Retrospect
Retrospect
Where Did All The Color Go? | Retrospect Ep.249
Use Left/Right to seek, Home/End to jump to start or end. Hold shift to jump forward or backward.
In this week’s episode we discussed why the modern world feels so gray? From architecture and cars to clothing, technology, and the spaces we live in, color seems to be slowly disappearing. We explore why everything around us has become so muted, and what our obsession with gray, white, black, and beige says about modern life.
Our Links:
Retrospect
Keywords
color trends, cultural fingerprint, architectural design, uniformity, corporate efficiency, digital culture, resale value, individualism, minimalism, psychological impact, market influence, home decor, car colors, societal change, consumer behavior
Jason
Every civilization leaves behind a fingerprint. The Romans left marble. The Victorians left ornament. The Art Deco generation left bold geometry. What will we leave behind? 50 Shades of Gray. Somewhere along the way, our cities stopped looking alive. Color disappeared from our homes. Personality disappeared from our storefronts. Cars became grayscale appliances. Neighborhoods began looking interchangeable, as though originality had become a design flaw. That's not just an architectural story; it's a cultural one. Because when everything begins to look the same, you have to wonder whether we're slowly thinking the same, shopping the same, and living the same. Was this driven by economics, corporate efficiency, digital culture, or have we unconsciously traded beauty for speed, uniqueness for uniformity, and craftsmanship for convenience. Today isn't really about paint. It's about what happens when a civilization gradually removes the color from its surroundings, and whether that change eventually reaches the people living inside them. The walls may be gray, but perhaps that's only where the story begins.
Ian
Welcome to the Retrospect Podcast, a show where people come together from different walks of life and discuss a topic from the generation's perspective. My name is Ian, and as always, I'm joined by Stoney. Hello, and Jason.
Jason
Hello, everyone.
Ian
How's it going, everybody?
Jason
Going? Well, it's my first break.
Ian
Oh yeah, yeah. First, yeah, breath of fresh air. It's
Jason
been, it's been nonstop for me. I, we, the wife and I moved this week, so I sold my house and of 22 years of my life in it. Wow! And moved to another house, and it's it's a lot bigger than than the one I've been having. And you know, my wife and I've been we've kind of been playing jokes with each other. Like she's down the hall, and I'm like, "Are you down there? And it's just echoing throughout this. Marco, so it's been uh, it's been quite of a change because I mean, sometimes I'm walking through the house. I say, "God, this house is super. Have you texted her,
Stoney
called her yet? On the phone, y'all are still in the house. That's cool. So it's how does it how does it
Ian
feel going from like a house that you've been at for so long? Because I mean, I'm assuming you haven't moved in a long time.
Jason
No, I haven't. Yeah, actually, believe it or not, I was thinking about it. I was almost 25 years of my life because I lived in that neighborhood that I was in for four years.
Ian
Okay,
Jason
before I moved back to it, which was now you know by 2021 years, right? So I mean, literally almost 25 years. Half of my life has been associated with that neighborhood. Yeah, and so it's I pass by it, you know, and you know because my wife, she asked me, "Are you feeling anything? Yeah,
Stoney
I'm feeling overwhelmed because you made me move into this house when I was happy in the one I was. Yeah,
Jason
I said, you know, it's I, I mean, you know, it's just I never thought I would live in a house like this. As I said, the house I was living was maybe was comfortable. 1313, Men don't need all that extravagance. We don't need all. We don't need square feet. We don't need the size. We don't need the
Stoney
vaulted ceilings. Yeah, it's great if we got it, but at 60 years old, we're not going to go. Ooh, I need to upsize. I need to upscale where I'm living. Yeah, hell no. Yeah, no, it
Jason
it was not a house to really entertain,
Ian
right?
Jason
You know,
Ian
of course.
Jason
And I knew when I got married that that was probably one of the things that was going to happen. I was going to move, and so I promised her that we would find a house that you know because you want to have a house together,
Ian
of course,
Jason
because that-that was my house. That wasn't her house, of course. And so, and it was small, and we were on top of one another. And
Stoney
y'all aren't big people. That's a big problem. But every
Ian
now and then, it is nice. Like I feel like I understand where I understand both sides of the coin because I think at a certain point, like I, I feel like I would want a place where my my my wife to be would would feel comfortable, and it can and she can make it her own, and it was like a special place. And if that's something that she would really want, I'm even though I may not want all the all the extravagance, all the nice things, you know, especially if it's in our butt. We can afford it, and it's going
Stoney
to. Well, you got to think about it like this. He goes from a yard he can manage,
Ian
yeah, yeah, to now it's
Stoney
a bigger yard. Of course. So what she does is she compounds his work.
Ian
Yeah, yeah. Okay,
Stoney
because now the honey do list is going to double or triple, and now in what free time he thought he used to have is now going to be gone.
Jason
Well, I will say regarding that, there really is no yard.
Ian
That's good.
Jason
Actually, I had more yard at the other house than I have at this one. This house, this place is mostly all house.
Ian
Yeah,
Jason
there's a little bit.
Stoney
Basically, you can hear your neighbor farting.
Ian
Yeah, a little bit
Jason
more on the, a little bit more on the the the what I would call the more HOA strict type of environment, so
Ian
we all know how our fans know about how feel about HOAs. Yeah, I mean, well, look, I look,
Jason
I understand. I was an HOA president for 12 years. Yeah, yeah, I kind of understand that world. I know why they exist, and I'm glad they exist because I want people to maintain their house and yards growing like look like a jungle or something.
Ian
Yeah.
Jason
So I I think in in a way it's good. So funny that we were you know we're going to be repainting the house, and one of the prohibitions are saturated colors, yeah, yeah, which kind of ties into our our topic today, actually. So it's so funny how all this kind of works out, but it does. It's if you look at homes today, it's there's a lot of uniformity to them, and I
Ian
basic colors. You know,
Jason
I guess you know the the days of having a hot pink house,
Ian
you know, not with a not without probably HOA, you know, that's
Jason
prohibited. So yeah, I mean, we've already been told no for the first thing we requested. So
Ian
really,
Jason
yeah, something to do with a roof, but
Ian
interesting.
Jason
Which I was kind of thinking they probably would deny it, but I said, "Well, we'll take a shot at it and see, because I didn't see anybody else in the neighborhood that what we were wanting to do it. They didn't have them, so I knew was it was probably a long shot, but you never know. So, but so yeah, so we're we're finally moved in fully, and I gave the keys to the to the the young lady who bought my house. Yeah, very nice person. I wished her the best. I said, you know, a lot of TLC I put into this place. A lot of memories here, but you know, you make it your own now. And as
Stoney
you're driving away, four construction crews pull up and they go tear down. It's an apartment. The whole inside, right? Yeah,
Jason
she she's a uh
Stoney
huh. She'll be changing. She's gonna
Jason
be well. Basically, she says, "Man, you pretty much did everything to this house. She goes, "And I actually asked her, 'Were you gonna be doing anything different? She go, 'No, because I don't. I mean, you know, you know. I mean, I don't know what a financial situation. Oh, right, right. Is but everything in the house is pretty much remodeled. So I mean, it's there's really nothing to change per se, right?
