip and Joanna Gaines themed houses. Something will come along eventually that displaces this. Eventually.

I just dread seeing all those nice materials going to the landfill - marble and granite for example. "Forever materials" that were in style for a decade at the most.

[PDXTabs]

I just dread seeing all those nice materials going to the landfill - marble and granite for example. "Forever materials" that were in style for a decade at the most.

I don't personally think that this will happen. The Komsomolskaya subway station was opened in 1952 with a bunch of marble. I don't think that it will ever go out of style. How long have humans been crafting marble and granite?

[Dicey]

I just dread seeing all those nice materials going to the landfill - marble and granite for example. "Forever materials" that were in style for a decade at the most.

I don't personally think that this will happen. The Komsomolskaya subway station was opened in 1952 with a bunch of marble. I don't think that it will ever go out of style. How long have humans been crafting marble and granite?

Are you kidding? Granite countertops are already losing ground rapidly to quartz. Yup, they're ripping out something real and replacing it with something manufactured. Anyone remember Corian?

[PDXTabs]

I just dread seeing all those nice materials going to the landfill - marble and granite for example. "Forever materials" that were in style for a decade at the most.

I don't personally think that this will happen. The Komsomolskaya subway station was opened in 1952 with a bunch of marble. I don't think that it will ever go out of style. How long have humans been crafting marble and granite?

Are you kidding? Granite countertops are already losing ground rapidly to quartz. Yup, they're ripping out something real and replacing it with something manufactured. Anyone remember Corian?

I have not personally seen this, nor would I personally do it.

[bill1827]

I just dread seeing all those nice materials going to the landfill - marble and granite for example. "Forever materials" that were in style for a decade at the most.

I don't personally think that this will happen. The Komsomolskaya subway station was opened in 1952 with a bunch of marble. I don't think that it will ever go out of style. How long have humans been crafting marble and granite?

Are you kidding? Granite countertops are already losing ground rapidly to quartz. Yup, they're ripping out something real and replacing it with something manufactured. Anyone remember Corian?

Hm. I think that you'll find that a lot of manufacturing processes go into making a stone work surface. It doesn't leap out of the ground ready to fit.

Quartz worktops are basically sand (a naturally occurring material) embedded in resin to give much better properties than natural stone has. We installed one in the kitchen of our previous house (against my wishes as it was seriously stupidly expensive) but it was a really good work surface. I wouldn't countenance stone as most of them seem to have issues with porosity and staining (and a lot of them have hideous patterns).

Corian is still sold and is useful if you want moulded features like sinks.

[Plina]

I just dread seeing all those nice materials going to the landfill - marble and granite for example. "Forever materials" that were in style for a decade at the most.

I don't personally think that this will happen. The Komsomolskaya subway station was opened in 1952 with a bunch of marble. I don't think that it will ever go out of style. How long have humans been crafting marble and granite?

Are you kidding? Granite countertops are already losing ground rapidly to quartz. Yup, they're ripping out something real and replacing it with something manufactured. Anyone remember Corian?

I think you have to separate buildings from kitchens and bathrooms etc. I have encountered some bathrooms in hotels that are in marble or something similar and I can’t help to smile and think Hello 80ies. Extra fun if there is a telephone next to the toilet seat. I actually saw an apartment with an bathroom in some kind of stone material and it looked tacky to me.

[zolotiyeruki]

I just dread seeing all those nice materials going to the landfill - marble and granite for example. "Forever materials" that were in style for a decade at the most.

I don't personally think that this will happen. The Komsomolskaya subway station was opened in 1952 with a bunch of marble. I don't think that it will ever go out of style. How long have humans been crafting marble and granite?

St. Petersburg's metro stations are similar, and just as stunning now as they were when they were built.  I've been through most of them.

[Dicey]

I just dread seeing all those nice materials going to the landfill - marble and granite for example. "Forever materials" that were in style for a decade at the most.

