I see by last week’s coverage of a recent New York Times article that nomenclature is used to seduce us into buying paint during tough times. And since lately I’ve been so busy my head feels like it’s coming to a point, let’s play a game — I think we should name a few colors of our own.
In my view, it was Ralph Lauren in particular that changed the way color was defined in the late 90s. Instead of White Dove or Dove White, we suddenly had things like Tudric Pewter and Atlantic Winter to describe a soft grey, and a branding institution was born. Sometimes he’s spot on, and sometimes I roll my eyes heavenward and hold my sides in mirth.
But now, as per this article, there is a whole new set of rules for suggestively selling paint. For one thing, colors like Pale Blush and Baby’s Breath are out, though never retired completely. “Evocative” becomes a key word, and Weekend In the Country is used to describe a grocery bag brown. Or, we’re throwing out narrative all together, and calling paint by their thing-ness: File Cabinet, Pencil, Lunch Bag. But what’s most refreshing is that paint companies aren’t shying away from names that previously held a negative connotation, like Dead Salmon or Tornado.
So here’s the fun part—let’s make three lists of our own: your favorite paint colors with hideous names that you love to use anyway; your favorite colors with a spot-on name that completely capture the moment; and most importantly, a list of your own made-up names that you’ve created yourself. For the record, I look askance at all of this and my favorite Fine Paints of Europe for the most part goes by number, not name. As always, I believe in results.
Ridiculous (but I use them anyway):
Tudric Pewter
Nairobi Dusk
Turret Stair
Mercer
Café on the Riviera
Hot Lips
Bravo (these capture the color):
Classic Brown
Blue Leather
Claret
Skimming Stone
Dior Gray
Deep Bronze Green
Orangery
When I’m Dictator of the Universe (my take on paint color names):
Agent Orange
Green Around the Gills
Pancake Batter
Bruise
Inner Lip
Disco Ball
Girly Pink
Boxwood
Scab
Bandol Rouge
Teddy Bear Brown
Maltese Puppy
Dirty Snow
Renaissance Woodcut
Dark Ages White
Cupcake Blue
Underwater Blue
Fast Food Yellow
Maroon Corduroy From the 70s
Image: Mark Chamberlain, interior and decorative painter
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My bedroom as a teen was painted a neutral tan color called "Ancient Stone." To me, an ancient stone would be a damp-looking dark grey. My walls weren't even close to grey. They were the exact color of a Wendy's chocolate Frosty. So that's what I called them.
This really happened! A friend was deciding on a paint color for his living room. He put down a selection of colors and asked his dog, Mr. Big, to choose. His dog placed his nose on a color called Bone!!!! I swear.
"Maroon Corduroy From the 70s" has me cracking up!
My favorite paint color name I ever saw was called, "NeoClassic Magenta". It was a very loud shade of saturated raspberry pink and it was fugly as all get out. But even 20 years later I'll never forget the name.
I was looking for just the right shade of white to use in my bedroom last year. I wanted it to be just taupe enough to be distinguishable from the ultra-white trim, but a tad more on the warm side, i.e. brown, than on the cooler gray side. I looked at dozens of white/neutrals and finally came across the perfect color. It's name? Offwhite.
My bedroom is painted what I like to call 'Death Eater Grey.' One of my favourite shades. :)
My bathroom has highlights of Green Lantern Green, and the kitchen is a nice shade of Honeydukes' Yellow.
/Nerd.
I pay absolutely no attention to the names of colors (just painted two rooms in my house, could not tell you what the paint chip was called though), but here are some unpleasantly evocative color names that I would use, were I a paint-naming expert:
Spider vein
Milk past its prime
Dying palm tree
Kitty litter
Turbulence
Papercut
Dirty dishwater
Bandaid in the pool
And some less unpleasant ones:
Within the cloud
Playing in the sprinklers
Sand dune
Atlantic ocean
Homemade marinara
Some of my favorite colors:
Black Bean Soup
Blonde
Vermillion
St Lucia Skies
Ocean Voyage
Dream I Can Fly
Outrageous Orange
Bermuda Teal
Dior Grey
Crisp Khaki
@k.a.fashion
Those are hilarious! I can't even imagine what it would be like to tell people my walls were "spider vien". Sound so gross. Really funny though.
I love to paint and have often taken samples of things to the hardware store form them to make the paint from and usually come up with a name for them lol:
Lego block blue
Barbie pink
coffee double double
lavender crushed into slate
fire truck red
golden apple
I had a color from Benjamin Moore that I liked to called "Nacho Cheese" because that's the exact color that it was.
I am constantly saying to myself who comes up with these names and its not just for paint colors, its also for carpet colors, fabrics and many other interior finishes. I just imagine a room of people just there to think of new names for colors...too funny:)
My all-time favourite: Pure Brilliant White.
I recently painted my office "Pothole"..... which confuses me, since the color is nowhere near pavement color. It's really a brown, not a gray...
Add me to the people who like to read the names on paint chips. And yes, I, too, wonder who comes up with the names. But it is much easier to remember that you painted your bedroom with Roxbury Caramel than, for example, with CR-312.
