To think you should not paint your house beige?

[Genuineuser]

My good friend is paying a lot of money to have her house repainted. They’ve gone for one colour, ‘Natural Calico’, which appears to be a repackaging of beige. Am I being unreasonable to tell her this is a terrible idea?

If beige”paint is £5 per litre and the “Natural calico” is £25 per litre, then you have a point OP.

Ha ha. Just looked up Natural Calico and as suspected, it's virtually indistinguishable from Magnolia.

I can see lots of couples buying those do-er uppers that have been owned by landlords or family homes that haven't changed hands for decades and the wives insisting that the 'horribly dated' magnolia walls are repainted with 'lovely fresh modern' natural calico and the husbands chuntering under their breath that they can't see any difference.

She likes it, yabu to tell her...

It's very arrogant to assume you know better than your friend, OP, when it comes to her own home.
Are you sure there isn't something else going on here?
"My good friend is paying a lot of money to have her house repainted."
Are you maybe a little jealous that she has the means to get this expensive job done?

I’d hate it personally. Was renting for 10 years and was not allowed to redecorate. Anything even remotely reminiscent of Magnolia makes me shudder.

I once bought a rather elegant trouser suit that was complimented by a friend who described it as being “almost taupe”, leaving me slightly baffled.

I love natural hessian by Dulux, warm, light. Grey is cold and so over done, in fact, let’s start a bring back beige campaign, beige is better, beige is the new normal 😂

We have a very neutral colour on the walls as we have over 300 items on them.

She started the thread asking

Grey isn't (always) cold, it's popular for a reason, it looks nice & it's neutral without being magnolia/beige/cream.which, was everywhere & not to my taste at all.

grey is only horrible when people choose the wrong grey.

Ah loving the responses to this. But sadly, some are a little beige also. Love the deep character analysis too, especially the jealousy comments.

This is a lighthearted post, take it as such. We like to paint our walls ourselves and have design background. My friend and I defo have that kind of honest relationship where we share our views. It doesn’t mean we fall out! But she never listens, you’ll be pleased to know!

Well let me have a think OP.

What colours have you painted your house in?
How would you feel if your friend told you that whatever you chose is a terrible idea?

You'd be pretty fucked off, wouldn't you?
But you reckon it's ok to fuck your friend off?

How has that double standard come about?
Do you feel superior to your friend?
Or is it one of those frenemy situations, where you don't actually like her, but keep socialising with her for reasons nobody sensible cannot fathom?

She might not have considered that it’s possible to break away from beige. That’s all. 😘

Nice dripfeed at 11:56 OP:

OP - "AIBU to personally insult my friend over her expensive recent purchase?"
MN - YABU - MYOB!
OP - [backpedalling furiously] "but it's LIGHTHEARTED! And I'm a DESIGNER!"
MN - FFS ...

That and Egyptian cotton. Beige trend is back in. Down with grey and panelling. Trends change soo quickly

If my friend asked my opinion I'd give it to her.
If she didn't ask my opinion I would assume she was not seeking my opinion and so I'd keep my gob shut.

So can we get back to the beige now? I DON’T UNDERSTAND BEIGE!!!

I’m not sure what OP thinks ‘being a designer’ has to do with anything!

Someone ‘designed’ these …

Ah, it does appear to look like Magnolia and is, I agree, quite a 'basic' colour, lacking imagination, especially if you plan to paint the whole house (so bedrooms, bathrooms, kitchen?!)

However it is also neutral and light and when she has lived in it for a while perhaps she will realise that she needs to mix it up a bit, which she can easily do from that neutral base.

Perhaps she is planning to accessorise each room with 'pops' of colour. That will probs really grind your gears.

So can we get back to the beige now? I DON’T UNDERSTAND BEIGE!!!

It’s a neutral colour. What is there to understand?

So can we get back to the beige now? I DON’T UNDERSTAND BEIGE!!!

No.

When you start a thread that reads like you are bitching about a friend, that's what PP will respond to.
If you wanted a thread to discuss what PP think about beige - that's the thread you should have started.

@ICannotRememberAThing yikes! 😂

"Designer" always makes me snigger anyway. People put such an unwarranted value judgement on it. As if other, less 'upmarket' consumables simply sprang into existence autonomously, with nobody planning & making them ...

Yup.

Designersplaining sounds as irritating to be on the wrong end of as mansplaining.

Will Victorian colours such as Gravy, Oxblood and Aspidistra ever come back in? Were they meant to heighten the contrast between interior and exterior? Or just less likely to show up all the soot and damp stains?

natural calico is nice. Perhaps she is going to buy statement furniture or have bright cushions.