Interesting question. Believe it or not I was a kid who loved neutral grays, browns, beige and black colors in my clothes and in my home. Now as I get older (30!) I have come to really enjoy intense jewel-tone pigments in my home and in my outfits. I love turquoise, deep yellows, burgundies, greens etc. I can't wait to move into my next place so that I can incorporate all these colors into a fresh palette.

"Now we just say no to faux."

Really? For a post about paint this is fairly amusing. There are so many faux-finishes that aren't ugly. What about stenciled damasks? Stretched linen?

My style has evolved into where I try to not exclude any design elements because I do not know enough about it.

What's the issue with red walls? Does this make the readers who enjoy their red walls "childish"?

So does everyone have a red stage? My first apartment was a studio, but I couldn't paint it, so everything else was red: chair upholstery, the huge velvet coverlet that turned my twin bed into a sofa, the enormous pillows on the floor for friends to sit on. My mom called it "bourgeois bordello," but at least she recognized it was just a phase I was going through!

Now, my furnishings are much more neutral, and the color comes from accessories, books, and artwork that I've collected over the past 10 years. I *still* can't paint because I'm *still* a renter, but the cleaner aesthetic works for me, since I'm constantly surrounded by so many design ideas at work!

I never had a red stage but I did just paint the living room in my newly purchased first house sage green. I like to jump in with the masses. I also painted my spare bedroom white which is funny because growing up I always told my parents they should paint the walls something other than white. Oddly enough i love it now- so fresh- only I hate seeing every itty bitty mark.

I used to dream of modern, minimalist luxury...
...then I stayed in a couple of minimalist resorts and realized that it was cold, sterile and uncomfortable - a couple things out of place and the entire room looked a mess.

Then I dreamt of living the Technicolor MCM life...
...and when I got it, I realized that it wasn't as cozy and comfortable as I'd have liked - in fact, some of it was just awful to sit in (and impossible to nap in!)

Now I lean towards Hollywood Regency/Traditional with lots of rich details and dramatic colors - and I'm happer than ever.

When I first moved out on my own, I totally wanted to look and feel like an adult. I was impatient. I wanted that polished, Pottery Barn-catalog look. So, I'd save up my meager wages and buy furniture sets, and lust after orderly art displays in uniform frames and mattes. But in the end, when I'd assemble my little apartment with its carefully chosen furniture, it really didn't feel like me. There were random things that made their way in through my filtering (a throw away coffee table that I mosaic'd, some art I bought at a garage sale, a tulip-chair dinette set my employer gave me as a cast off from the breakroom), and I found that I loved those things--along with the few vestiges from my high school bedroom--far more than the stupid Rooms to Go furniture set. As I've grown older, I still sometimes feel a pull toward that finished look, but I now hold off until I'm sure I want a brand new catalogy piece of furniture. Usually, I end up using something I already have, or buying something used from craigslist. So, things are way less matchy-matchy.

That said, I also now feel a little stifled. When I was way younger (like in high school), I would just put anything I liked for any reason up or out. There was never much coordination. But somehow, since I loved it all, it all went together (at least in my mind). Now, I'm afraid of getting things wrong. It seems like there's a lot more commitment now, for some reason. So, I miss that barely-contained chaos of the bedroom of my youth. So, contradictorily, I am both freer and more restricted with my decorating choices now than I used to be.

Haha, I (very sloppily) painted two walls of my bedroom bright red when I was 16! It actually turned my tiny, north-facing bedroom into a warm and cozy space, if you overlooked the terrible paint job.

Luckily, I've gotten it out of my system. I have many friends who painted their first post-college rooms crazy colors (neon green, neon orange, fuchsia, and aqua, among others). These days I'm leaning more toward a very, very light aquamarine, a very, very light bluish-gray or a creamy white.

In my first apartment I had a GRAPEVINE STENCILED BORDER around the ceiling of my living room!! It was 16 years ago, what can I say.

Khatam-- For the record, I don't have anything against nicely done faux finishes. I went overboard on faux finishes at one time and now I prefer cleaner colored walls

I don't think it's fair to make any universal rules against a color or style being "wrong". Almost anything can be "right" in the right house at the right time. And most importantly, if it's right for YOU, go for it. Who cares what others think?

But I do think that the topic of personal style evolution is interesting. What drives these preferences in our aesthetic lives-- trends, lifestyle, budget, location?
Keep the comments coming!