If you asked what to imagine under Roaring Mountain I would not know what to say, but it is a light blue with greying cast (from Ralph Lauren) that I painted my bedroom with a few years ago. It turned out to be an awesome colour, very peaceful and subdued, almost silvery, in the morning; quite a bright shade of aqua in mid afternoon when my bedroom got some rays of sun.
This reminds me of the post on "damn you auto correct". The person painted their room and said "Yeah...it's called Period Red"
Their friend was like "Dude that's gross!"
And they responded "PERSIAN!! PERSIAN RED!"
The name didn't exactly sound conducive to romance, but we painted our bedroom with "Weathered Fossil."
F&B's Elephant's Breath - a lovely, soft grey, despite the name!
my walls are currently just primered. so here are my funny names if i were master of the universe:
Floating Goldfish
Love Potion No. 72
Thrift Store Beige
Patty Wagon Floor
Pool Table Green
Lobster Bisque
and my personal favorite: Hairball.
this was fun, can we do another post with the best-of's from the comments? i nominate 'dirty snow' and 'kitty litter.'
This reminds me of painting over almost every wall in my previous house. The color? I called it Band-Aid Brown. It was awful. In the sun, it looked like Melted Chocolate Ice Cream.
canadianmango, just had to check out roaring mountain after hearing your description... what a beautiful shade! just finished painting my place - maybe next time....
My kitchen is an old Martha Stewart Lowe's color called pumpkin pie, It's that exact color too.
I used to work in the paint dept of a well known store. i once had a couple come in to use the machine that copies the color of what you like by taking a reading of whatever sample you had. They wanted to match the color of the wifes nipple. I said No.
But other tan that I have wanted to name colors of crayons and paint since I could remember.
Me, I noticed the names with Martha Stewart in the early '90s, when she first released her high-end line with Fine Paints of Europe (ironically enough, given their numbering system). Araucana Green, Muslin... And of course, the Farrow and Ball colours -- Dead Salmon (that's theirs, isn't it?) and Down Pipe, tied for my all-time favourite name.
The other? Milk Glow. One of the most beautiful and balanced whites I've ever come across was Colour Your World's "Milk Glow", which looked just like glowing (full fat, not skim) milk.
Wish I could still find that white now in order to compare with my current Donald Kaufman favourites.
Our living room is a color called "Hemingway." I have no idea how Hemingway relates to almost-white shade of green we chose, but I don't suppose I object to it.
My favorite paint ever was the color in our bedroom at our last apartment. Spinach. Very, very apt.
If you ever wonder what's in a name, Vera Wang recently put out a line of clothes for professional women with a signature color called Monster. It sold like crazy.
A few years earlier Vera had used the exact same color in a different line, and it was a complete flop. The only difference was the name of the color. She had originally called it lilac.
Polished silver is my current bedroom color i adore it, a soft gray with a hint of blue its so soothing and wonderful... with string of pearls trim and ceiling, perfect color combo.
i repainted the whole house and only remember the names of those colors...
paint names are outrageous, there is a quiz on mental floss called ben and jerry's ice cream flavor or paint color?
My husband calls my favorite paint color 'Battleship Gray'. I call his favorite ,'Jaundice Yellow'. It's a marriage of equality. :)
A few months ago, I painted a room in my building Gauguin blue. When a friend and I picked out the color, we thought we'd feel whisked away to a calm, island paradise everytime we stepped into it. But now all we can think of when we step into the Gauguin blue room are the more scandalous aspects of Gauguin's life in the tropics. It's still a beautiful color though - just like the deep blue you'd see in a Gauguin or Van Gogh painting.
My favorite paint color name I've ever come across was one of those "historic" colors called Woodrow Wilson Blush. Although I once painted my bedroom with a color called Pirate Coast, so that's a very close second.
What ever happened to color names that described the colors? I bet we could all recognize scarlet red or watermelon pink, but just from the name you can't tell whether "Mercer" goes better with a dark blue-grey or a medium red-purple.
When I was choosing a dark brown/black to paint a table, I was kind of amused at all the coffee and spice names flying around the different paint lines. Cappucino. Cinnamon. Chocolate malt. I ended up with "French Roast," which is a nice color for the table.
During the process, however, I realized that a lot of these colors they're naming after coffee or chocolate desserts also match the range of human skin tones. It was a bit of fun for me to imagine what paint-namers would call the shades if political correctness didn't disallow it.
Should I paint the living room Irish Baby Belly, or go with Tilda Swinton?
Mary
It's not paint, but when it comes to working in fashion and the names we come up with for the swatches in the colour range, it's the same deal. My favourite ever name was actually one I read on the tag of a bright orange Chloe dress. BBC Lipstick.
My brother has a feature wall in his room painted Self Destruct. Nice cheerful one there!
a few i forgot:
Hardy Boy Book Blue
Vespa
Pepto Bismal; and
my favorite reader submissions:
BBC Lipstick
Spider Vein
Kitty Litter
Mama Rose