Ian
But unless you want a special, right? I mean, unless there's
Jason
something different. Maybe she may want to repaint the wall or something like that. But I mean, whatever. But I mean, I told her she goes, "Well, I don't want to do any because I had a greenhouse. Well, I don't want to tear it down because I know. I said, "It's your house now. Do
Ian
what you want to do. It's yours now. You
Jason
do what you want. Why you didn't
Stoney
tear that one and put it in your new house?
Jason
I can't have a. Get
Ian
out. HOA. HOA. Come on. Uh oh. Here we go. Yeah. It's how long until you're the president of the job? I'm joking. I'm joking. I don't want it. I'm kidding. I don't want it.
Stoney
What are you gonna do with all your plants?
Jason
Well, I get most of them. I I gave to my friend that has the nursery. Okay, with the carnivorous plants, I brought them all over there. So the only plants we brought over are like you know like your outdoor type decorative plants, so we'll we've got them kind of put in the back right now. We we we did away with a lot of them, yeah. And so we'll have to kind of figure out how we're gonna we're gonna work it. All right, how you gonna live into it? Yeah, I mean, we right now right now we're just trying to get the inside of course livable. Yeah, let's unpack
Ian
all the boxes. Yeah, exactly. Then I'll start focusing. So you said you're going to
Stoney
paint the whole house. Shouldn't you paint the house before you put everything up? Well, in its spots.
Jason
Well, we're going to do ceilings first because she doesn't like the ceiling because the ceiling's gray. Okay, just so you know, once again tied into this topic, we actually well, I like bright white for ceilings. I'm not a colored person when it comes to ceilings like that. I like white. It opens the room up more. Well, it
Stoney
doesn't matter what you think. What does Tracy like? She likes white now. Okay, all right. Yeah, and I like white too.
Ian
She likes white, so I like white. I'm joking. No, that's it. She's uh,
Jason
she's she's her and I. Okay, honey, it's it's pretty funny. We her and I both are very kind of sticklers on how things should look.
Ian
Yeah,
Jason
I'm a very neat person when it comes to my home. I like a very manicured yard. I like flowers. I like things to look pretty.
Ian
Yeah.
Jason
So, you know, her and I are kind of on the same page when it comes to that. I don't really have a particular preference on wall colors. I really don't. I mean, as long as it looks nice. Yeah, yeah. I can really. I don't lose any sleep over that kind of stuff, but I do like white ceilings.
Stoney
But you see, what drives me crazy is is like you have all these wonderful homes, Victorian homes, etc. and people come in and they destroy all of the wood, all of the color, and they they just bleach it white, and you've lost all the character, and you know, and Miranda uses this thing. Well, it looks expensive. No, it doesn't. I hate that statement. I hate that. I don't believe. I hate that. No, it does not look expensive. It
Ian
looks clinical. Yeah. Well, if you
Stoney
think about it, you know what? What did the prison systems do; they went to all gray.
Ian
Yeah,
Stoney
they did it on purpose.
Jason
Yep,
Stoney
and you know other things. You know hospitals. Yeah, they're all institutional colors. Casinos do colors to make you you know feel another way. Yeah, so colors are very important in our life. So my question is: is why are they dumbing down our individualism? Nobody wants is oh oh well it's it's a safe resale if the house is white.
Ian
Yeah.
Stoney
Well, in his in Jason's opening, it said this isn't about color. This is 100% about color, but it's how people are using
Ian
it. Yeah.
Stoney
You know, cars. 26% of the market share is white. 22 to 20 is black. 18 to 23 is gray. 10 to 12 is silver, and eight to 10 is red and blue.
Ian
Wow, that's crazy!
Stoney
Drive down the road and look at the new car lot and see how many other than white, black, and gray cars? Do you see? Miranda and I were driving around today, and we were like getting the thing. Oh, there's only two other cars there. Parking lot full of cars: white, black, and gray. Yep, white, black, and gray. And that's it. I challenge y'all and the and the the listeners. Next time you go driving down the road, look at the cars on the road. There's
Ian
a on my way home from work. There's like a little like strip mall that's got like some restaurants and some things. And I'll never forget. It was like we were talking about doing this episode like a couple weeks ago, and I like specifically had this thought as I was driving home from work. I looked into the parking lot, and I kid you not, there was five different white vehicles that were all lined up in the parking lot. No other cars were on it. It was just like boom, boom, boom. All and like no no spaces between them, but they were all different makes and models. But it was just five white cars in a line. I was like, whoa, it's crazy. But obviously, again, like you just like your statistic just said, was it 80 something percent or some percent of it was white and black, which is crazy. To white is
Stoney
26% Black is 22 to 22% Yeah, and gray is 18 to 23% So
Ian
when you think about it, between black, white, and gray, that's
Stoney
60% 60%
Ian
That's 60 to 70% Exactly. That's wild. Yeah. Well,
Jason
I mean, the car I I just purchased as a as an orange. I know,
Ian
and it looks really nice. That's a rarity in today's society. I I
Jason
wanted something different, but now
Stoney
Miranda has the Cajun red truck.
Ian
Okay,
Stoney
that something you do not see very often. You're right. That I think. Yeah. What do I have? I have the Tahoe and the Lexus. What colors are they? White and silver?
Ian
Exactly, right.
Jason
Yeah, they said. Look at I'm looking at like some old photos of automobiles. Look in the '50s. That cars came in turquoise, and a purple
Stoney
red, mint
Jason
green,
Ian
yeah,
Jason
bright yellow, pink, and teal. I mean, you know,
Stoney
at one time pink was the masculine color.
Ian
Yeah, yeah.
Stoney
At one time, pink was the masculine color. Men wore pink to be masculine, and that kind of got changed. But
Ian
yeah, yeah, that's crazy. That's a that's a that is a very interesting array of colors to pick from. I
Stoney
remember growing up in the 70s and the 80s. Man, everything was color.
Ian
Oh yeah,
Stoney
everything. Look at the vibrant color of the 80s, you know, when they shot and killed disco that day, and and all this new music was coming out. Look at all the color of the clothes.
Ian
Yeah,
Stoney
and then that's when people started painting red bedrooms and and and things like that. And then all of a sudden, that don't happen too much anymore.
Ian
Yeah.
Jason
Well, you know, yeah, they basically have more. Seeing here, it says during the late 1800s to the early 1900s, many architects believe Victorian design had become excessive. If you notice, Levi Lake had buildings of old; they were very grand, elaborate,
Jason
elaborate construction, and now it's today it's emphasized simplicity, function, geometry, and clean lines. Now I like clean lines, and I don't see that. But you know,
Stoney
I did a little thing. I kind of looked. I was going to go, is it? Is it market value? Is it what is the resale? So I looked at a couple of studies, and a 2025 IC car study of more than 1.2 three-year-old vehicles, found the average depreciation: yellow 24; orange, 24.4; green, 26.3; beige, 30; red, 30; gray, 30.5. The market average is 31. Black is 31.9; white is 32.1, and gold is 34.4.