When I was 22 I painted my bedroom in a shared apartment kelly green. It was beautiful - and still my favorite color I've ever picked because of how happy it made me feel. I don't think I'd like that color now, however, and I have the same problem as a previous poster as feeling afraid to make mistakes. I chose the kelly green in two minutes. It's taken me over a year to chose any color for any rooms in my new home. I'm paralyzed. I will get over it. Someday.

lol The red walls comment is something I can totally relate to. I painted our bedroom wall red when we first moved into our house because "I'd always wanted a red room" but now it goes with nothing and it's not easy to exchange items out for a different style as I please. Now I'm wanting to go back to all neutral walls and add the color in accessories.

~ Sarah @ http://www.queenofdiy.com

Ha, I remember as a kid I complained when my parents would choose gray as a wall color for every room. The first apartment I had that I could paint had geranium-colored walls as an act of rebellion, and I wouldn't even consider gray anything, because I always envisioned the pallid cool hues my parents painted. Eventually learned that I like gray--I just don't like those grays. My mom likes pale grays with blue and purple undertones. I have gray walls now too, but they're brown and green-based grays in deeper tones. Interestingly, our skin tones match our preferences--we're both fair-skinned, but she has blue undertones and I have yellow undertones and slightly more color.

I've definitely moved on from limiting myself to pure, bright hues to avoid gray-out, which is good because my husband likes low-key colors. Now I paint walls gray and accent with persimmon, amber, cobalt and moss. I used to have decor to match my overblown palette--large-scale patterns, dramatic accessories, oversized art prints, lots of lacquer and metal--but I've mellowed along with my color preferences. I now prefer tone-on-tone patterns, natural wood, restrained lines, and carefully scaled artwork. And lots of empty space around each object. My husband, meanwhile, loves collections and likes ornate Baroque and gloomy medieval Gothic interiors, so we're still feeling our way through that.

The red walls oh the red walls. I also have gone bananas but with only one red wall and the other ones sage green in two rental houses no less(haha). Now I prefer an almost natural jute color on the walls with all of my color in art and accessories. I personally choose to edit yearly so I have quite the eclectic mix with some items that are over 10 years old and a few I just picked up on craigslist. I think key here is making your house your home. It doesn't matter if is trendy you should always surround yourself with what reminds you of love.

I never had a red wall phase, but I totally identify with BlackFrancine's comment. When I went from the college/grad school phase to being a "real adult", I lusted after "real adult" furniture, which meant stuff that all matches and looks really put-together and intentional and that you didn't find on a curb on trash day--ideally, Pottery Barn. Now I'm mostly past that, and actually kind of regret the few fancier/matchy purchases that I did make. I'm more into antiques now, and the the Pottery Barn type stuff that I bought can tend to look a little boring and uninspired next to the inexpensive old stuff I got off Craigslist and estate sales. It's still nice enough--it just lacks some oomph. I find myself wanting to compensate for it with more interesting/vintage accent pieces and such to put some life back in the room--and it seems silly to pay a bunch of money and then have to decorate around something to compensate for its shortcomings.

i love the look of that clean white room above, and always gravitate toward that sort of style in my head... gonna have to start saving so i can transition out of my late teens / early 20's obsession with the whole moroccan pillow lounge vibe...

I never had a red wall - always wanted one in my youth, but was a renter and landlords wouldn't allow. Sigh. Now I have no desire for a red wall, but one really nice olive green wall would be great somewhere. Other than that it's neutrals for me; which I find calm and soothing. Funny, after becoming a parent I suddenly desired a calm (at least calm LOOKING) house - go figure.

My biggest hurdle was overcoming an early style WAY over influenced by my mother. Yellow-toned neutrals, too much navy and brown. Even as my style evolved, I've had to work hard to convince her of the changes (especially since she likes to buy me things).

Thankfully she's coming around since she sees how well it works in my house... And I've taught her the rules -- black, grey and white, not brown and beige. Orange, turquoise and other jewel tones, not red.

I'm pretty sure that I still think my one red dining room wall looked good way back when (early 1990's)... it was mostly covered with an impressively huge, simple mahogany framed mirror my grandfather made, though.

And when I put that first coat of red on the wall, and realized how many coats it would take to look good, I was horrified. After the first three coats, it still looked like a visit from your friendly, local axe-murderer. Took a whole gallon of a color called "Satan"! and I never really felt it was entirely opaque enough. Good thing I had that mirror.

HAHAHA @ a color called "Satan."

I had a faux finish in my room that was composed of a dark, medium, and light grey. Had it for a long time. Got sick of it being so dark in my room and so I painted it a light grey which I am accenting with red blankets/fabric/accessories. Loving it so far. I'm mostly into MCM/Minimal but I like to have a touch of Asian design as well.