I don't personally think that this will happen. The Komsomolskaya subway station was opened in 1952 with a bunch of marble. I don't think that it will ever go out of style. How long have humans been crafting marble and granite?

Are you kidding? Granite countertops are already losing ground rapidly to quartz. Yup, they're ripping out something real and replacing it with something manufactured. Anyone remember Corian?

I have not personally seen this, nor would I personally do it.

Do you know what a "Doubting Thomas" is? Just because you haven't seen it "personally" doesn't make it any less true.

[SunnyDays]

 
Corian - out of style.  Rip it out and put in granite. 

Granite - out of style.  Rip it out and put in quartz.

Quartz - out of style.  Rip it out and put in ?????

It’s no wonder most people will be working for the rest of their lives.

[zolotiyeruki]

Corian - out of style.  Rip it out and put in granite. 

Granite - out of style.  Rip it out and put in quartz.

Quartz - out of style.  Rip it out and put in ?????

It’s no wonder most people will be working for the rest of their lives.

Same thing with cell phones. Same thing for cars, clothes, music, and trendy one-hit-wonder food places like Crumbl Cookies, Starbucks, eating out in general).

[JoePublic3.14]

Corian - out of style.  Rip it out and put in granite. 

Granite - out of style.  Rip it out and put in quartz.

Quartz - out of style.  Rip it out and put in ?????

It’s no wonder most people will be working for the rest of their lives.

And no wonder why it makes it so easy to approach FIRE by not falling victim to those trends and holding stock in the system that makes money off those that do.

[ysette9]

The chuckleheads who owned this house before us did a bunch of remodeling. Forever material like tile in the kitchen and bathrooms except they did a terrible job installing it. Tiles are cracked, grout falling out, directional tile all placed in the same direction except for, oops, that one piece where they were too lazy to do it properly and so it got installed at a 90* to the rest of the floor.

[gooki]

Quartz - out of style.  Rip it out and put in ?????

Corian.

[gooki]

Gray is pretty common when selling a house or for people who want flexibility when decorating because it's quite a neutral color so it can match well with any furniture/picture colors etc. A lot of our rooms have grey walls and white ceilings. It provides a lot of flexibility for decorating. Of course not all shades of gray are equal.

Gray is also an incredibly depressing color to paint the interior of a whole house. People seem afraid of color these days.

[former player]

Gray is pretty common when selling a house or for people who want flexibility when decorating because it's quite a neutral color so it can match well with any furniture/picture colors etc. A lot of our rooms have grey walls and white ceilings. It provides a lot of flexibility for decorating. Of course not all shades of gray are equal.

Gray is also an incredibly depressing color to paint the interior of a whole house. People seem afraid of color these days.

I don't mind grey paint, which is easy to change, it's grey tile and grey flooring that's already starting to look out of date.  It's difficult to decorate around as the only way to cheer it up seems to be a violent shade of pink or orange.  Grey doesn't even photograph well.  Yuck.

[SunnyDays]

Quartz - out of style.  Rip it out and put in ?????

Corian.

Lol, but true.

My brass taps are now in style again, although the new ones are more of a matte gold, but close enough!

[zolotiyeruki]

Quartz - out of style.  Rip it out and put in ?????

Corian.

Lol, but true.

My brass taps are now in style again, although the new ones are more of a matte gold, but close enough!

A few minutes with a scotchbrite pad, and you, too, could be chic!

[mm1970]

Corian - out of style.  Rip it out and put in granite. 

Granite - out of style.  Rip it out and put in quartz.

Quartz - out of style.  Rip it out and put in ?????

It’s no wonder most people will be working for the rest of their lives.

Well, shoot, we ripped up the tile and replaced it with tile...

Our house is pretty boring and about as un-styled as you would expect from two engineers.  Wood floors, neutral-ish paint (beige, pale yellow, pale blue, pale green).  Tile.  Black and white bathroom.  But, not fancy black and white.  Just...the floor tile is black and white and the tile is white and the sink is white on a black cabinet.

