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Colour Blind or just no sense of style?

(28 Posts)
NanaandGrampy Fri 12-Feb-16 13:41:25

Once the decorations come down and the first weeks of January are out of the way I always get the urge to change things. DH has been lucky that I have kept him over the years especially when we're talking about decorating. smile

I look at a room and get an idea of colour and can 'see' the room in my mind's eye, but I can explain it to my DH till I'm blue in the face and he just can't 'see' it.

Today we went out for colour charts and some wallpaper samples.

When I'm talking blue, he's thinking green. I thought aqua he picked up silver !! He just doesn't get the subtleties of colour-lilac is not purple beige is not caramel or mocha.

Am I alone here ? Do you all have DH or partners who can be allowed to choose soft furnishings on their own? Would you tell your DH your colour scheme and then let him choose the actual paint without you?

tanith Fri 12-Feb-16 13:51:22

DH has no clue whatsoever about colour , he always leaves it to me to make suggestions and he will say which he prefers then we compromise and have the one I wanted all along wink. Seriously though he always says when its done that 'we' made a good choice didn't we.grin
Our living room is now a lovely colour which is two shades of grey/lilac everyone loves the colour and it goes beautifully with the shaggy black white and grey striped rug and lime cushions. DH picked up a pot of LILAC paint in B & Q that would of had your eyes out on stalks till I showed him the Lilac/grey in the Farrow and Ball colour chart much more muted and easy on the eye.

Its a man thing I think.

FarNorth Fri 12-Feb-16 13:59:00

Hahahahaha, no chance, N&G.
At the mention of any change my DH would always say "why bother, it's fine as it is".

Greyduster Fri 12-Feb-16 14:15:13

I remember in 1970 when DH had just been posted to Belgium. I was still at home with the children and he rang to tell me that he had just been to look at the bungalow that was to be our home for the next three years. I asked him to describe the decor. "The wallpaper is flowery and pink shock. And the bathroom is grey." When I finally arrive at said bungalow, the walls were papered with a sort of grey mottled wallpaper (not a flower in sight, but rather nice), and the bathroom didn't have a scrap of grey anywhere - white suite, pale pink walls. I never ask his advice about paint colours; just give him the tin and let him get on with it. Actually, he likes it like that - if it turns out to be horrible he can blame it on me!

ninathenana Fri 12-Feb-16 14:22:11

Would I let DH choose paint and soft furnishing?
Not in a million years !!
If I say we need to decorate he's always up for it, but the mantra in this house is nina designs Mr nina does.

NanaandGrampy Fri 12-Feb-16 15:04:09

So it's not just my husband then? Thank goodness smile

After 39 years we have reached a place where we discuss it and he does as I tell him and then he takes the credit :-) bit like your DH Tanith

I'm only slightly concerned because when I was working , if he was decorating I'd go away for the week but now I'm going to have to live with it.

Saxifrage Fri 12-Feb-16 16:56:30

This is a really interesting colour awareness test. Nobody is perfect but men are generally lower scores than women.

www.xrite.com/online-color-test-challenge

I was interested to discover that I am a bit weak on the blue/ green area as this is often a family disagreement.

Ps It doesn't work on tablets you need a mouse to move the colours around.

hildajenniJ Fri 12-Feb-16 17:01:32

We get a man in to decorate. DH is useless at painting, and I'm not much better. Neither of us would tackle a ceiling! Just yesterday a very nice man called to look at our living room and give us a quote. All was fine except that he can't come until June! He comes highly recommended so we won't be looking for anyone else. We will choose our own paint, DH is very good at matching colour. I am so lucky!

Auntieflo Fri 12-Feb-16 17:20:17

HildajenniJ, we had to wait 6 months for our decorator, and he finished last week. It is so nice to know that we haven't got to clamber up and down ladders, too ancient these days. The whole house is lovely and fresh. We didn't really change the colours much, as I liked them as they were, but I did go with Polished Pebble and Sail White in our bedroom. DH is not too much trouble when it comes to choosing colours, bit he will say something is dark black. I thought black was black confused. He also used to have a penchant,many years ago, for cabbage roses sad. I think he has got better with the years.

mrshat Fri 12-Feb-16 17:22:33

Saxifrage I found that very hard on the eyes and scored 18!!! Zero is the perfect score. I suppose I could, partially, blame the artificial light wink!