Jason
What now? These are for car. This is depreciation. This is
Stoney
nothing but the car. A three-year-old car is going to depreciate. Obviously, when you drive it off the lot, it's going to lose 25% of its value that day.
Ian
Yeah.
Stoney
But then over the next three years, it's going to lose another huge depreciation value just for the color that it has on it,
Ian
right? But it also doesn't seem like it was that. I mean, maybe I'm crazy. It doesn't feel like it's that. Maybe
Ian
I don't know. It just it feels like it doesn't feel like it was that crazy. I didn't think it was, but all in the 30 percents.
Stoney
What is it becoming safer though?
Ian
All right,
Stoney
because you notice white wasn't in there.
Ian
Yeah,
Stoney
the the safe color silver gray wasn't in there. Yeah, so you know I don't know. And black colors are black cars are are hard to maintain.
Ian
Yeah,
Jason
well they show dirt. They show dirt.
Stoney
They show the little water spots.
Ian
Yep.
Jason
Yeah, I don't. I don't know, man. I'm looking here on some some some statistics on these colors on homes. According to a 2026 huge trend report, H O U Z Z. If I'm saying that right, say beige became the most popular exterior color.
Ian
Really,
Jason
say beige now represents 24% of exterior color choices. White fell to 14% and grade declined to 12% Now they're saying some designers saying homeowners are seeking warmer, more inviting homes after years of cool, minimalist palettes. So, but
Stoney
you know what's coming up?
Ian
Greig, grayish,
Stoney
gray, gray, gray, which is a gray beige hybrid, which is intended to combine contemporary restraint and that warmth you're talking about.
Jason
Well, the color we chose for our roof is Georgetown gray.
Ian
Really? Okay, okay.
Jason
So
Ian
can't go wrong.
Jason
The wife loves gray. Well, it's kind of a more of a it's kind of a lighter gray. Yeah, it's not deep grays. Yeah, but it may
Stoney
also help keep it cooler too, if it reflects a little bit more of the sun being a little lighter than black.
Ian
I'll never forget. It was probably it was a handful of years ago. I think Stoney may remember this too. There was an office space I used to work at, and they were remodeling it because of some situations that took place. And I'll never forget that the that they were they were talking extensively about what color they wanted to paint the offices, and they eventually landed on agreeable gray, and it was the lightest shade of gray I've ever seen. And I was like, it's not really white, it's not really gray, and that was why. Like everyone was like, "It's perfect. It's it's it's it's kind of the yeah, it's agreeable. And I was like, "That's when I thought about it. I was like, it, it really is that. It's called that for a reason. And again, it like an office space. It was not. There was no color in it, but I would have loved to have had.
Jason
Well, Sherwin Williams, Valpar, and Benjamin Moore and other paint companies are forecasting a move toward forest green,
Ian
yes, clay
Jason
clay reds, earthy browns, muted blues, and warm neutrals, instead of that monochromatic gray interior. In the
Ian
in the graphic design space, that forest green you're talking about has been popping up a lot in my my world. Yeah, it's just
Jason
like forest green.
Ian
It just like in in certain vehicles
Stoney
it doesn't look bad. It's kind of like some of the motorcycles and some of the trucks now have battleship gray on them.
Ian
Yeah, yeah.
Stoney
You give it a cool name. Exactly, gunmetal gray. Gun metal gray. Yeah, yeah, that's cool.
Ian
Yeah,
Stoney
well, the grayscale is really taking over, and I have some examples of that. The U.S. vehicle population over the years, and I've got from 1996 to 2025, and I'm not going to do all those years. I'm just going to say from 96 to 2025. This is the changes. White went from 22.1 to 25.7. Black, interesting enough, went from 14.2 to 23.4. Gray, 3.6 to 23. Blue went down 1% from 10 to 9.1. Silver went up a hair from 7.3 to 8.4. Red went from 20.1 to 7.0. Wow, green. What we're talking about. That's why I jumped on this so I could throw this out there. Went from 13.4 to 2.2. Now the rest of these brown, beige, orange, yellow, gold, and purple went from 2.9, 1.6 to almost nothing to 0.4, 0.4, 0.3, 0.100, in 2025.
Jason
Damn!
Stoney
So we are losing that, and the white, black, and gray silver
Ian
umbrella. Umbrella
Stoney
went in 1996. Went from 47.3 to 80.4.
Ian
Wow, that's crazy. That
Stoney
means eight and 10 cars are white, black,
Ian
or some silver. Yeah, yeah, some flavor of gray. That's interesting. Yeah,
Jason
well, they say psychology favors safe.
Ian
Oh yeah,
Jason
you know, people buy homes intending to sell them someday. That sounds like an investment. Say great offends almost no one. Bright yellow. Some people love it. Yeah, some people don't. Yeah. So, anything where they have to appeal to the masses, I'm gonna, you know,
Ian
yeah, I I understand, but it's also like at a certain point, if you try to cater to everyone, you cater to no one, and that's where I feel like it loses the personality, it loses the flavor, the.
Stoney
But you remember back in the day, yeah, what was a white truck? It was a fleet vehicle. It was construction, right? It was government type government type vehicle. You know, now it's everything. Yep, because I guess it's easy.
Ian
Yeah.
Jason
So they're saying the bright colors became associated with being playful or niche,
Ian
because the same the same thing happened with like the I feel like the over corporatization of like McDonald's. There was like a point in time in like the 80s, McDonald's look nothing like they used where it was like it was colorful, it was fun, and then again, I think it was like sometime around like the 90s and 2000. Late, yeah, the late 90s. They they like they I think they got in trouble for like really catering towards children and potential like the unhealthiness aspect of it, and so they like really leaned towards catering towards adults more. And in the process of doing that, like all the McDonald's buildings are like brown and black, and they're so it just feels corporate and clean, like sterile, and it's not like there's no I don't know doesn't have the whimsy like it used to.
Stoney
I mean, even Tesla is part of this. Tesla went from seven colors to five.
Ian
Really?
Stoney
Yes, and two of them are a paid. You have to pay for it to be painted that color. Yeah, an
Ian
upcharge for it.
Stoney
You know, Dahmer Benz in 1956 had 26 colors and 23 two-tone schemes.
Ian
Wow, that's cool.
Stoney
I mean, wow. You know, yeah,
Ian
that's interesting.
Jason
Well, another. This is an interesting. I kind of want to talk about this a little bit because I'm just I don't know. They say color is associated with commitment.
Ian
Really? What do you mean?
Jason
I don't know. That's what I was trying to read here, but they're saying if you choose a color, it's sort of like you're marrying it to it versus the grays are more psychologically their separation, and I can just leave it when I want to leave it. And I'm wondering if there's a connection between I think it's our aversion to commitment in modern world, and that's what's driving some of this kind of neutral type colors,
Ian
yeah,
Jason
versus bright colors back in the you know.
Ian
I think also I think potentially also I think subconsciously colors I think evoke certain emotions in people. Maybe I'm wrong. This is all just a hypothesis.