Does un-stylish go out of style?

[jinga nation]

Corian - out of style.  Rip it out and put in granite. 

Granite - out of style.  Rip it out and put in quartz.

Quartz - out of style.  Rip it out and put in ?????

It’s no wonder most people will be working for the rest of their lives.

Butcher block.

We were house hunting all of 2019 thru 2021, seen so many homes with this. Looks nice in photos, terrible in person. And right next to the stove/range, hence burn marks. And then a few weren't maintained, oiled.

Overheard some comments from other prospective buyers with "we'll rip it out and put in granite or quartz".

[AlanStache]

I put in granite counter tops last fall as part of a kitchen update (room was original from 1960, knotty pine and all), I cant speak to the multi-decade-esthetic of it but the function has been great.  Putting hot pans directly on the counter top and the under-hung sink are very good functional improvements.  And short of taking a hammer to it I dont think I could damage it.  Function has to count for something in esthetics, right?!?!  (Full disclosure I am a male engineer.)

[JoePublic3.14]

I put in granite counter tops last fall as part of a kitchen update (room was original from 1960, knotty pine and all), I cant speak to the multi-decade-esthetic of it but the function has been great.  Putting hot pans directly on the counter top and the under-hung sink are very good functional improvements.  And short of taking a hammer to it I dont think I could damage it.  Function has to count for something in esthetics, right?!?!  (Full disclosure I am a male engineer.)

I’ve heard of mechanical engineers, electrical engineers, industrial engineers, and numerous others, but wtf is a male engineer? Bionic man building? What was the line? 'We can rebuild him, we have the technology, blah blah blah'

[PDXTabs]

I just dread seeing all those nice materials going to the landfill - marble and granite for example. "Forever materials" that were in style for a decade at the most.

I don't personally think that this will happen. The Komsomolskaya subway station was opened in 1952 with a bunch of marble. I don't think that it will ever go out of style. How long have humans been crafting marble and granite?

Are you kidding? Granite countertops are already losing ground rapidly to quartz. Yup, they're ripping out something real and replacing it with something manufactured. Anyone remember Corian?

I have not personally seen this, nor would I personally do it.

Do you know what a "Doubting Thomas" is? Just because you haven't seen it "personally" doesn't make it any less true.

Data, I trust data (and my eyes). Do you happen to have any peer reviewed studies on how many people are ripping out perfectly good granite and marble?

[Dicey]

I just dread seeing all those nice materials going to the landfill - marble and granite for example. "Forever materials" that were in style for a decade at the most.

I don't personally think that this will happen. The Komsomolskaya subway station was opened in 1952 with a bunch of marble. I don't think that it will ever go out of style. How long have humans been crafting marble and granite?

Are you kidding? Granite countertops are already losing ground rapidly to quartz. Yup, they're ripping out something real and replacing it with something manufactured. Anyone remember Corian?

I have not personally seen this, nor would I personally do it.

Do you know what a "Doubting Thomas" is? Just because you haven't seen it "personally" doesn't make it any less true.

Data, I trust data (and my eyes). Do you happen to have any peer reviewed studies on how many people are ripping out perfectly good granite and marble?

Hahaha, you obviously don't watch HGTV. Every time a sledgehammer hits a granite countertop, I cringe. Such a waste!

[PDXTabs]

I just dread seeing all those nice materials going to the landfill - marble and granite for example. "Forever materials" that were in style for a decade at the most.

I don't personally think that this will happen. The Komsomolskaya subway station was opened in 1952 with a bunch of marble. I don't think that it will ever go out of style. How long have humans been crafting marble and granite?

Are you kidding? Granite countertops are already losing ground rapidly to quartz. Yup, they're ripping out something real and replacing it with something manufactured. Anyone remember Corian?

I have not personally seen this, nor would I personally do it.

