What are your thoughts on brown?

8 years ago

Often cast aside as the muddy and dirty colour, brown gets a bad rap for the most part! But maybe it's time for a renaissance - can brown be bold and beautiful?

Let us know your thoughts in the comments below!

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Featured Answer

Tim Price

8 years ago

I have never been one for following fashion and I have always gone with colour schemes I wanted rather than anything currently en vogue. Somehow though not long after I've gone with a particular colour scheme it has always become the one people are looking for.

Even a a student when I bought a red, yellow blue and green tracksuit (all colours in one, not 4 tracksuits) and months later Benotton (spelling?) launched their colourful range.

Also as a student there was one year I rented a particularly scruffy room and was granted permission to decorate it (deduct paint cost from rent). It was a third floor room in a gable, so odd shaped walls. I used the shape and 3 orange colours from almost red to very pale in one foot stripes following the shape of the gable and across the bottom all with rounded corners (since the ceiling had rounded curves too) so that the centre area of the wall was the darkest shade. When the landlady saw it she almost had a fit but at the end of the year she had a queue of students wanting the room!

I guess what it means is that you should go with what you believe is right for you, not what you think is in fashion or what you think others will say is right. You are the one who will be living there so if you like it then it will feel right and you will be comfortable with it. The very act of being comfortable with it shows and makes it right to others who visit too.

Unless you are decorating with a view to selling the place, be yourself. make it an expression of you, not an expression of what estate agents like to see for an easy sale.

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Comments (35)

Natalie Patton
8 years ago
I like brown and there is some beautiful shades to play with i think it can look rich and elegant when paired with plush fabrics in the right room. It has to be in a well lit room for me as I can see how in a dark room it can look thick and muddy but in a light room with mirrors I think it can be stunning and opulent
PRO
Cobalt Moon Design
8 years ago
I think there are some beautiful shades of brown to play around with. You can really add impact to a room by adding green, or orange accessories too. Curtains in grey silk look gorgeous against the right shade of brown too. It can make a room look very opulent too.
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soozmacrae
8 years ago
I think brown went through a period of re discovery a few years back. Everything was brown, from cups to curtains and always matched with cream. In some ways its a bit 'old' but if you mix in metallic or the likes of bright pink, lime etc it can come alive.
annroe47
8 years ago
love it with a variety of shades also after trials found it goes with a number of other colours especially oranges greens and pinks
gd11
8 years ago
brown makes this room calming and relaxed and with white bedding and dormer roof being white gives enough lightness into the room. The light wood furniture works great with this room. Nicely done. The single cushion on the bed looks lost though.
Juliet Docherty
8 years ago
Great with dirty yellow. Disturbing but strangely beautiful.
Fred Wonder
8 years ago
For me, unfashionable old brown wood furniture is divine and brown velvet curtains are quite nice, but for rugs and other textiles, it can still whisper DIRT and must be used carefully. I love it with greens and purples and other forest colours.
PRO
Kerry Holden Interiors
8 years ago
last modified: 8 years ago
I love dark cocoa coloured wooden floors and furniture with pale grey walls, these colours work so well together. Turquoise is a great addition to add colour to brown shades from pale taupes to the deeper hues as is orange. To keep brown up to date add metallics, especially bronze and copper - it looks fantastic
PRO
Hand Built Designs
8 years ago
Only ever in natural woods or antique furniture!
Vanadis Ward
8 years ago
It can really add warmth to a room; great with a hot pink.
PRO
Alexander James Home Renovations Ltd
8 years ago
Warm with light colours, on its own - depressing.
minnie101
8 years ago
Taupe has made millions for a certain person! Taupe looks great combined with black. I wouldn't choose it personally but chocolate and white can also look great. I agree with Kerry Holden, also like it with cobalt and raspberry
alant1000
8 years ago
I'm not feeling the vibe with brown too much, I like fawn but pure brown is a bit too much for me.
Vanadis Ward
8 years ago
Tim Price I'm intrigued as to the transformation of your scruffy room: have you got any photos you can post? I once painted my loo orange and pearl in large stripes and it was realky well received.
Tim Price
8 years ago
I am sorry Vanadis Ward. That was in my uni days in the early 80's. I have even moved continents since then. I could sketch roughly what I did though, including how I did the curves if that would help.
drhayley
8 years ago
Hate it! Colour of my school uniform- scarred me for life!
Najeebah
8 years ago
hey drhayley. ours was navy and for years, people from that school never wore it

on brown; its just about the best colour there is! I think it gives every place character
PRO
Secret Linen Store
8 years ago
There are so many options to match with brown, we find natural accessories and soft furnishings really brightens the room if paired with a truly brown painted wall. Brown really can make a relaxing space when paired with natural, coffee, cream ,dusky pink or mink accessories and furnishings.
Tom Flanagan
Original Author
8 years ago
I have to say I'm on the fence with brown - I do love a chocolate colour for certain features, but I'm on @HandBuiltDesigns side - I prefer it in antiques and natural woods!
Iona
8 years ago
Not keen, personally and I think difficult to get a good look but the opening picture is nice enough; definitely not a colour I would choose myself.
Vanadis Ward
8 years ago
Tim Price - a sketch would be great!
Tim Price
8 years ago
Okay, but it isn't good! I don't have a software fro this so it is a quickly scribbled sketch and I worry it may show on its side as I scanned it and I don't have a way of turning a pdf. Hopefully someone in Houzz can correct it.