Stoney
I think in some people it does right. In me, I'm colorblind. Right, right. I really don't, but but in some people I can see that, and I
Ian
think that some people I think they they say this like when you're going on a job interview, well, wear certain colors, you know, because it probably it exudes some sort of level of confidence that people can like look at you and can probably feel a certain way. Now, is that true? I don't know. I never really tested it myself, but or or again like skin tones, you have a certain skin tone. Sometimes a certain color looks good on you. That kind of stuff. Where it's like, I wonder if that kind of plays into what you're talking about too. That like, if you have a blue car, like, like, do you look at the blue car or a blue house or whatever, and you're like, oh, that's not really, I'm not, I'm not really feeling what that's given me subconsciously. But I think I think you're
Stoney
onto something. Think about this, and it's your generation, the millennials, that have really started to pull to this minimalistic type thing and minimal colors. But think about that. Who do y'all not want to be like? You've got your individualism away from your grandparents, who had all these wood colors, who had all these fancy color cars and everything like that, but then what's the swing now? People are leaving these younger kids are leaving that minimalistic stuff and going back because when you think about it, the the the auto dealers were loving this.
Ian
Oh yeah,
Stoney
because their costs started to come down. Right, because what what drives the cost? But but I kind of think you're you're kind of onto something right there, Ian, because your generation doesn't want to be like the grandparents,
Ian
right?
Stoney
You know, you don't want that TV that you are going to hand down to somebody, that old country couch with the real wood, with the you know that your grandparents had and then had it wrapped in plastic.
Ian
Yeah,
Stoney
y'all want to be so far away from that-the real color in the walls, the real color on the, like Jason said, on the outside of the houses. There was a time you could go blue houses, yellow houses, all these pastel color houses and neighborhoods. I'm sorry, as color blind as I am, those neighborhoods looked great.
Ian
Yeah, but now
Stoney
the HOA says you can't do that. Really? No. What happens if I want a blue house?
Ian
Yeah, I wonder. Then go
Stoney
move somewhere else. I like the house I'm in. Yeah,
Ian
I wonder. I mean, I potentially wonder if that's what that potentially is. Or like you look at like for instance, like let's say buying a red car. Like what if you are to like commit yourself to owning a red car for over five years? Like, am I the kind of person wants to drive a red car? Like, is that
Jason
well? There's a lot. There's a lot to be said. For you look at a car, and we've all seen them. It's like, man, the car is fine, but will I like it five years from now? Will I be comfortable driving that kind of car? Like, I remember when I bought my a the my Trans Am, okay, that I had, I I brought that car brand new off the showroom floor, but I could have gotten the thirtyth or 35th anniversary edition, which was yellow.
Ian
Nice,
Jason
and I asked myself then, do
Ian
I want to?
Jason
Do I want? What is that going to look like eight years from now?
Ian
Yeah.
Jason
Well, it still provoked the same thing in me that it's invoking at that moment, right? And so I made decision. I bought a white one. It was easy. It was easy because I knew white, you know, it's white will always be around. Yeah, yeah. You know, so, so yeah. I mean, I thought about that because knowing that it's like if I bought that, it's sort of like basically I'm hooked to it. Yeah, because I know people probably would like white, whether they like yellow?
Ian
Yeah, yeah,
Stoney
or orange? Orange. What's your resale value? We just learned the resale value of your car just went down. That's okay. You know, but think about this also. Remember when when your friends and your family had kids? What did they do in the baby's room? All these bright colors and so now it's beige.
Ian
Yep,
Stoney
it's plain beige, brown, nothing. So clinical, so sterile. You know, it's like it's kind of like you know, why did the prisons get away from colors? Because they didn't want to inadvertently throw up some gang colors and hand signals. You know, and it's just poor kids, man. You know, back in my time, you had a great nursery. You had to look all kind of stuff. The colors were bright colors. Yeah, I just
Ian
I just recently watched a video about this because we've been talking about it so much. Obviously, my YouTube algorithm is like, oh, you should watch this video, and I somebody had someone had had posed a good point that I didn't think about. Is it like it's a vicious cycle now, where because like let's say someone like myself who like I do like things to be minimalist in some aspects. I don't like to be too overly gaudy with some stuff, but there are some things that I do like, and I would like some color. In my life, and I would like some some things to be antique or you know special. You want it to be you. You want to have a
Stoney
little individualism.
Ian
But the thing is, is that like if I'm to go purchase furniture anywhere, they're they're manufacturing furniture to the masses, which all primarily want this certain type of color pattern or modern esthetic, quote unquote, if you want to call it that. So even even if you wanted to like really reach out to like find furniture at like a at a big name store, like you're really pigeonholed into a certain thing, or if you start to go down even more things that you can afford that are cheaply made are also in this same sort of category, and because everyone is purchasing all that, manufacturers keep manufacturing more of it, and then now we're just in this like vicious cycle where it's like because it's just the easiest thing because it's a white piece of furniture or a gray brown um what a grayish piece of furniture, and it's like it's a everyone's okay with it and it sells pretty well because it's unoffensive. They're just like, oh well, let's just make more of it. Oh, that's selling very well. Then let's just copy that and make a new thing out of it. And then, so even if you want it to have like something with a little bit of color, a little bit of flavor, a little spice that's all interesting and fun, you either have to like purchase an antique somewhere, or like you really got to go somewhere special that like specially makes these things, which can be expensive. Which again, like someone like myself probably can't afford, and so it's like, okay, well, yeah, you know. I give
Stoney
you an example. My dad and my bonus mom. He he had a chair. He had a lounge chair that he loved. I guess he had it for like 15 some odd years, and a spring came out from underneath it. And instead of fixing it, they were going to buy him another one. And they kind of went through this process. Well, they contacted the company that made the original one, and it cost a bit more.
Ian
Oh yeah,
Stoney
but they custom made a similar chair. They didn't make that old model; they had a newer and updated model. But they could pick the color, they could pick the cushions that they wanted on it, and it took him like six weeks. He had to wait six weeks for his chair. But once it came and arrived, oh, he's kicked back. Oh, yeah, he loves his chair because it was. You can still get custom stuff made. Oh yeah, it's pricey, but it's still gonna. You can still get it done. But like you said, for the masses, keep putting out this crap.
Ian
Oh yeah,
Stoney
the junk. Right.
Jason
Well, Matt, you know it's a global market, so it's just easier. Oh, that's what I'm saying. It's easier to keep everything uniform.
Ian
Yep, and like I said, once
Stoney
cheaper,
Ian
once you make like a an inoffensive white table and everyone buys it because it's like, oh, it's just simple and easy and not super expensive. They're like, oh, well, this is the market. Let's make more unoffensive white furniture. The psychology
Stoney
of it too comes out like why white kitchens one was a question I have and it's you know white kitchens are commercially useful because of a couple of reasons they communicate number one what cleanliness yes of
Ian
course
Stoney
okay they they communicate that and brightness while remaining compatible with many countertops, stainless steel, white and stainless steel looks really good, which is one of the reasons stainless steel has kind of taken over in normal home kitchens. Before you could get colors and levels and all kind of stuff, a red
Ian
fridge.