Do you know what a "Doubting Thomas" is? Just because you haven't seen it "personally" doesn't make it any less true.

Data, I trust data (and my eyes). Do you happen to have any peer reviewed studies on how many people are ripping out perfectly good granite and marble?

Hahaha, you obviously don't watch HGTV. Every time a sledgehammer hits a granite countertop, I cringe. Such a waste!

Fake news.

[DadJokes]

I just dread seeing all those nice materials going to the landfill - marble and granite for example. "Forever materials" that were in style for a decade at the most.

I don't personally think that this will happen. The Komsomolskaya subway station was opened in 1952 with a bunch of marble. I don't think that it will ever go out of style. How long have humans been crafting marble and granite?

Are you kidding? Granite countertops are already losing ground rapidly to quartz. Yup, they're ripping out something real and replacing it with something manufactured. Anyone remember Corian?

I have not personally seen this, nor would I personally do it.

Do you know what a "Doubting Thomas" is? Just because you haven't seen it "personally" doesn't make it any less true.

Data, I trust data (and my eyes). Do you happen to have any peer reviewed studies on how many people are ripping out perfectly good granite and marble?

Hahaha, you obviously don't watch HGTV. Every time a sledgehammer hits a granite countertop, I cringe. Such a waste!

Fake news.

Yeah, but some people watch it and do exactly that. I helped my SIL and husband tear out their perfectly acceptable granite countertops and enclosed wooden cabinets so that they could replace them with a quartz countertop and new cabinets. Their house was only like 10 years old at the time, so it's not like anything was outdated.

Exploding volcano of wastefulness

[OtherJen]

Corian - out of style.  Rip it out and put in granite. 

Granite - out of style.  Rip it out and put in quartz.

Quartz - out of style.  Rip it out and put in ?????

It’s no wonder most people will be working for the rest of their lives.

Butcher block.

We were house hunting all of 2019 thru 2021, seen so many homes with this. Looks nice in photos, terrible in person. And right next to the stove/range, hence burn marks. And then a few weren't maintained, oiled.

Overheard some comments from other prospective buyers with "we'll rip it out and put in granite or quartz".

We installed our butcher block countertops 10 years ago and still love it, but yeah, we maintain it, use trivets, etc. They'd look awful otherwise.

[AMandM]

Well, shoot, we ripped up the tile and replaced it with tile...

Our house is pretty boring and about as un-styled as you would expect from two engineers.  Wood floors, neutral-ish paint (beige, pale yellow, pale blue, pale green).  Tile.  Black and white bathroom.  But, not fancy black and white.  Just...the floor tile is black and white and the tile is white and the sink is white on a black cabinet.

Does un-stylish go out of style?

A designer whose blog I read from time to time (Maria Killam) is fond of saying, "Boring now equals timeless later."

[economista]

All this talk about countertops is interesting because we really want to replace ours. Obviously not all houses have granite and quartz. Ours have formica that were installed in 2013 (I have the previous owners receipts) and I wouldn't want to replace them except the house was previously used as a rental and the renters destroyed them. There are chips out of them in lots of places and a few melted spots. Our previous house had quartz and I think that is what we will go with. We can't do granite because of my husband's visual impairment - all of the random colors/patterns makes it impossible for him to see things like knives on the counter. We absolutely loved the quartz at our old house because it was all one solid, light color and you could put hot things or damp things down without worrying about it.

[Dicey]

I just dread seeing all those nice materials going to the landfill - marble and granite for example. "Forever materials" that were in style for a decade at the most.

I don't personally think that this will happen. The Komsomolskaya subway station was opened in 1952 with a bunch of marble. I don't think that it will ever go out of style. How long have humans been crafting marble and granite?

Are you kidding? Granite countertops are already losing ground rapidly to quartz. Yup, they're ripping out something real and replacing it with something manufactured. Anyone remember Corian?

I have not personally seen this, nor would I personally do it.

Do you know what a "Doubting Thomas" is? Just because you haven't seen it "personally" doesn't make it any less true.

