I love that cupboard in the second picture.

I also love that some of these colours were straight from the 'banned' list only a few posts before. ;-)

Consistently throughout my life, pastels have always made me gag.

Agree with the yoga ball being totally out of place in the photo.

That daybed in the first picture is lovely I could meditate on that.

Personally, I absolutely cannot wear pastels, so my attitude towards them bleeds over a bit into home decor.

That said, I find some (but not all) of the rooms above quite beautiful, and as I noted on the previous color post, Apartment Therapy has shown me lavender in a whole new light.

I love pastels when they're paired with black accents/trim. That keeps them from being too sweet.

Sometimes an electric color can do the same thing -- a pale pink room with pops of hot pink, say, can be a fun Betsey Johnson look.

But pastels all on their own...blech.

loved the first picture. very clean, and well, feminine. absolutely fabulous.

"that oft-debated color palette"

That's the crux of the problem, isn't it? One pastel by itself (ie, the last picture, which I love) is usually fine - it's when you use all of the colors of the pastel rainbow that it starts looking like the Easter bunny threw up.

I used to hate pastels. I still do not like them for clothes and most things. But I think they can be really lovely in the right setting and when in spare enough environments that they don't look granny. For example, I love the second picture (Misty's cottage). I also loved Christine's New England home: http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/boston/christine-vijays-charming-urban-farmhouse-house-tour-107434

Number 4 reminds me of easter :D
Love numbers 1, 3, 5, and 7! totally inspired to tone it down. haha.

Ohh Lisa (Montreal), I love that Betsy Johnson idea! I love her, and that could seriously help me decorate my space to be more calming to the eye but still have the punch of color I love!

I love them.
Maybe not so much pastels as pastel colors mixed with gray.
They go with my collectible aesthetic.
And I love my purple bedroom.
Don't care if it's not a "cool" choice - I am pleasing myself.

The skinny jeans lesson (or facsimile) should be a lesson: be suspicious of feeling completely closed-minded toward something, especially when it comes to aesthetics.

Somewhere, sometime down the line, someone can make it look appealing by giving it a different twist (usually accompanied by a 20-yr. lapse since the trend's last major appearance).

Not for all, but for many of us our ideas shift over time, yes?

I think pastels are like most trendy decorating ideas: to be used in moderation. Sure, they may be coming sometime in the future, but like everything, they'll have a fall as well.

I like using them with other colors. If you use a pastel shade, use something similar somewhere else around the room. I'm definitely not a fan on walls, but a pastel-toned painting in a masculine toned room can look very clever and soften the effects of the masculine tones.

1 pastel color plus pale neutrals (white, cream, beige, light gray, metallics, etc.) can look elegant and calming. (The metallics and/or crystal make a BIG difference.)

Although I hate pink in a big way, the first room above works even for me because it's really a neutral room with pale pink accents. My bedroom is a pale aqua with a lot of white and beige trim, drapes, and carpeting, dark brown furniture, and with darker teal, turquoise, and metallic gold accents. Add lavender to either room and everything goes downhill.

2 or more pastels in one space looks juvenile and Eastery and very yesterday.

Pale neutrals are not pastels, they are pale neutrals. Pastels are tints of hues and can be summed up as Easter Egg colors.

Ha ha Adrienne, I'm totally with you on the skinny jeans. I have 4 pairs now.

I think pastels can work, just depends on the execution.