Stoney
But there's also, like I was talking about, there's a renewed interest in going back to the woods and warmer finishes.
Ian
Yeah,
Stoney
so I'm excited about that because I'm tired of this draft stuff. You know, I really am. But stainless steel comes. What does it convey? Professionalism, durability. Oh yeah. You know, and plus it goes great with white. Right. You know, stainless and white is you know I'm
Jason
gonna tell you an entity that probably really set the trend on this is Apple.
Ian
Oh yeah, you
Jason
think about beginning with the iMac and the iPhone, white, silver, aluminum, and glass.
Ian
Yep,
Jason
and in essence, psychologically, they basically made those associate with intelligence, premium quality, and innovation. They
Stoney
sold it at that. That's not really what it was. I'll
Ian
never forget whenever the space gray came out, and it was just like an aluminum chassis or whatever. And I was like, but you see, there was
Stoney
somebody else at fault too, almost at the same time as Apple.
Ian
What
Stoney
HGTV
Ian
really? They started pushing the gray stuff. You're right. You're right. They started. Oh, you know,
Stoney
I don't know who came first, but they were looking at each other, going, "Hey, we can push this gray. But HGTV it
Jason
photographs well. It okay. Hey, it
Stoney
photographs well, films well, everything.
Ian
Well, it's like we've said numerous times when it comes like corporate stuff. Money's got to go. Like the numbers got to go up, and so if you were to make like a special color now, not to say that again places aren't doing that now because they are. So maybe maybe we're changing. Maybe the world's healing in a different direction. But like you know, once you start making like the simple colors and the. Sell out, you quickly realize. Oh well, this like blue version that we have of it is not selling as much, right? And we're spending money to make it and manufacture it. Just use that money to make more white ones, right? Or make more gray ones. So I mean,
Stoney
think about this. Back when I was growing up, you know, in the early days, the '40s and stuff like that, the '50s, women did the French manicure, and then all of a sudden, in the 60 s, 70 s, and 80 s, all these flamboyant colors just started coming out. That because you didn't care if it clashed with your wardrobe. That was your statement. That was part of your individual style was to wear that color, and then remember the the blue eyeliners and all of this stuff coming out,
Ian
but then
Stoney
all of a sudden it started clashing, and now they're coming back to nude nails, more of the French manicure. Maybe not as long. Even those long nails are kind of coming back down a little bit. But there was a whole case study that did something on the French manicure In the 70s, because film actresses needed something that would that could work across different wardrobes, changes in the day and the week. You didn't want to put all that chemicals on the ladies' nails three or four times a day or week. So that's that's kind of how the the French manicure really kind of took off, but it just worked, you know. Wedding and ceremony flexibilities, low visual conflict with jewelries and things like that. But I can remember the time when all of now, if you look at it, most women today, which are wearing these, I'm sorry, I know I'm fixing to get a letter. Our email is getoffended together@gmail.com. But they're all wearing these nasty flip flops, all this stuff, and they got white toenails and white fingernails, and they're being led to believe that this is showing, you know, effort. It's showing money. Only rich women are are women that you know that have their stuff together do this, and I fricking hate it. It's almost worse than that thing that Miranda says. Oh, it looks expensive. I hate that. You know what happened to the time where where people could be individuals and say this
Ian
is me. I think that I hope. I think hopefully we're getting back to that a little bit. I mean, I think that it's like with most things. There's a there's a a phase for some of this, but I don't know. Even even like I think even in the video that I had watched, they had talked about like Christmas lights, like Christmas lights. Just something to go into that. And now you're looking to find something that's not white, clean. Yeah, it's
Stoney
all white,
Ian
unoffensive. Yeah,
Stoney
I mean, even just a couple of years ago, you could get the LED. What is it? The with the fiber optics. Oh yeah, yeah. And it would. You have one, don't you? That it would change colors through the fiber optics in it. Didn't you have one? I don't think so. It rotated around. I know
Ian
what you're talking about. I don't think I have one. I thought you had
Stoney
one. I'm sorry. No, no, no.
Ian
It's okay. I know exactly. I don't know what it's called. I know exactly what we're talking about. Yeah, it's got and it looked neat. Yeah, it's fun and it
Stoney
gave color to stuff. Now you're
Ian
lava lamps. Yes, lava lamps. Yeah, I was just thinking about things like that. Yeah, I I had a I had one of those black lava lamps that had the blue liquid with the green lava in it. I anyways, just like I don't know. There's so many fun little things like that. I mean,
Stoney
I guess what the point I'm trying to make is, is color, it really carries identity. Yeah, and in a world where we're being taught we must conform to even things we don't agree with, or in Bonifer's theory episode, you know, the the stupid, not uneducated, but the stupid who are giving up their right to think for themselves? It seems like this is part of that, doesn't it? Yeah. Because we're being taught to conform, whether we like it or not.
Ian
Yep.
Stoney
I love individualism. That's what America is about: being who you are. If you want to be a sheep, be a sheep.
Ian
Right. Right. But I'm
Stoney
sorry. Do you really want to be a sheep? And all these color changes are evidence that someone is possibly-and I don't know if it's intentional-but some, and it could be the manufacturers because you got three colors, they make money. Yeah, because think about just the cost of okay, we're going to make 15 cars this color, and then we're going to have to change our nozzles and spray this color, and then change and change this, and then all of a sudden you got all this extra work. All we got to do is, hey, we'll make 1000 this color. We'll change it. We'll make we got three more colors. That's
Ian
it. Right.
Stoney
Instead of what was it, 56 back in the 50s, and then
Ian
a handful of two tone ones. Yeah. I mean, really,
Stoney
you know, look at look. They're just they're diving that cost way down is it part of that too?
Ian
I I think it's I think it's a I think it's a number of things, and I think a lot of it is is is corporate greed. Again, they like I said that money number has to go up, and I think whenever you start doing specialized versions or specialized colors, but are
Stoney
people fighting back? Look what happened to the CEO of Cracker Barrel. Oh yes, okay. She, oh, we're going to change this, and we're going to do. But like you said, the McDonald's. Oh yeah. Back when I was a kid, you had the big playgrounds and all these colors, and Ronald McDonald, and everybody turns out scared of clowns. But well, you know. But but look, now they're very clinical.
Ian
Oh yeah.
Stoney
It could be a doctor's office for anything instead of an office building.
Stoney
Yeah, yeah. And then now you see you see the CEO come in and change. She's gone.
Ian
Yeah.
Stoney
She she she got.
Ian
Oh yeah.
Stoney
She she got walked to the office front door because she cost him, and people are are rebelling against that.
Ian
Yep.
Stoney
They're kind of coming back to that old way, they're coming back to what they know, and taking some chances. And I'm encouraged by that. I really am. The
Ian
difficult thing is, I still think an overwhelming majority. I think is still just turning their brain off and just.
Stoney
I agree.
Ian
And just pointing. I think that's the thing. Is that? But everything
Stoney
starts slow.