Data, I trust data (and my eyes). Do you happen to have any peer reviewed studies on how many people are ripping out perfectly good granite and marble?

Hahaha, you obviously don't watch HGTV. Every time a sledgehammer hits a granite countertop, I cringe. Such a waste!

Fake news.

Doubt·ing Thom·as (noun)
A person who is skeptical and refuses to believe something without proof.
"I was a real doubting Thomas. I didn't believe the stuff would work."

[DadJokes]

All this talk about countertops is interesting because we really want to replace ours. Obviously not all houses have granite and quartz. Ours have formica that were installed in 2013 (I have the previous owners receipts) and I wouldn't want to replace them except the house was previously used as a rental and the renters destroyed them. There are chips out of them in lots of places and a few melted spots. Our previous house had quartz and I think that is what we will go with. We can't do granite because of my husband's visual impairment - all of the random colors/patterns makes it impossible for him to see things like knives on the counter. We absolutely loved the quartz at our old house because it was all one solid, light color and you could put hot things or damp things down without worrying about it.

We have granite countertops, and I lose things like bread ties on them all the time! It's also very difficult to tell how dirty they are or if I missed a spot when wiping them down. Nonetheless, I love our counters; they have so much personality in their colors.

[Morning Glory]

Gray is pretty common when selling a house or for people who want flexibility when decorating because it's quite a neutral color so it can match well with any furniture/picture colors etc. A lot of our rooms have grey walls and white ceilings. It provides a lot of flexibility for decorating. Of course not all shades of gray are equal.

Gray is also an incredibly depressing color to paint the interior of a whole house. People seem afraid of color these days.

I don't mind grey paint, which is easy to change, it's grey tile and grey flooring that's already starting to look out of date.  It's difficult to decorate around as the only way to cheer it up seems to be a violent shade of pink or orange.  Grey doesn't even photograph well.  Yuck.

I had the nice fake countertops -Corian???? at my old house (installed by previous owner in 2001 and were still in perfect shape). Husband and I always argued about whether they were blue or grey.

[Taran Wanderer]

Yeah, bread crumbs sort of disappear on our granite counters, but we love them anyway.  (The granite counters, not the breadcrumbs.)

[ixtap]

The condo we currently rent has white, four inch tiles. Nothing disappears and the grout is never clean...

Don't even get me started on the white, painted steel sink.

All this crap is paired with solid wood cabinets, which is pretty rare in this area, so we have that going for us.

[SunnyDays]

All this talk about countertops is interesting because we really want to replace ours. Obviously not all houses have granite and quartz. Ours have formica that were installed in 2013 (I have the previous owners receipts) and I wouldn't want to replace them except the house was previously used as a rental and the renters destroyed them. There are chips out of them in lots of places and a few melted spots. Our previous house had quartz and I think that is what we will go with. We can't do granite because of my husband's visual impairment - all of the random colors/patterns makes it impossible for him to see things like knives on the counter. We absolutely loved the quartz at our old house because it was all one solid, light color and you could put hot things or damp things down without worrying about it.

It sounds like you have good reason to put in an expensive countertop.  I don't think anyone would argue with that - it's the changing for the sake of a trend that bothers me.  I also cringe at a lot of the wastefulness on HGTV.

Well, shoot, we ripped up the tile and replaced it with tile...

Our house is pretty boring and about as un-styled as you would expect from two engineers.  Wood floors, neutral-ish paint (beige, pale yellow, pale blue, pale green).  Tile.  Black and white bathroom.  But, not fancy black and white.  Just...the floor tile is black and white and the tile is white and the sink is white on a black cabinet.

Does un-stylish go out of style?

A designer whose blog I read from time to time (Maria Killam) is fond of saying, "Boring now equals timeless later."

I agree that is a pretty timeless look.  I wouldn't change it either.

[zolotiyeruki]

The condo we currently rent has white, four inch tiles. Nothing disappears and the grout is never clean...

