the indomitable spirit of queers everywhere

and EVEN WHEN things were more muted/neutral, the neutrality was OFFSET by ACCENT COLORS and HIGH CONTRAST between the wood tones and everything ELSE

ALSO AMERICAN COLONIAL INTERIORS POPPED OFF, Y'ALL (IN TERMS OF COLOR/COZINESS)

PEOPLE USED WHITEWASH AND COLORFUL TRIM OR EVEN JUST COLORFUL FURNITURE IF THEY COULD AFFORD TO DO SO

AND DON'T GET ME STARTED ON FRENCH AND BRITISH AND AMERICAN WALLPAPERS

"ELIZABETH" YOU CRY, "WHY ARE YOU BEING SO EXTRA THIS MORNING?! IT'S MONDAY"

Because, my friend, my war on GREIGE will NEVER end.

Historic interiors were filled with LIFE and LIGHT and COLOR. ALWAYS HAVE BEEN.

Part of the reason we don't see a lot of textile art is because, frankly, textiles tend to degrade over time - especially ones that had utility! And yes, pigments and weaving and dying all boosted the expense of things, when we were finally reliably block-printing fabrics and broad reams of paper, it was no longer just the wealthy who could afford pretty patterns!

In the Americas, a far wider variety of pigments also became available because of the abundance of... well, a shitton of flora and minerals, some of which weren't as common in Europe.

WHY THE HIGHLIGHTER COLORS? you ask.

CANDLES.

Those colors reflect candlelight and natural sunlight REALLY WELL.

Humans LOVE bright colors, it's NOT just a thing for kids. We live in a brilliant, vibrant, multifaceted world. We ALWAYS have.

(If ever you have the opportunity to visit the Stencil House at the Shelburne Museum in Vermont (pictured above at 3, 4, and 5), I highly recommend.)

And that's before you get into American painted murals:

Sorry if this is messy, English is not my first language.

So, I have this pretty big round birthday coming up and it's a big deal as I usually have these huge parties, and I was really looking forward to this one. My friends and family love to help me plan, and usually "assign" someone to lead the planning. However this year, we were split pretty 50/50 but it somehow ended up being this one guy, let's call him Ron.

I can't help but feel that Ron has been hijacking my party to be about what he wants and not what I (or any of the other guests really) want. Like when a spoiled brat steals all the attention at another kid's birthday party because they can't stand not having all of the attention, and none of the parents doing anything about it just to avoid "causing a scene", you know? Well, this is like that, even though we're adults. What's more, he's just a very bad party planner, there's no other way to say it. The party is outside, and it's supposed to be a heatwave, and it's like he doesn't care AT ALL about taking safety precautions, and I worry people are going to get heat stroke at my party. He won't listen to anyone trying to convince him to plan more realistically.

Also, he keeps saying it's going to be this grand thing, but his taste is cheap and he's cutting corners everywhere. I've even started suspecting that he's pocketing some of the money I've been giving him to buy stuff for the party. It sounds awful I know, like who would do that, but at this point I can't see where my (rather generous!) budget is going and he's been bragging about buying some suspiciously expensive things for himself lately. AND he wants to charge these ridiculous prices for refreshments, as if he only sees my guests as someone he can fleece for profit?! This was supposed to be a celebration, not another exploitation in his long line of (failed) business ventures.

What's even worse, Ron has apparently pissed off most of the good vendors around here (turns out he has a history of skipping out on bills) so only the sort of shitty ones want to work with him. And now (not just because of this party business, there has been a lot of other stuff too but this post would be way too long if I had to get into it all) more and more of our mutual friends don't want anything to do with him, even a lot of those who originally wanted him to plan the party, and as a result, almost no one wants to come! What was supposed to be a huge, fun celebration of my milestone birthday is now all about him, and it will be empty, boring, cheap, and way too hot (like seriously, he wants to hold a long speech which I'm sure will be more about him than me and there is NO shade - where are they supposed to cool off? the baptismal pool??).