Is white the new gray?
Based on several paint manufacturers, it just might be.
I embraced “Naperville gray” a couple of years of ago when I painted a good portion of the first floor of my house a subtle gray color. And while I was happy to learn it was still “trendy” based on the manufacturers’ charts, it is no longer THE color, having been downgraded to the level of other color groups, such as blues and purples.
Each year, several major paint manufacturers proclaim a color of the year. One proclaimed this year’s color to be “Simply White”; another chose “Alabaster.”
Alabaster technically is “compact fine-textured usually white and translucent gypsum,” according to the Merriam Webster dictionary. But in this case, it is a stylish high-end word likely concocted by a creative team deep in the cubicles of a paint company.
Even a popular flooring company that manufactures hardwood, laminate and carpet declared 2016 to be “white hot.”
More Top Picks Icicle Lights
I have yet to surrender to the “complexity of white” or the “harmony and balance” I would achieve if I changed my wall colors to white. How different is simply white from the basic first coat of white paint thrown on by building subcontractors after a new home is built?
Could I have saved myself a ton of time painting, not to mention some money, by skipping the waves of beiges, browns and grays masked as caramel cappuccino, cocoa nutmeg, misty mountain dew and simply stuck with white?
Doubtful, due to dirty hands and the sore, bored eyes I’d have from looking at the same drab walls. But still, if you have been in the decorating game for a while, it seems like we have been here before. Surviving nearly white carpet once in my life, it isn’t something I am eager to repeat.
After visiting a newly constructed house in Naperville, I didn’t throw myself over the home’s large white and gray marble square island countertop and give it a hug. But I could have. It was stunning. Just like the large custom kitchen cabinets and the beautifully hued flooring.
An older, wiser Napervillian confided once to me that when you start redecorating and finally make your way around the entire house, it’s time to start all over again.
“But we all love our houses,” she added.
While Naperville seems to be sprouting more for sale signs than in previous years, many more owners are staying put. But with the staying put comes the evitable redecorating.
But when to take the plunge?
Joan Kaufman with Naperville’s Interior Planning and Design said homeowners don’t need to gut their house every time a trend changes.
“Refreshes” typically occur sometime between five and 15 years depending on home and the homeowner, Kaufman said.
For her clients, she recommends they make fixed items such as cabinets and flooring more stable in terms of color choices so they can last longer. Choose trendier colors in paint and fabrics — items that are less expensive to change.
“There is something to be said for being trendy and having fun,” she said, “but there is also something to be said for being classic and timeless.”
We spend a lot of times in our homes and when we are proud of them and happy, our environment is better for our health, Kaufman said.
Sometime after the gray skies turn blue and summer comes and goes, I may consider color choices reminiscent of polished pearl or falling snow.
But by then the color gurus already will have decided on the 2017 color of the year. Any chance it could be gray?
Cathy Janek is a freelance writer who lives in Naperville.
Twitter @CathyJanek