Don't even get me started on the white, painted steel sink.

All this crap is paired with solid wood cabinets, which is pretty rare in this area, so we have that going for us.

Ugh, tiled counters are something that makes absolutely zero sense to me.  Aesthetics aside, you're literally constructing the dirtiest surface in your house with the one material that is most likely to capture and stain said dirt!?

[PDXTabs]

The condo we currently rent has white, four inch tiles. Nothing disappears and the grout is never clean...

Don't even get me started on the white, painted steel sink.

All this crap is paired with solid wood cabinets, which is pretty rare in this area, so we have that going for us.

Ugh, tiled counters are something that makes absolutely zero sense to me.  Aesthetics aside, you're literally constructing the dirtiest surface in your house with the one material that is most likely to capture and stain said dirt!?

I actually don't mind tile counters. But they are better with big tiles and they absolutely need some sort of new age grout like epoxy or maybe one of the new-age cement ones.

[Kris]

The condo we currently rent has white, four inch tiles. Nothing disappears and the grout is never clean...

Don't even get me started on the white, painted steel sink.

All this crap is paired with solid wood cabinets, which is pretty rare in this area, so we have that going for us.

Ugh, tiled counters are something that makes absolutely zero sense to me.  Aesthetics aside, you're literally constructing the dirtiest surface in your house with the one material that is most likely to capture and stain said dirt!?

DH recently DIY renovated our kitchen. The tile countertops were the thing I was happiest to get rid of. They were the worst.

[bluebelle]

Well, shoot, we ripped up the tile and replaced it with tile...

Our house is pretty boring and about as un-styled as you would expect from two engineers.  Wood floors, neutral-ish paint (beige, pale yellow, pale blue, pale green).  Tile.  Black and white bathroom.  But, not fancy black and white.  Just...the floor tile is black and white and the tile is white and the sink is white on a black cabinet.

Does un-stylish go out of style?

A designer whose blog I read from time to time (Maria Killam) is fond of saying, "Boring now equals timeless later."

I love it.....I'm timeless.....I actually always said that about my business attire (when I needed business attire), it was 'timeless', aka, you couldn't tell what year I bought it.   I didn't care what the "in" colour was this year, blah, blah, blah

when we reno'd the old house kitchen, we put in quartz, because it doesn't require the maintenance of granite (I'm boring and lazy).   We had the 'forever' home built and again put in quartz.   Old house had brownish with flecks of copper and other beige/brown - and DH couldn't see the crumbs etc....new place is a mostly white with swirls of grey.   It shows EVERYTHING, but this way I know my kitchen counter is clean.

Because we hate to paint, and hate going through renos even more, we went with a very neutral white/grey palette for floors and walls.....I use consumables like towels for my splash of colour, and pictures.....and our view is awesome no matter the season, so I look out a window if I need something 'exciting'......

I will never be trendy, and I'm really, really okay with that.   I've always said "function over fashion" for everything, clothing, design, cars, phones, wall colours, shoes especially, etc

mm1970 - you're not un-stylish - you're timeless!  (it's all about the framing of things)

[Cassie]

Locally I can put in prefab granite for a third of the price which I did in the last 4 homes. The only difference is it comes in certain lengths so if your countertop is longer you have a seam. The company is so good that you can’t see the seam. The condo I bought last year has a white kitchen with black granite countertops. It’s not what I would have picked but it’s pretty. I painted my accent walls a light gray and used red accents such as toaster, coffee pot, etc.

[ysette9]

We rented a house that had an avocado green kitchen with tile countertops. SO GROSS. The grout near the sink was moldy and crumbling. Like others have said, you can never get it clean which means there is no kneading bread on those counters, no rolling out pie crust or sugar cookie dough.