Whenever I see renters painting their walls red, I think of how much the next tenant is going to curse them ;-)

This is too funny. Even being only 24, I have lived in 3 different apartments now. The first time was with rommates and my bedroom was actually fairly reflective of me and fairly restrained (minus the Hello Kitty accessories). My second apartment was shared with a BOY, and I was trying way too hard to A) seem grown up and B) please the guy and his contemporary tastes: tons of dark ikea stuff, bold graphics in large doses, RED accents (yup!), and straight lines that just bored the hell out of me.

Now I'm pleased to say I'm living by myself in my gorgeous little 1930's era studio apartment, and my walls are lavendar grey, my sofa is beige, my accents are black, white, and light robin's egg blue, and I could not be happier. It is totally me-girly but not trying too hard to be any one style. I love it! Maybe that color palette sounds gross to some of you, and maybe in 10 years I will be even more neutral-but I'm so happy in my space!

My tastes have evolved because I now have to take my partner's taste into account. I actually think the most interesting rooms have more than one person's taste -- it makes them more personal and surprising (assuming neither person has appallingly bad taste, of course.)

I am totally impotent domestically; everything I ever attempted to do with paint turned out disastrously. Sirens and flashing lights should go off every time I get within 25 feet of a Home Depot or Lowe's. Now I hire others to paint for me and keep things a warm white and use accessories for color. Much safer, cleaner and less expensive.

Very glad I wasn't able to afford a lot of the furniture I liked in college and grad school; I now shudder to think what I ever saw appealing in it.

I can so identify with this post...

Not just for the "growing up" aspect but also for your mood. When my fiance and I split after 6 years, a kid, and a house...I painted all my walls bright colors (bright lime-peel green, turquoise...), bought hot pink frames and trash cans, yellow clocks, basically anything that SCREAMED happy...cause I wasn't.

Now my house and my life have settled down a bit. My walls are slowly going grey and black and all the knick-knacks are my "pops of color" in otherwise black/white/grey rooms. I'm happy now, so I don't need an electric green wall to remind me to smile.

But yeah, when I was 15, I painted my bedroom lemon yellow...like hurt your eyes bright...so maybe age does play into it too lol...

I have to say that I still love my one red accent wall in my bedroom in my parents house. I would not be able to deal with more than that one wall (and it's a small one at that), but it did a great job of separating the sleeping part of my bedroom (the red) from the working area (kept white). It's important to have this distinction when one room has to fulfill both functions at once.

My style has slowly evolved over time as I've been learning more about what I actually like. I had light neutral upholstery for awhile and then thought I needed more color and went the opposite direction, making expensive mistakes. What I realized was that going from white to ivory walls was all that I needed, and a camel velvet sofa, lavender rug, lots of browns, and colorful bursts in artwork and accessories. I like a calm and serene backdrop against the hectic pace of life.

The evolution of one's style can be conscious and unconscious too. One day I looked around and all my clothes and stuff in my house was black, white, gray and brown, and it occurred to me that maybe those are "my" colors that I had collected over so many years without much thought. It was instinct or some unconscious expression.

On the other hand, I was a strict modernist in my twenties, dreaming of stark white rooms with uncomfortable yet artsy chairs. In my thirties, I tried to branch out, to look at other styles: traditional, hollywood regency, rustic, granny chic, whatever, but guess what? I just needed to admit I'm a modernist and embrace it.

To answer your question directly: what influences my decorating taste has less and less to do with what is trendy or considered playing by the decorating rules, it has to do with being totally honest about what I like, ignoring the rules and making a home that works for me and reflects who I am.

I've always had interest in my living space but my tastes have totally evolved and changed. I think that is normal. Garage sale finds or low quality throw away and easily moved furniture has more appeal when you are in an apt but once you buy you want to invest in quality furniture that you'll have for awhile. Plus earning power generally increases too so you can afford better stuff. Most people want to establish a look but I always try to buy what I really like not what I think I should like. I think that naturally leads you to a certain style.

Childhood - white
Teen Years - Rainforest mural painted by me and hideous "macaroni and cheese" faux finish on another wall, also painted by my
First apartments - white white white, too poor to afford paint
House with husband - the red "grown up" wall!!
Apartment during divorce - fuschia pink FU bathroom, bright turquoise and green walls with gold tree painted on, chalkboard paint in the kitchen- everything he would have hated.
Apartment with hot Dutch boyfriend - white walls for now, though I'm dying to paint!!

