Grey, mustard, pink... WHY???

[Wroxie]

Went to "The Range" today as it's newly opened near me and I've never been in before. Absolute load of cheap tat, of course, but even so it's still weird that every single thing was grey, mustard yellow, dull pink, or some combination thereof. Are these three colours all you're allowed if you can't (or choose not to) spend a lot on your soft furnishings?

Bath towels, bedding, cushions, tableware, random decorative items - 90% across every single category was grey, mustard, and/or pink except for rugs - 100% of those were. not one single option in any other colour except for a couple in white.

Obviously they sell what people buy, but surely people aren't THAT homogenous?

I don't know what my AIBU is except for maybe AIBU to wonder why these boring colours that already looked tired and outdated five years ago are still being shovelled at the lower end of the market?

[Blossomtoes]

Even the argument about people on budgets not having much choice doesn’t hold water. Dunelm and Asda have towels in every colour of the rainbow. And bed linen. The Range’s colour range reflects the current popular colours.

[warmandtoasty2day]

wroxie with all due respect no one gives a fuck about your tastes and opinions on styles and colour trends, so stop looking down your nose at others. the drip feed about climate was to be expected after pp didn't agree with you though.

[MrsFezziwig]

And no, more expensive and higher quality retailers have more diverse options and more neutral colours.

Of course they do - because they charge more, so can still turn a profit on a wider range of goods. Is that not obvious to you?

I suggest you get off to Harrod’s where you can choose different colours to your heart’s content - or is it that you have Harrod’s tastes but Range pockets, to mangle a well known phrase?

[Wroxie]

@Pastrydame remember a few years ago when there were fucking moustaches on everything? What about LIVE LAUGH LOVE stuff? That's the level we're at with the currently available home decor. In a very short time (it's started already) a pink and mustard geometric print cushion is going to look just as dated and silly as a moustache-print one.

@warmandtoasty2day with all due respect you need to work on your reading comprehension, my own personal taste (which I haven't described other than to say it's not grey mustard and pink) isn't the point, which I've clearly stated. The only reason I even brought up the environment thing is because someone else sneered at the idea of second-hand stuff. Conversations and ideas can be expanded and developed on. Is that not how they work for you? Is it one topic, one idea, that's it, job done? I'll remember that if I ever have the misfortune of conversing with you in person, we'll all save a lot of time!

[happinessischocolate]

In my experience the Range will have displays of whatever the current theme is, and the nearby shelves will be stacked with things in those colour schemes, but if you go further back in the store and find the individual cushion covers, duvet covers, curtains etc then they have a massive range of colours.

Maybe because it's a new store it's only got the current trend, or maybe it's a really small store. Either way I think they know what sells and what doesn't far better than you do OP 😉

[Proudboomer]

I have some The range cushions. The are purple, fluffy and round. Bloody uncomfortable to use but they are not grey, mustard or pink.

I like The range. The pet section is great. They sell some cleaning stuff that is hard and more expensive to buy elsewhere. Large packs of loo roll and kitchen towel cheaper that the supermarkets and my favourite cheap boxes of broken biscuits and my local one now has an Iceland section so I can pick up frozen veg, chips and ice cream cheaply without having to make an extra trip into town.

[warmandtoasty2day]

woxie sneering at peoples tastes and cheap tat isn't good`though is it?
at least you don't need to bother replying then 'we'll both save time'.

[NautaOcts]

I feel like ginger pine is due a revival

[Needapoodle]

I also think that the idea that second-hand towels, sheets, etc. are worthy of a vomit face is idiotic and hateful. Have you ever stayed in a hotel? Do you understand how washing machines work? Do you really think that cheap towels from B&M that will be more hole than towel in a matter of months are the better choice than good-quality secondhand, price being the same? It's probably too late now to make a difference to the planet, but making cutesy little vom faces at the mere idea isn't going to be quite so cute when half the world is on fire or underwater.

Fucking hell you need to chill out touched a nerve there didn't i!

I'm very well versed in the environmental impact of fast fashion and the textile industry. I run a environmentally friendly business in that sphere. I'll buy anything second hand but I'm not buying second hand towels from a charity shop when i can buy new ones. Your issue is with what you think is cheap shit shovelled at poor people. Don't you think that people who buy their towels from harrods should be considering buying second hand towels too? Or is it just poor people?

I bought a couple of towels from b&m a couple of years ago and they're still going strong by the way.

[Butteredtoast55]

@NautaOcts
feel like ginger pine is due a revival

I do hope so then some of our furniture will be back in fashion and my husband will no longer have to hear me boring on about wanting to update it

Actually, I believe that 'brown wood' (i.e. dark, mahogony or walnut type) is going to return to fashion soon according to the word on the designer street!

[gardeninggirl68]

People are buying mdf panels, for panelling sticking it on the wall ( no more nails..... keep saying it will bring the plaster off when they remove them)

Then painting it with farrow and ball thinking their new build living room now looks like a mock mansion

Hague blue usually

I blame Instagram, that's where it started

[newnortherner111]

Some people are afraid to be different, follow trends regardless of how awful they look, and if it sells, don't blame the retailers.

