There’s a British upscale home decoration brand called The White Company, which, as the name implies, is all about the colour white. There’s actually a long history behind the association between wealth and whiteness, precisely because in the past it was so difficult to get textiles shining white. It’s still difficult to keep them that way, so this affinity for white is a case of conspicuous consumption: You buy it precisely to show off that you can afford all that hassle. I suppose a similar thinking is behind the preference for white in naval uniforms.
Describes Mrs. Martian’s early childhood. Father was a successful patent attorney, parents were in the Social Register. White carpeting in the living room with light colored furniture. No children allowed under any circumstances.
That pretty much describes my friend’s family from that time. They were not “old money” (and, yes, there were old-money families in Green Bay); my friend’s father was a very successful CPA, and by Green Bay standards, they were doing very well. His mother was very much a social striver.
The strangest carpet was an old relatives home. The living room had pale pink carpeting and a long white “divan”, she called it. I don’t think even she ever went in the “front” room.
I always thought it was sad. Spend all that money to doll up the nice room and it’s never used.
White walls proverbially make a space look larger; the same may be true for a white floor.
In other words, this might not be about displaying wealth so much as it is ‘making the home look bigger (and so more attractive) to buyers.’
The British navy had a longstanding tradition of “holystoning” the wooden decks of ships, which lasted until the early 20th century. It resulted in a gleaming whitish finish, which lasted only a short time before salt spray and damp weather turned the decks dull and grimy again. Erosion of deck wood by the abrasive material shortened its lifespan.
It was said that a major reason for routine holystoning was to keep crews active and busy, since idleness was considered dangerous.
When trying to picture all white decor, I immediately think of Ann Margaret’s bedroom in Tommy. A British film, BTW.
And Googling, various sites advise “neutral colors” for the carpeting when staging a home for sale.
I would be very leery of a house with all new carpeting for sale. And yes you can tell.
[Moderating]
I just noticed that this is in FQ. It shouldn’t be. Moving to IMHO.
Interesting considering that, when my parents sold a house we had been living in, they took the real estate agent’s advice and painted the existing neutral white walls orange for the staging.
Yuck. If I were someone who was considering buying a property and found orange walls, I would insist on amending the purchase contract to make it conditional upon the seller painting the walls white at the seller’s expense before the closing.
I tried to find support for that advice online and got bupkis. But that didn’t stop Gemini from suggesting three (it’s always three - thanks Opal) reasons for the advice:
- High-end Artistic Staging
- Miscommunication
- A Mistake in Conventional Wisdom.
Well, did the house sell? I assume there was a good reason why orange walls worked for your parents’ house.
It did. Was it because of the orange?
There’s a story by Harlan Ellison that involves white shag W2W carpeting, a hot date and his bat-shit crazy response to it. It’s the first segment (“Sex”) of The Three Most Important Things In Life and I think it’s from Stalking the Nightmare.
William Faulkner also used white carpeting as a plot point in his short story “Barn Burning.”
Compare:
On the theory that neutral will please the most people (as opposed to the Orange Walls discussed above).
(Though really, any color of wall-to-wall carpet isn’t going to please most in 2026.)
In the opening scenes of the 1960s TV series, Mission Impossible, the apartment of Mr. Briggs (later Mr. Phelps) was furnished entirely in black, white, and gray. The actors also wore monochrome clothing. I don’t recall if the floor was white carpeting.
Ergo “neutral colors”