Ian
I know you're right. Everything starts slow. I think there is a. I think there's a small group, but I do still think that I think a lot of it is conforming. I think a lot of it is corporate greed. I think I don't know. And again, like like we've talked about, just circle back around when it comes to houses and resale value on cars. I think that possibly that's what people like to think about as well. Is they don't want to. I don't know. They don't want to. They don't want to be too. They don't want to stick out too much. So I don't know.
Jason
Well, I just I just think that I think there's something to it. The idea of these kind of big bold colors that kind of reach out and grab you symbolizes kind of a a more positive view of your world. I think as things have become more cynical, yeah, more less believing in the future, I think this natural shift to safe because I don't feel like to me, big bold colors broadcast confidence. It individuality. It it it does. There is a deal like here I am, and I've got the world by the bullhorns, and I'm in control. I think we've retreated now, where we're we'd rather be safe than sorry later. Yes, and that's that risk aversion. I mean, it really is. It's it's the risk aversion that I think that people Are, are, are, are, are, you know, or where they're at right now with, you know, when it comes to these things. So, you know, these color selections, there is a deep psychological impulse there, I believe, of what society is pushing, and it's all about mass mass manufacturing. It's it's easier. Everybody likes this color in two thirds of the countries of where I sell my products. So
Ian
I'm
Jason
not going to offer the other colors because it's just a waste of money. So it's just easier to do that. Now my question is: Is what would cause that to change?
Ian
I think if people's, I think if people, well, that's the difficult part. I don't know.
Jason
I mean, what would have to happen to us to go back to that 19 post World War II kind of big bold colors and making big statements and and stuff like that. What do you think would have to change?
Ian
Well, I think the first thing would probably be some sort of big conflict, like a war or something, would probably shift our perspective on some things.
Stoney
Well, you know, it's kind of funny you said that. What hasn't changed color-wise?
Ian
I don't know. I have
Stoney
a list.
Ian
Okay,
Stoney
sneakers, gaming hardware, children's products, streetwear, sports cars, cosmetics, custom vehicles. Limited editions remain colorful.
Ian
Hmm.
Stoney
But look at sneakers today and gaming hardware. When you buy a new computer, you're getting the all the LEDs, you know, all the different colors. But look who's using those things right now-the younger people,
Jason
right? Yeah,
Ian
interesting.
Jason
Well, you know, evolution was was wired color into our survival. I mean, it goes really go back to the caveman time. I mean, is this fruit ripe?
Ian
Yeah. Is that
Jason
animal poisonous?
Stoney
Do I want to stick out so something can see me, or do I want to blend in so no one sees me? Is
Jason
there fire nearby? Is someone healthy or sick? Yeah. Is it dawn or dusk? I mean, all these things before we had concepts. Of all that, they would probably look at the sky and go, "Okay, it's that color, so that means
Ian
this.
Jason
And so it's just funny how all that kind of just you know plays on each other as time goes on. And you know, I do. I look at all those pictures of all those of the 50s and those big big cars they oh yeah they drove, and it was some very bold colors. I can't imagine anybody buying cars like that anymore with that kind of. You have a
Ian
turquoise or a pink car. I can almost guarantee you, no one. No, I
Jason
mean nobody because it's like who would buy this car for me? I would own
Ian
it. Yeah, till
Jason
till the wheels fell off and the engine fell out of it. I mean it's just yeah. So I don't know. I I I I think though that we we are in a very what I call kind of an industrial box when it comes to our our our because we don't want individuality. We want it to To a degree, but we really don't want to push it too far.
Ian
That's what I mean. That's what I mean. I think some people like to stand out a little bit, but you don't want to stand out too much.
Jason
Well, it's sort of like it's like with an agency or a company, instead of just going out on a limb and and doing something, say enacting a policy, what do they do? Well, what is everybody else doing? You see, that's kind of the point.
Stoney
Did did culture dominated by concentrated institutions learn that standardized people are easier to predict, they're easier to market to, sell to, finance, categorize, influence, and did esthetic sameness become one visible consequence? I mean, think about that. That's we're being directed into that by people. You know, hey, call up Ford and tell him you want this funky color, and and yeah, no, thank you. But think about that. You know, we're being kind of directing. Are we easier to control like this? You're gonna have a white car.
Ian
Yeah,
Stoney
and now you're gonna have a car that we can shut off in 2027, whether you like it or not, because we're not. We're not. We don't feel we're strong enough to stop that.
Jason
Well, the emotional meaning of color Has shifted,
Ian
really?
Jason
Yeah, that throughout history, bold color frequently symbolized celebration, prosperity, religious devotion, civic pride, or local identity, and that makes sense.
Ian
Yeah,
Jason
with at the time when these colors were big and bro, but coming out of World War
Ian
II. Oh yeah,
Jason
the the economy is booming. You know, it's a lot of wealth is being generated. Everybody is getting a home.
Ian
Oh yeah, and
Jason
and all that. And it's just there's just you could tell how the culture reacted and what kind of came forth. It's sort of like what sort of art? In essence, I look at this as a canvas. What sort of paint was put on the canvas? And we were excited. We were, you know, the the future is ours, and and you know, prosperity is to as far as we can see. And then all of a sudden, it it changed. So I don't I don't know what where we're going to go. I I know these things have a tendency of kind of going back and forth. What you know? Will we ever in this country, go back to what it was in 1950. I don't know. It'll probably be a new
Ian
flavor of that,
Jason
right? I don't. I don't know. I mean, I guess something would have to happen in the world where we would have to have, you know, kind of a rebirth and an excitement for the future, and yeah, we can do anything, and you know that that's just that confidence. I don't think we have much confidence anymore. We don't, we don't, because we
Stoney
can't afford to be like the elite. But there are some things we can do. If they tell us that these things are what the rich people are doing, you know, there, you know, the esthetics. You know what can I do? You know I can't afford an $8,000 cashmere coat, but I can't afford $60 beige coat. Yeah. You know I can't afford a $12 million minimalist architectural house, but I can't afford white cabinets. I can't afford black fixtures and grayish walls.
Jason
Yep.
Stoney
So they're they're they're spoon feeding us, telling us that we're going to look wealthy, we're going to feel wealthy, we're going to by doing the things that they can make money off of. I mean, and and think about this: Target, IKEA, Amazon, automakers, developers, furniture manufacturings. That Ian said earlier. Clothing brands reproduce it at scale. That's exactly what they're doing. All of these things that they're spoon feeding us, they're they're going to mass mass manufacture it.
Jason
I would say I I still think people have not abandoned color. I kind of like how they put it here. Instead of permanent colorful walls, they may choose colorful throw pillows.
Ian
Yeah,
Jason
artwork.
Ian
Yeah,
Jason
that's color. Plants. I'm big into that. I love a flowery a bed with lots of flowers with different color. Seasonal decorations. We all put up Christmas lights or whatever the case may be at certain times of the year, our clothes.
Ian
Yeah,
Jason
there are people who wear some very flamboyant clothing. Still, it's just things that are permanent that you find. Think about
Stoney
this: you get the white car or the black car. What do you do? You put the rims on it.
Jason
Exactly. Yep. You start doing other things to it. Start doing other
Stoney
things to it.
