Anyone else notice that the Swiss paint thier houses in all shorts of odd dreary undescribeable colors that don't seem to work well together?

Is there a law against simply painting a house white?

Anyway, I couldn't help but notice this. I have never seen so many different shades of fleshtone, blue gray, green gray, red gray.....brown gray with red/brown trim.....

Do you get used to this after a couple of years?

You have to get out more, mate. Seriously.

I get out plenty, mate.

Are you a chap, old chap?

Yes, my good man, I am a fellow.

But you seem to have developed some notion of "colours not going together".

Did you grow up with lots of older sisters?

My memory of Munich is that the houses colour schemes aren't that different from round here. If you want white houses, you are best with the Mediterranean areas (Greece, Spain, Cyprus have those quaint white houses with red roofs).

Cities have buildings of murky colours probably so the traffic grime that builds up over a period of years doesn't show so badly. Brilliant white houses wouldn't stay white for very long.

Well, yes I did indeed grow up with a couple of older sisters.

Perhaps I am more sensitive to these thing because I work as a designer. It could also be I am just a strange person.......I don't know. This is getting interesting.

All I know is that everywhere I looked last week when I was in Switzerland for work (which hopefully turns into more than just a consultancy), I could not help but notice the odd colors.

Should I get out more?

I think you should join a rugby club.

Ok....this is not turning into the awesome thread where everyone agrees with my brilliant observations......

In Yverdon a few months ago they started to build a load of new appartments and every time I have gone past I have wondered how they would look.
They are finished but like the OP said they are GREY and look dreary and look like they have been there since the 50s.
Such a shame as inside they are probably really modern .

They do this in the countryside too. But really, that's the strategy; paint the houses to look like crap so that a thick layer of grime is un-noticeable? To me, everything looks like it needs to be painted.

Haha - there isn't anyone on this forum whose avatar image matches their writing more than you DB.

Exactly. You would think in a country of such wealth people wouldn't shy away from something that might require a bit more maintainance.

Oh well, I guess you deserve a serious answer...

You live in Munich, right? Capital of the Papist Principality of Bavaria?

Well, members of the Romish church aren't really known for their restraint and good taste. When it comes to painting, the attitude is very much "Slap it on and pay for it later". They can always confess to the sin of mural vanity at mass the following Sunday, or whenever they next roll into church, their breath reeking of cheap German lager and Jaegermeister.

The Zwinglian protestants of Zurich, on the other hand, shun such frivolity, regarding it as a sign of decadence and depravity.

Better to be surrounded by all that is drab and dreary now, they say, than subject to the bright-burning fires of the Other Place later.

This also explains the popularity of pebble-dash in Scotland.

I hope this explains things to your satisfaction.

Or an austere nation that chooses something that doesn't? The Swiss aren't renowned for being wasteful.

Well put. I am beginning to understand.

Browns and Greys are the easiest and cheapest colors to make.

The Swiss are interesting. I wonder if they have their moments when they "show off".

Zwinglian.....very nice.....need to google that......pebble-dash too.

These Bavarians are made fun of by the rest of Germany, by the way. All this oompa music and beer is rather frowned upon in the North.

I've always wanted to know that

There are rules about painting I know that...

I friend of mine wanted to buy a (how do you call that...) fake roof for the balcony? and he had to ask permission proving it would be the right color with the right tone...

I immediately thought the mayor's brother would be the owner of the (only) paint store with that color in town but I was never hard working enough to go and find out...