I, on the other hand, have to credit AT for giving me a lust for colour. I find my favourite home tours are bright, colourful and cozy. I no longer desire the beige/white minimalist home. (Though I sure do love the posts that showcase them here!)

I think it's the sloppy paint job more than the color. I've moved into places where the previous tenant expressed himself by using neon orange without a drop cloth. I might be able to live with the color, but I'm not a fan of splatters. If you're going to do it, do it right.

When I was in my late 20s/early 30s, I had all neutral browns and beiges, black, cream, etc. Oddly enough, I never wanted to be home. But I think it was a time when I was trying to "prove" I was a grown up now, with things like a "real" career and "real" decor at home.

I'm 41 now. My style has evolved a lot, in that I can embrace what I love - which is colour! Excepty for things like the natural tone of wood, woven baskets, and other natural materials, brown has been banished from my home. And I LOVE being at home. I love my apartment - it's my sanctuary.

We did a lot of bedroom rearranging when I was growing up. My shared bedroom had white walls with preppy green trim, lime green carpet, and Marimekko style curtains and comforter with a tree design. It was Connecticut - what can I say ? It sounds dated, but I recently saw a replica of the whole look in a magazine (albeit much more precisely painted and tailored) and it looked strangely appealing.

I never painted most of my apartments, I'm not even sure if I had permission to, but I liked the stark white walls of most of them. I didn't start painting until my former male roommates' decorating made my room look pathetically boring.

I used to think contemporary furniture was cool, thank goodness my budget was too tiny to have gone down that path. I'm thankful for all the sidewalk scores of interesting furniture and my shunning of the West Elm, Pottery Barn catalog look. Besides my new couch, I tend to buy older well constructed, handcrafted pieces of furniture now. I'm glad to have sworn off particle board a decade ago.

I remember painting my living room aquamarine blue with Miami yellow trim, the den periwinkle (with orange trim--what was I thinking?), the hallway red, and the bedroom orange. Oh my...after four years I painted everything sage green with "paper bag"-colored trim. There are still hints and hits of yellow and orange here, but now the walls are slightly grayed greens, yellows and blues, and the feeling is much less themed restaurant and more home.

My early design choices (childhood through most of college) were a girly cottage style with florals, quilts, and lots of pink. What changed my style was travel. My friends and I began traveling in the summers and bringing home souvenirs for each other and ourselves. Now my style is a cozy, world traveler look with almost no pink.

First time I was allowed to make my own bedroom design choices I went for hunter green walls and a desk the size of a small car. Lots of woods, even in the blinds. in my mind, it was like some English hunting lodge, very masculine and classic. Looking back, it was cozy, but it was like a cave. I had way too much stuff and kept all of it.
Now? I'm giving myself breathing room. I no longer need that much stuff, so I'm giving in to working with negative space. The desk is gone, replaced with a thrifted wooden piece that is a much smaller scale. I'll probably keep the green, but paint one wall white as an accent.

When I was 6, my favourite colour was called "True Blue", and was a bright turquoise. I painted my first bookcase (with a little help from my dad) high gloss turquoise, and I still love it today.

I am sitting on the sofa I fell in love with at age 8; I love it still (I bought the same sofa for a second time when it wore out after 18 years). Sure, my style has changed a bit of the years, but when I love something, I love it for life (still with the same for over 21 years). I don't follow trends, preferring instead something more personal, idiosyncratic and eclectic.

So apart from faux-finishing the walls of our first apartment (in 1989) 3 shades of pink (a very elegant candlelight sort of pink derived from Chinese Red), I could live with all my colour decisions very easily, and they wouldn't look dated. I guess I experimented enough with colours in art school, that I had it pretty well thought out before putting any up on our walls.

My daughter, at age 3 1/2, chose bright fuschia for her walls, and my son, at 3, has black walls. Kids need to play with colour, and I would hate to impose a "mature" style (read: a version of what many in North America see as "traditional") on them. It'll be fun to see what they choose next!

Another red culprit here. I nearly painted a red feature wall but then thought better of it. I did however have red rugs, napery, crockery, kitchen utensils, cushions etc. These days I'm into a much more neutral palette with a few splashes of colour here or there in accessories that I can easily change. I painted a duck egg blue feature wall in my bedroom and whilst I love the colour there are days I wish it was plain white like the rest of my house.

I used to love classic and traditional antic looking style when I was a teen (interesting, no?). Now I can't stand them and the best classic like style can be country in some sort.