Jason
Yeah, the permanent features stay neutral, but the accents change,
Stoney
and that's your individuality. There's
Jason
the individuality that comes out.
Ian
I get my standard issue white car, but I can put stickers on it. Yeah, that's interesting.
Jason
Yeah, we all consume the same stuff: Pinterest boards, renovation shows, influencers, furniture catalogs, and design trends. You know, I said millions of people independently make safe choices can produce surprising uniformity.
Stoney
But are they making safe choices. If Ford offers 40,000 white trucks, 25,000 black trucks, 22,000 gray trucks, 3000 blue trucks, 700 green trucks, and 300 orange trucks, what does the sales show? Customers bought neutral trucks.
Jason
Yep.
Ian
That's what I'm saying. And then, and then they're
Stoney
they're they're skewing their own numbers to benefit them in the long run.
Ian
Well, what I'm trying to say is maybe not maybe not they're skewing their own numbers, but like maybe like when you look at when those numbers are presented to a board meeting and they're like, oh, those are the big numbers, then just make more big make more of the big numbers because money's got to go number got to go up.
Stoney
That's screwing. That's what screwing the numbers is. That's what I'm saying.
Ian
But at that point, it's like, and that's what I'm talking about. The same thing when I was talking about furniture manufacturers. Whenever, like you, whenever you have a line of, like, let's say we have a, we make a bunch of chairs, and we make a red chair and a gray and a white. And of course, we have sold absolutely not nearly as many red chairs. And of course, and we got we got stakeholders that'll be like, we need we got that money's got to go up. That's right. I'm like, okay, well then get rid of the red one, and then just make put all the profits back into the white one because we're selling all of the white ones. Exactly
Stoney
what's going on. And
Ian
then of course, what I'm saying. So whenever you have people that are like, I want to be individual and different, and then you look at the market or like, or what's available that's affordable for someone like myself, I'm like, oh well, it's all just,
Stoney
you know, you could really screw with them next year. Only buy the red and the orange vehicles. Leave all the white ones on the floor, and I
Ian
guarantee you, and I guarantee you, in the next the next five years, the everything will be red and orange. Every car imaginable will have some flavor of red and orange, and it's all it is. It's just it's chasing the numbers. And if all of a sudden, if the majority of us all wanted to change or change directions or stuff, I think it would all change as well. So I think it's fascinating how all that stuff. And I think I think it's and that's where I was going to what I talked about a little bit before. As I think that we are where we are because I think like there's like a mass migration to like being a little inoffensive and not being super colorful, but then I think that because of that, it just keeps. It is like like it's like a snowball. I think it is it has snowballed and has become more than I think it was originally supposed to be. But
Jason
yeah, luxury no longer meant more.
Ian
Yeah,
Stoney
right.
Jason
That developed in the 90s into 2000s. Large empty rooms, concrete,
Ian
yeah,
Jason
glass. I remember talking, watching television, and they were interviewing Eddie Murphy at his house, and his house. This was back had to be in the 80s.
Ian
Okay,
Jason
and his house was was all white with no furniture, and he sat on the floor.
Ian
What?
Jason
Yes, it was the weirdest thing. Just
Ian
like a psych patient. Yeah, I mean,
Jason
I I just I mean, I found that funny that you know people that had that kind of wealth, but that's that was the deal. It was kind of this minimalist look that was starting to to take take hold. It was I can afford expensive things. To I don't need to. Prove I can.
Ian
Yeah.
Jason
So the the shift wasn't from this opulence that once existed that if you had money, you showed it to basically constrain the that that that kind of thinking. And I'm just going to basically build something very simple, straight lines, clean.
Ian
Yep.
Jason
Yeah. No character really to it, easy, and I guess in a way it it it's the kind of a psychological change that just took place.
Ian
Yeah,
Jason
but I think that goes back to the idea of I can't proclaim at the loudest at the top of the rooftop you know at the rooftop that you know I'm look what I've done, yeah,
Ian
yeah.
Jason
You know, we just don't have that anymore, and yeah, whether that's good or bad, I don't know. I mean, you go back in the day when the Rockefellers and stuff, when they were just the amount of opulence they were. You know, I also I watched
Ian
a video not too long ago, and I and I don't. It's been so long, but you're talking about this, and it's reminding me of what was talked about, and it was the the premise of it was like why it's not it's why being an architect in reality is not as glamorous as it once used to be, because like once like you can have all these great if you're going to be commercial real estate and you're going to start doing architecture and that kind of stuff. You want to do all these like cool, elaborate, crazy buildings. But like, whenever it really comes down to it, whenever you really are putting like boots on the ground, money's being spent on developing a building for something. You're going to want logistics. You're going to want it to. If it's in an earthquake area, you're going to be able to to survive earthquakes. You want to to be able to have temperature control in the windows and like it needs to be a certain shape. And then like so like the more you like and again obviously if it's a super crazy building, no one's gonna want to rent out of it. And it's like all these different things that like once you start going down the checklist of all these different things, you just end up with a a gray square, and it's like, well, I was I wanted to like I wanted to make this beautiful opulent building, but it's like logistically in this day and age, no one's going to pay for that. And if and I feel like if all of a sudden we, you know, if someone was like if someone wanted to throw enough money at a project, it's like, and I think that's happened once. Well, you have these tallest skyscrapers in the world, Burj Khalifa and these other crazy special ones. You have people that are like, I want to specifically manufacture this special building, or they have a certain company or individuals that want to financially back that sort of thing.
Jason
Is the Khalifa still the biggest, tallest building in the world?
Ian
I believe so. I don't think there's been anything? Let me look and see. World's tallest building. Yeah, I can't
Jason
even imagine. Yeah, the
Ian
world's tallest building. You see, but see where
Jason
look where it was built.
Ian
Yeah,
Jason
I mean they're still building these massive mega projects in some of these countries, and to me, that symbolizes something about them.
Ian
Yeah,
Jason
that we're going to do this. I have not seen that here in America at all.
Stoney
It's gone. There used to be a contest to who could build the tallest building. We haven't participated. I think the last thing we Louisiana is known for the tallest state capital in America. Yeah, that's it.
Jason
I thought it was well. It was it was between us and Nebraska.
Stoney
I think we're still it. Regardless, nobody does the tallest building anymore. Well,
Ian
because I think also some of it is, I think that once you start getting into regulations and safety concerns and codes and and all these other things, like you kind of get pigeonholed to a certain thing. At least that was what I was. The video had kind of talked about is like once you can have these crazy elaborate ideas, but once you start to like try and make that happen, is when like reality hits you and like and it kind of pigeonholes you into making another gray square. And it's like, well, that's just and that's that's reality is what it feels like because you don't I don't know and then well think about
Stoney
McDonald's yeah okay your generation aren't having kids so why do you want a high colored McDonald's with clowns and play areas and no what do you want you went minimalist I want to go in get my food get out and go do what I was doing. Yep. So we're we're not taking those chances anymore, because like you said, hey, once you get down to the to the nitty gritty, this is all we want to do.
