Friends and neighbors routinely ask me if we have any leftover paint they can have. My answer is always a resounding, “Certainly!”. We have lots of leftover paint, but only if you are looking for whites, beiges, or grays. I would estimate that ninety-seven percent of everything we paint is whites, beiges, or grays. We seldom paint the colors of the rainbow. As I write this, I am sitting in my office with Agreeable Gray walls and Swiss Coffee trim.
I was amused when I read an article from Business Insider, which I excerpt here:
“Millennial gray” is a viral term used to stereotype the way millennials typically decorate their homes. After hearing the term on TikTok, some millennials have realized their homes are covered in gray. Others have made videos bashing the color scheme and singing about its corporate blandness. In one video bashing the color style, a man announced that millennial gray is “finally being recognized as the cold, dreary color it’s always been.” He said the color conjures up the worst kinds of images and scenes: prisons, pigeons, rain clouds, and reptiles.
That article linked to this article from House Digest, which I excerpt here:
“The term “millennial gray” refers to the various shades of gray that have been popular in home décor and furnishings since the early 2010s. In what some observant circles called “the Graying of America,” people began swapping out the dull beiges, Tuscan reds, and blinding neons of the 2000s for cool, clean, and crisp grays. Pantone named Ultimate Gray as one of their colors of the year for 2021, and Agreeable Gray, a best-selling paint color by Sherwin-Williams is another perfect example of the millennial gray phenomenon. These days, you’ll likely find this color in flipped homes, trendy offices, rental apartments, and waiting rooms everywhere, but we didn’t just see millennial gray splashed on walls in the 2010s. This color pervaded home décor, furniture, bedding, curtains, kitchenware, flooring materials, and even our wardrobes.”
Perhaps millennial gray reflects the mood of the millennial generation, a reflection of their pessimism about a dreary future. We have featured various paint manufacturers’ Color of the Year announcements in this blog post before. I enjoy seeing the visually stunning presentations these savvy designers produce. I appreciate gifted people doing their job well. I was surprised, however, when I received the announcement of Behr Paints 2024 Color of the Year, Cracked Pepper, which they call a “versatile soft black that accentuates the space you create life moments in.”
Is dreary gray fading to hopeless gray? Will dark gray become the preferred color of Generation Z . . . Gen Z gray? Maybe the baby boomers can reintroduce some optimism and color. Maybe we can have some colorful spaces to create life moments in. Wouldn’t that be nice. Maybe TikTok content creators can make some funny and colorful videos to cheer everyone up!
I want to be fair with Behr. Cracked Pepper is just one of the colors featured in their 2024 Color Trends Palette. You can follow the Cracked Pepper link to the website to see the entire palette and have some fun with an interactive page that lets you see the colors in various rooms.
To be sure I haven’t confused anyone, we like all the colors equally. MTS Painting is pleased to paint any color you specify, even if it isn’t trending. Contact us for a free estimate.