Greyduster Fri 12-Feb-16 17:44:02

Your mention of cabbage roses made me smile Auntiflo. We went on a coach tour to Austria some years ago and were supposed to be having an overnight stop in a town on the Rhine. We got there to find that the hotel had gone bust and no-one had told the tour company! But they had been kind enough to find us a last minute alternative which turned out to be a hotel which had not been open for years. The owner was a faded German musical theatre star! (She was actually quite charming and very solicitous). Their idea of decor was to have wallpaper with huge cabbage roses everywhere, even on the ceilings!! Must have got a job lot! DH said it felt like sleeping in a box with wrapping paper on the inside instead of the outside!

Deedaa Fri 12-Feb-16 20:28:35

DH has always been pretty good with decorating colours (has been known to make much better choices than me) but when it comes to clothes he puts some very odd combinations together.

Marmark1 Sat 13-Feb-16 08:21:26

No way,my husband hasn't a clue,or any interest,he'll say,what do you want a new one for,what's wrong with that one.If we go anywhere special,I'll tell him what to wear.
My sons much better,he must be more like me.

Tegan Sat 13-Feb-16 08:51:27

I scored 12; I scored badly on the yellow/green/blue section. Could have spent more time doing it though. The S.O. would paint everything in Magnolia if he was allowed.

Elenkalubleton Sat 13-Feb-16 08:54:26

Talking about roses reminds me went to see a friends recently moved into house,as we were shown round one of the bedrooms that had small red rose wallpaper, I remarked that it would be a lovely room once they had got rid of that paper.She answered that, that was the only room they had redecorated!
My face was as red as the roses ?

annsixty Sat 13-Feb-16 09:29:02

My wallpaper in my dining room has a Laura Ashley wallpaper with small cabbage roses all over it?
It goes with the large mahogany furniture and I hate it all with a passion but CBA to do anything about it.

Nelliemoser Sat 13-Feb-16 09:33:27

I got about 80 but a lot of sucess at this could depend on how good the colour definition software on your computer is.

Those with developing cateracts could find it harder. My mum had trouble with the blue/green part of the colours.

goose1964 Sat 13-Feb-16 09:43:15

I put this down to evolution, traditionally women gathered & men hunted ( not sexism just distance from children) it's easy to kill someone or make them very ill by poisoning so women needed to be able to tell subtle differences in colour but this skill wasn't needed in hunting so men never developed it

NanaandGrampy Sat 13-Feb-16 09:43:56

I scored 8 but my screen is calibrated for my photography so the colours are true. It was surprising to see where i scored less well , the fade in from blue to green and pink to lilac.

We too, for the first time ever are getting a man in . Finding a good one is a bit fraught though , and then it finding the right paper where necessary.

I had to go and have a lie down in a dark room after our trip to B & Q yesterday smile

Lupatria Sat 13-Feb-16 10:36:30

when i was married, i always chose the colour scheme [paint and fabrics] and my husband got on with it.

and, i suppose, it's the same when my guy gets involved with decorating [he did my whole house a few years ago] - i buy what i want and he paints the walls/ceilings/woodwork with my choice. i also get to choose carpets, furniture, furnishings, etc, etc.

i used to do the decorating myself before i met him and, i must say, he objected in very strong terms to the pink in the bathroom and loo!! i think that was the first thing which was replaced - and he refuses to use pink paint again!!!

almost got my house as i want it - and i see no point in decorating every room in the same colour with the same carpet on the floors - i like a different "theme" for every room.

Grannynise Sat 13-Feb-16 11:44:30

DH is actually red,green,brown colourblind and, for example, can only see red blooms on a green shrub if i point them out to him and he really concentrates. But it doesn't prevent him having very firm views on colour when we're choosing furnishings or decorating.

But I ignore him.

Galen Sat 13-Feb-16 12:40:54

Late DH was weak in blue/green

Galen Sat 13-Feb-16 12:41:32

Father was red/ green colour deficient.

Lavande Sat 13-Feb-16 14:31:38

The deal in chez Lavande is that we both have to agree on the colour scheme. This is on the basis that we both have to be able to live with it.

He usually paints, I supervise encourage and admire.

Soft furnishings are down to me as he is not particularly interested in that bit. He knows it will have to wait until I am into one of my creative cycles and unearth the sewing machine.

Synonymous Sat 13-Feb-16 14:49:43

DH has no colour sense whatsoever so he leaves it all to me as he says he will no longer subject himself to rejection! grin
When all decorating is finished he always says that everything is very nice, 'we' have chosen really well. That's alright because I always ask him what he thinks and he always agrees that, whatever 'it' is, is just right. Sometimes I think I hear a mutter which just might be about which side his bread is buttered - but then I am sure that if he really wanted to say something he would say it nice and loud! grin