Despite the change, I still heart blue and purple. :)

I can agree with the sloppy paint. We moved into a house that had two children's bedrooms when we were twenty-two. The first thing to go was the circus room and the princess room. Now that I'm 29 with a career, a child and a life, I dream of the day I can hire professional painters to do the walls AND the trim!

I wonder about the red paint premise as someone who was allowed to paint my room any color I wanted as a child, but I certainly think that your personal style and preferences can evolve.

For example when I first moved into my apartment, I was very obsessed with a couple of coordinating shades of blue, especially for my kitchen. I think as I've gotten older, my color palette has expanded a lot and I'm not afraid to experiment to colors I used to shy away from like yellows and browns.

I think a lot of it has to do with changing trends and not just maturing tastes. People aren't painting over reds with soft grays, turquoises and whites simply because they're more mature but also because they're seeing those colors staring out at them from the pages of magazines.

I think that I've learned to put things together more cohesively, as opposed to always putting everything I love together.
Overall my tastes have stayed very much the same. I've always loved purple, always will; always loved muted vintagey pastels esp. pink and turquoise (especially in kitchens and bathrooms).

I still love wood, glass, bronze, persian rugs, ephemera, books, and down-filled furniture.

The comment about the red room is totally true. After my husband and I moved into our first house, I painted our spare bedroom bright red, our office school bus yellow and our bathroom electric blue. I think it was exciting to be able to finally do what I want with the space I was living in. But, after about 2 years, I became annoyed with how none of the rooms felt like they belonged to the same house. First, I painted the red bedroom a hunter green, and about a year later the bathroom changed to a pale teal. Recently I painted the bedroom AGAIN - only this time, it was tan.

We decided to keep the yellow office though.

My room at my parents' house? Bright mustard, with a dark red ceiling. They call it the clown room. But it is decorated with everything I brought back from two stints in Mexico...and what can I say, I was 23.

I'm in my first house now, and learning as I go along. I bought 3 patterns of Amy Butler fabric in a single colorway to do decorative elements (shades, bedskirt, lampshades, etc), and pulled the colors from those for the walls...and have (mostly) been pleased with the results.

Of course, I'm sure when it's time to sell the house, someone is going to make me paint it all back to white...but for now, *I* love it.

I love colour and I'm cool if people find my style "immature." My entry way is fuschia, the hall leading up the stairs is deep yellow, my studio is deep turquoise, dining room is orange with one small deep purple wall, the kitchen is lime green and cobalt, the bathroom is yellow and blue, the living room is avocado and my bedroom is orange. I've tried having "grown-up" colours...can't live with 'em! Obviously, I'll have to have a major paint-a-thon before I sell my house. ;)

Dang. Closing on our first house, I'm already eyeing one Cabin Red wall for his Superman themed office (he's a fanatic, I'm just trying to give him the outlet/space for the collection); dramatic dark blue over the white bead board in the hall bath; gray in the living room. Haven't decided on kitchen (keep the white cabinets) or bedroom (blue again?) but yeah, it's my first chance to pick colors and I bet I'll end up with at least 3 colors my inlaws will hate LOL.

Any tips to help the flow from one room to another? I can close the office door but living room is open to dining is open to kitchen so I'd love to tie those in somehow.

Jenakle -- When you have an open living space from kitchen to dining to living room, it is a good idea to have the colors make sense together. Usually in houses like that you already have trouble finding the starting and stopping places from one room to another. I would consider keeping 2-3 colors consistent through the whole space and try to keep them in a similar hue or value. So you might choose to do teal in the kitchen, a lighter version in the living room and then an apple green in the dining room. All those colors have a blue as an undertone and are near each other on the color wheel (analogous colors). If you do gray in the living room, you have lots of choices for the kitchen and dining area, but pay attention to the undertone of the gray and try to let that unify your colors.

Did I just make that more confusing? If you want, send some pictures to misty@apartmenttherapy.com and we can answer your question in a post!

I agree with a few of the posts above: do not worry about trends. If beiges and browns are out and greys, whites and blacks are in, but you like beiges and browns, go with beiges and browns! If you want a bright red or turquoise feature wall, and you like the effect, go ahead. The tyrrany of tasteful and understated neutral greys as expressions of supposedly dignified, mature tastes too will pass. And then everyone will jump on the next bandwagon.

I agree with a few of the posts above: do not worry about trends. If beiges and browns are out and greys, whites and blacks are in, but you like beiges and browns, go with beiges and browns! If you want a bright red or turquoise feature wall, and you like the effect, go ahead. The tyrrany of tasteful and understated neutral greys as expressions of supposedly dignified, mature tastes too will pass. And then everyone will jump on the next bandwagon.