The outline is the outline of the end wall both ends of the room. One end has a window right in the middle. The ceiling was quite high - an old grand (faded grand) Victorian house. The stripes were either 6 or 10 inches wide - I really can't remember, and I can't remember the radii of the curves but quite gentle curves that I marked out using a piece of string and a pencil. The ceiling and side walls were white. The side walls joined the ceiling in an indistinct manner - probably due to 100 years of layers of wallpapers, so it wasn't a straight joint so it was best to keep them the same colour. (Hey, I was a poor student renting the room for a year - I wasn't going to sort that lot out!) The lowest curve was above head height.

Anyway, have a look at the sketch and if its not clear let me know. I leave it to you to imagine the colours since I don't have any colour pens/crayons here.
stevebrown1939
8 years ago
I like Brown he's great! Ha joking aside I have a nice brown colour on the wall at the head of my bed and it compliments the mink on the other walls as well as contrasting with the white leather bed and white furniture.
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Identity Papers
8 years ago
I love 'the right brown' with 'the right blue', reminds me of faded denim with leather. As in the Moody Blue version of 'Cloud Rococo Ombre' wall panels (seen here at Tent London design show) Our Houzz homepage.
Annie Moreno
8 years ago
its an elegant and rich color
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Amanda Neilson Interiors
8 years ago
The brown wall colour in this loft bedroom image is London Clay from Farrow & Ball and it seems to be a hit with lots of you in the Houzz community because this image has been viewed over 21,000 times! - yes really! - there are a few more on my page at Amanda Neilson Interiors.
milfordmaid
8 years ago
drhayley- my uniform was purple with lilac blouse. Not wine - purple. Not a reddish-brown - purple. Purple - in the 70s. Purple which could not be bought anywhere for love nor money. Purple that could only be bought at school outfitters. Likewise hated the colour ever since. My bottle-green uniformed SIL is of the same mind after her school-days.

Brown is not a colour, it is mud or a shadow at best. Should only be visible on natural wood. Think there should be a Boring Tax of 33% placed on all tins of brown paint + all soft furnishings that are brown.
Tim Price
8 years ago
@milfordmaid, I hear you on the school uniform availability. The same thing happened with my son at school a few years ago. They changed the uniform colours to force everyone to buy from their supplier. We managed to find the colour in UK and bought him shirts in UK to use and we had already managed to find trousers in almost the right shade here. A few other parents did likewise so the school retaliated by altering the design so that the only option was their supplier or make it yourself (and no pattern available). I led the parent revolt against the school. We argued that their polyester fabric was not suitable for many children who have skin conditions. We are in the tropics so polyester is terrible to wear. The situation dragged on over a year and was still unresolved (beyond the school giving unofficial individual dispensations) as IGCSE exams loomed for our son - so thanks to a handy letter from the doctor about his mild skin trouble saying he should wear cotton he never did wear the "exclusive" edition of the school uniform.

A few days ago I happened to have lunch near the school. I saw a few students in uniform and now the "exclusive" design appears to have been scrapped in favour of normal shirts and trousers, though the locally hard to find colours are still in use. (The "exclusive" design made them look like factory workers due to the bits and pieces stitched on to make them impossible to source elsewhere. Nobody liked them except the directors of the school who saw it as a way to have a captive market)

As for my personal school uniform experience, well to this day I am not keen on black trousers or grey shirts or jumpers. We had blue blazers and I am okay with blue.

You have my sympathies on purple though.
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Ensign Accessories
8 years ago
Although I love the shades of grey - this has been in for some years, and my guessing is that the next "to have" colour will be shades of brown - exactly as in the picture. It looks stunning. I plan to do both bathrooms in brown in the autumn, and hope they look as good as your picture.
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Amanda Neilson Interiors
8 years ago
Thank you Ensign Accessories for your kind comments - yes, this picture does get a lot of positive attention - share photos when your bathroom projects are complete - I would love to see them.
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Ensign Accessories
8 years ago
Thank you Amanda - will post photos after we have done them - we are combining two apartments into one - will be a huge space, and the possibilities are endless. Start 9th October.!!
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Fantastic Furniture Assembly
8 years ago
It really depends on the brown palette, but in general the brown colour has a certain element of comfort. Definitely among colour I would use.
Jenny Salisbury
8 years ago
london clay by Farrow and Ball stunning.
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Style Our Home
8 years ago
We love these warm browns here at Style Our Home mixed with greys and blacks for a classier look...

What are your thoughts on brown?

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