Jason
That's right. Yeah, it's definitely that to me. If you look at the McDonald's, that tells you that tells you the symptom of America right now. I think there's a powerful correlation there between that and the state of our world now. I really do. As simple as you would think, McDonald's. But to them, removing the playground, removing all that-that's telling me something has shifted. Our society. We
Ian
are number seven for the world's tallest buildings. We have one World Trade Center is in Chicago, right? Is in New York City. Is the the seventh highest? Oh, it's
Jason
the Sears Tower in Chicago. I forgot. Yeah, yeah.
Ian
So one is is the the name here says one World Trade Center in New York City is number seventh on the world's tallest buildings. That's that's the first one we have on the list. Besides that, it's Seoul, Korea, Shanghai, Dubai, and a couple other different countries. You know, on the list as well. So, but just right. That's I don't know. It's crazy.
Jason
At this, I think this color change has is is the psychological shift that's that's occurred in our society as as time has gone on from the the heydays of the post World War II era to to now. We're being
Stoney
taught we don't need to be individuals. We're taught you need to be. What did Mandami say? The the warmth of collectivism. Yeah, you know, screw that and go.
Jason
Collectivism is standardized colors, and nothing looks different.
Stoney
Saudi Arabia just came out and said you cannot have a Christian building in Saudi Arabia. Why is America allowing
Ian
it? Yeah, that's crazy.
Jason
It's that I think goes to a deeper issue. Collect well, you
Stoney
got yeah because the the the liberal Democrats and the the collectivism of communism and socialism is embracing Islam.
Jason
Exactly. There's a marriage between the two, and this
Stoney
is part of it. They want us to be sheep. They want us to be directed, and I think this color thing is kind of not intentional, but part of
Ian
it.
Stoney
I think it's-I don't want to say symptom, but maybe it's just one of the the the the parts that are happening because of what they want.
Jason
Yeah, I think there's been a lot of fertilizer put down to get to a point where we have people where we're at today as our society and what people are embracing these days. We and
Ian
and and I think it all. I think this is so fascinating because it's tied into what we've been. What I feel like we've been talking about in in recent history a whole lot with like surveillance and things like that. Is like it never. It wasn't just. It's all just a slow trickle. It's just being okay with this, being you know being okay with that. You you check a box here and hit accept, and before you know it, you're just like yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. And then you know it's well, everybody's doing exactly. If everybody's jumping off the Mississippi Bridge, does that necessarily
Stoney
make it a good thing.
Jason
Exactly.
Stoney
No.
Ian
Yeah. So, anyways.
Jason
Oh yeah. This is
Stoney
fun topic. This is kind of yeah. This was just
Jason
a little bit different. That's interesting. A little bit of a psychological game here with some of this stuff. So, but
Stoney
you notice it's all kind of tying in to kind of what's happening in the world, respective.
Ian
Yep.
Jason
What was there was a this topic made me think of a character in a book, and if anybody knows the the Timothy's on Star Wars, oh yeah, books, the I guess villain of of the book is Grand Admiral Thrawn.
Ian
Yeah,
Jason
Thrawn's His kind of his genius in his tactics. He goes, you can always know what a culture is by their art. If you study a culture's art,
Ian
yeah,
Jason
you can understand their tendencies and how they think. This made me think of exactly that.
Stoney
Yeah. Well, that this comes from America. This comes from the Roman Empire. When you look at where our art was in the early days, look at the Roman Empire. The artwork in Rome was the gladiators, the the soldiers, the fighters, and all this. Then all what was the martial
Jason
prowess? Then
Stoney
it's little boys in in girl dresses, right? Oh, what did I tell you? Now look at America. What's our artwork? You know, before it was these fantastic grandy. I mean, just grandy. I mean, amazing stuff. And now look what's considered artwork today. Somebody can go take a crap on the street and call it art,
Jason
right? Yeah, that's
Stoney
and that's what some of the artwork
Jason
is today. We're we're going to be looking for some art pieces for our new house, and I know my wife has has basically said I want to get you know maybe a nice local artist. Want me to come take
Stoney
a dump on your front yard? Yeah, and take a painting of that, yeah, yeah. So it's it's it's
Jason
just. I hope we can find something nice. Sure, there's a lot of there's a lot of nice stuff. So, but yeah, I do believe that what we're seeing is, and and as I said, it seems to be some of the trend. The trend's coming back, coming back. What is typical? What. Woods
Stoney
and some other. So the more warm,
Jason
the more warm colors, I think will come back. But I still think the vast majority are still kind of stuck in the concrete, metal, glass, aluminum type of you know look, and and we're still utilitarian in that regard. We're not about proclaiming greatness and exceptionalism and boldness and
Stoney
in individuality, right? And
Jason
none of that doesn't really, you know, that's just not pushed anymore. So we'll see how this plays out over time,
Ian
right? Well, for anybody else out there who wants to let us know what you think, or want to share your experiences, or want to suggest a topic for us. We have comment sections on Spotify, on YouTube, where you can leave some short form responses. YouTube, we I'm sorry, our email address is getinted together@gmail.com, where you can send some more long form responses if it doesn't fit on YouTube. And after my speaking
Stoney
today, I'm sure we'll probably get a couple responses.
Ian
I bet I offended somebody. Yeah, be sure to like and subscribe on the platforms you listen to a song because it really means a lot. And share with someone you think would like it or maybe not like it. And until next week, thank you so much for listening. Bye bye.
Jason
Goodbye, everyone, and God bless.
Stoney
Maybe we've spent too much time asking where the color went. Maybe the better question is, who says we can't bring it back? Because after everything we've looked at, there's still some hopeful buried inside of all of this. Markets follow people too. Manufacturers aren't gods. Trends aren't laws. Algorithms aren't commandments. If enough people want green cars, somebody eventually starts to make green cars, if homeowners got tired of gray floors, gray floors disappear. If people start buying blue kitchens, bold furniture, colorful clothes, and products with actual personality, somebody somewhere will figure out how to sell them. That's how trends change. One generation inherits the previous generation's normalization. Then eventually, somebody says, "Yeah, I'm done with that. Maybe we're already seeing that warmer woods are coming back, greens are coming back, individuality is creeping back into homes, automakers are experimenting with stronger colors again, and after years of clean, sterile minimalization, people are rediscovering texture, ornament, and things that actually look lived in. I'm thinking that's probably healthy because life was never supposed to look like a staged house nobody lived in. A home should tell you something about the people inside of it. Your clothes should occasionally say something of you. Your choices shouldn't all be dictated by what some imaginary furniture buyer may think, and maybe that's the bigger takeaway from this entire conversation. Don't confuse fitting in with belonging; those aren't the same thing. One asks you to disappear into the crowd; the other gives you enough security and confidence to show up as yourself. So, whatever generation you're from-boomer, Gen X, Millennial, Gen Z-maybe there's something we all can agree on. The world doesn't need everybody choosing the same thing. It needs people thoughtful and confident enough to know why they're choosing it. And if that happens to see an orange car in the parking lot tomorrow, give that person a little respect. Somebody had the courage to make finding their car incredibly easy. You're the best. Thanks for hanging out with us today. Peace.