[Sugaree]

I put in granite counter tops last fall as part of a kitchen update (room was original from 1960, knotty pine and all), I cant speak to the multi-decade-esthetic of it but the function has been great.  Putting hot pans directly on the counter top and the under-hung sink are very good functional improvements.  And short of taking a hammer to it I dont think I could damage it.  Function has to count for something in esthetics, right?!?!  (Full disclosure I am a male engineer.)

I've got the knotty pine kitchen thing going on too.  I did put in granite a couple of years back (tornado dropped a couple of trees on the house, so we went ahead and pulled the trigger on some renos that we'd been talking about since the contractor was going to be there anyway).  I like it.  I had initially planned on going with quartz, but when I started looking at slabs, the granite just looked better.  I really liked the recycled glass counters, but they were SO expensive.

[DaMa]

Because we hate to paint, and hate going through renos even more, we went with a very neutral white/grey palette for floors and walls.....I use consumables like towels for my splash of colour, and pictures.....and our view is awesome no matter the season, so I look out a window if I need something 'exciting'......

I will never be trendy, and I'm really, really okay with that.   I've always said "function over fashion" for everything, clothing, design, cars, phones, wall colours, shoes especially, etc

Same here!  I don't like brown or brown undertone except in wood.  It just looks dirty to me.  I had a blue gray carpet installed in my house back in 1990!  My condo is shades of gray - medium gray vinyl plank flooring, very light gray (blue undertone) walls.  All the fixtures and trim are white.  I find it very soothing.  I am a quilter so that gray is a background for my colorful quilts and other colorful things that I can change easily. 

[ambimammular]

I actually don't mind tile counters. But they are better with big tiles and they absolutely need some sort of new age grout like epoxy or maybe one of the new-age cement ones.

We've got cement ones in our bathroom. Anything oily marks it.

[Just Joe]

Hahaha, you obviously don't watch HGTV. Every time a sledgehammer hits a granite countertop, I cringe. Such a waste!

Yep when granite could be cut and reshaped and reused for decades...

"I Had a Little Overcoat." A Yiddish children's story that we love at our house...

We have tile counter tops that came with the house. They are aging okay but not smooth enough to do alot with. We're rennovating cabinets soon so new countertops will come along soon after.

I like the pricetag of tile countertops though. I even like Formica with a wood edge. I've installed that before and it aged well. 

[shadesofgreen]

This takes me back to when I was a kid. I remember those fancy hand towels that were stitched with something ghastly kitschy and super scratchy. Next to the bars of soap in pretty shapes that smelled to high heaven. They were in the type of bathroom that had a carpet mat around the base of the toilet and a plastic foam squishy toilet seat.

~shudders~

Here is some nightmare fuel for you.
Interior Desecrations: Hideous Homes from the Horrible '70s Lileks, James
And.  https://www.lileks.com/institute/interiors/index.html

He did find the goodies, those were over the top even back in the day.  But he missed the bathroom of my first house.  Grey everything, enough to give anyone depression.  Bright yellow would have been wonderful in comparison.

 And yes, foil wallpaper was a thing, we did my parent's powder room with it.  It was expensive.

The house we bought last summer IN SEATTLE was painted gray everything inside. I’ve spent months painting the ceilings white and the walls pale yellow. It is transformative turning sadepressing room joyful.

I just cringe when I see so much gray in the PNW....We get sooo many cloudy days that having lots of my home gray would just make me beyond miserable. I refused to use gray in my kitchen when I remodeled last year. Instead I have deeper aqua blue lower cabinets with white uppers and a swirly white and brown quartz counter. Sorta reminds me of the ocean but not using the typical beach look.

[ysette9]

This takes me back to when I was a kid. I remember those fancy hand towels that were stitched with something ghastly kitschy and super scratchy. Next to the bars of soap in pretty shapes that smelled to high heaven. They were in the type of bathroom that had a carpet mat around the base of the toilet and a plastic foam squishy toilet seat.