[Needapoodle]

Not to mention youre talking a load of shite anyway. I just looked at the range's bath towels and bath mats to see what colours they offer. They include: light blue, dark blue, mocha, turquoise, fuschia, orange, white, black, red, navy, teal, and blue stripes on the first two pages. If you're going to suggest that the only options are pink, grey and yellow then at least make sure you're right otherwise you just end up looking stupid.

[JammyDozen]

I don’t see sneering. It’s ok not to like certain trends or styles - and share that on an anonymous forum. I didn’t see the op laughing at people who do like mustard and dusty pink, just a personal dislike of it and irritation/bemusement that it can be hard to buy things that fall outside current trends.

The ‘scandi’ look is really popular now. My friend (who is from the part of the world) loves it. I don’t. I find it boring. Her house is done in that style and not in a way I’d have chosen. My house is very different. Lots of stuff, which I know my friend would see as clutter. I don’t sneer at her tastes, and can’t imagine her sneering at me either!

Also, I think it’s hard to argue in one sense that a lot of the stuff at the Range is not ‘cheap tat’. That’s not a criticism of people who buy it, just a fact. And tbh, I think there’s a lot of very expensive tat too. I was watching a documentary about revamping a billionaire’s house in central London - I saw loads of plywood being sawn. A far cry from solid wood, marble, etc, of the past. And talking of old stuff, you can get cheap furniture at flea market-type places that can be as low cost as IKEA and the range. I had an old housemate who bought a Victorian dining table from oxfam as a student instead of an IKEA desk. Traders at a local place near me will deliver bulky stuff free as well. So I don’t think anyone is forced to shop at the Range.

[OhRene]

It seems crazy but I don't know a single house that hasn't been decorated in white and grey. Well except my mums which hasn't been decorated or even cleaned since moving in 8 years ago and mine which is a cool purple tartan living room because I can't fucking stand grey. I couldn't find much in the way of colour matching cushions or lamps etc without forking out quite a bit because all the cheaper shops only had, as you say OP, grey, white, blush pink and mustard.

I just don't get it. Every single house I have been in in the past few years is pretty much monochrome throughout. My SIL's house feels like we stepped in to a 1910's motion picture but with IKEA providing the set.

[Allthesefolks]

@Taliskerskye

I just looked on their website. Yuck
Looks tacky as fuck

I take it you’ve never been to The Range before *


*I love looking at their Christmas tat, especially the snowing trees. Their craft range is brilliant.

[ZaraW]

I love white walls purple walls and tartan would be my idea of hell. One isn't better than the other.

[MenaiMna]

Thank you @tellingbone I came here to say that. A vast majority of people don't really notice their surroundings or know why they like what they like when there are entire industries based on aesthetic influence and making us buy stuff. Also succinctly explained in "the Devil Wears Prada" blue sweater scene!

[brokenbiscuitsx]

Grey and white is just the current modern version of the magnolia and brown that dominated the 70s, 80s and 90s. I’ve started seeing more browns and warm creams on Instagram/Pinterest so maybe it’s on its way back.

[DumbestBlonde]

My only issue with The Range, Dunelm, and the like (and Debenhams and House of Fraser, also Next and others....) is the sheer volume of "stuff". My lifelong low level anxiety ramps up several notches if I try to go there (see also - Hobbycraft, and even my closest giant Boots store with all the make-up brands clogging the way in); I find it all so overwhelming, for myself personally and and also at the thought of where most of it has come from, and generally, where most of it will end up..... (especially, as mentioned, if taking the form of a short term trend, to be disposed of wthin a year or two, or less).

I love design, creative pursuits, efficient use of space and equipment - BUT - have felt the need to step away from all of the shopping that these interests can provoke. There is something to be said for having little disposable income....

Having said that, I recently (re-)discovered the antiques (I use that word cautiously - as "collectables" can usually cover quite a spectrum) quarter in the city I worked in a long long time ago, now having reloated to a quiet area alongside one of the rivers. One store is called the Emporium - and oh boy, it extended so farback, it was like going through to Narnia. And there was another floor! Unfortunately (or not..) I went there on a very hot day and came close to passing out when I tried to continue browsing, even with litle intention of purchasing. Thankfully (although not for the business's sake) it was quiet (apart from some very loud ladies speaking I think Japanese) and I did get a few items - one being a heavey blue glass dish that would not even be found in the Range, a sweet little lace design paperweight, and best of all, a top of the range (haha) Parker Fountain pen, perfect as my absolute favourite had finally died. The pen cost me £5, and the other two were total £10, which were good prices for what they were. And I love that they are not new - or (I think) were mass-produced in China.

These things are nothing valuable - but will definitely have jobs to do, and I will honestly appreciate them. Regardless of the stgore, I just really do struggle with them these days, which is, in a way, now, a good thing.

[woodhill]

My living room is still brown, beige and duck egg. Extremely dated

[Hemingwaycat]

They’re popular colours atm so as with any shop, you will tend to find things that are currently fashionable.

[Pastrydame]

People also want variety (especially given how much time we've spent at home!) so don't want the same colour of cushion or rug for ever.

[CathyorClaire]

I've just done the bathroom in grey and dithered between mustard and bright orange as an accent.

I went with the orange (phew. Go upper end of the market me ) but guess the grey must still be clawing me back into the lower end of the market pit with its cold dead hands

[boobot1]

I love the range, it reminds me of Christmas.