~shudders~

Here is some nightmare fuel for you.
Interior Desecrations: Hideous Homes from the Horrible '70s Lileks, James
And.  https://www.lileks.com/institute/interiors/index.html

He did find the goodies, those were over the top even back in the day.  But he missed the bathroom of my first house.  Grey everything, enough to give anyone depression.  Bright yellow would have been wonderful in comparison.

 And yes, foil wallpaper was a thing, we did my parent's powder room with it.  It was expensive.

The house we bought last summer IN SEATTLE was painted gray everything inside. I’ve spent months painting the ceilings white and the walls pale yellow. It is transformative turning sadepressing room joyful.

I just cringe when I see so much gray in the PNW....We get sooo many cloudy days that having lots of my home gray would just make me beyond miserable. I refused to use gray in my kitchen when I remodeled last year. Instead I have deeper aqua blue lower cabinets with white uppers and a swirly white and brown quartz counter. Sorta reminds me of the ocean but not using the typical beach look.

That sounds beautiful. Can you post a photo?

The gray thing, yeah. Don’t get it. The countertops and tile in the bathrooms are also gray. My sister and parents have been doing the Airbnb tour of the UK and she says so many places they stay at have been remodeled in all gray also, so clearly it is/was the in look for a moment.

[Nickyd£g]

I have just moved house and all the walls are greige, the carpets in the bedrooms are dark grey, the curtains were light grey, the flooring tiled dark grey in the hall, kitchen and living room. I live in Scotland, where it is dark and cloudy 9 months of the year. And cold - why the hell would you want tile in the living room?? It's not Florida! I'll be painting and carpeting over the next few months. Curtains already replaced and a sage green rug in the living room - I need colour!

[RetiredAt63]

I have just moved house and all the walls are greige, the carpets in the bedrooms are dark grey, the curtains were light grey, the flooring tiled dark grey in the hall, kitchen and living room. I live in Scotland, where it is dark and cloudy 9 months of the year. And cold - why the hell would you want tile in the living room?? It's not Florida! I'll be painting and carpeting over the next few months. Curtains already replaced and a sage green rug in the living room - I need colour!

Tile at the entrances is great - tile so snow melt and slush won't wreck the floors.  And kitchens, where spills are hard to clean up. But otherwise? Just no.

I don't understand greige, it is the most discouraging colour.

[Dollar Slice]

Tile at the entrances is great - tile so snow melt and slush won't wreck the floors.  And kitchens, where spills are hard to clean up. But otherwise? Just no.

Maybe the worst ever example of this: I used to live near a grocery store that was entirely carpeted. Maybe it reduces breakage of dropped glass items, eliminates slip and fall accidents/lawsuits, lowers their insurance rates and is secretly genius? I dunno. It was incredibly weird, though. They must have invested in some industrial-strength carpet cleaners.

The location was taken over by a Whole Foods at some point and they redid the floors like every other grocery store in the world.

[saguaro]

I just cringe when I see so much gray in the PNW....We get sooo many cloudy days that having lots of my home gray would just make me beyond miserable. I refused to use gray in my kitchen when I remodeled last year. Instead I have deeper aqua blue lower cabinets with white uppers and a swirly white and brown quartz counter. Sorta reminds me of the ocean but not using the typical beach look. 

@shadesofgreen  your kitchen reminds me of a neighbor's kitchen who had a aqua countertop and aqua accents in the white flooring.   It looked quite nice but it's gone now, 2 neighbors ago.  And the floor is now...you guessed it...gray.

Next door neighbor had her kitchen remodeled to white and gray.  It's nicely done but it's too much gray for me.  Both our townhouse units face northeast with shade from the big tree in front of our unit.   The tree is big enough that there's less light in the summer than in winter.  But still we get plenty of cloudy days here in winter and it can get pretty dreary.   So I don't get gray but it seems she was talked into it by the contractor.

As much as we like color we painted our walls to a cream color and it made a big difference even compared to the original greige, which looked light beige at first but once the new color went on, you could see how much gray was in it.