I have always thought of myself as an observant person, but the other day, a discussion with a friend had me questioning just how observant am I?
While my friend and I were standing in her kitchen, I complemented her on her cabinetry and overall kitchen decor. She shrugged and responded, “Thanks, but I’m not a fan of brown”. Hmm, not a fan of brown, I pondered.
My initial thought was I too am not a fan of the color brown. So, why did I like her kitchen and why did I not see brown as the primary color?
I mulled around those thoughts for a few seconds while taking in the tone of her stained maple cabinets, the plain brownish floor tile, and the speckled light brown solid surface countertop. I felt the kitchen had a classic, somewhat timeless feel to it albeit a tad boring if it weren’t for her personal touches of colorful decor accents.
Adding pops of color and personality via art, rugs, pillows, etc. changes things up and brown doesn’t appear as dominant.
When I think about it, we’re surrounded by brown. Brown is everywhere. Brown can be found in our homes, nature, and wildlife.
Brown isn’t an in your face kind of color which is why I didn’t see my friends kitchen as a brown kitchen, but rather a classic kitchen. Was it a wow kind of kitchen? No, but was it a warm comfortable kitchen? Yes!
And with the help of some colorful art and accent pieces, she has turned it into a lovely kitchen. A kitchen that I don’t see as dull, boring, or brown – even though it is brown.
Nature provides us with all kinds of shades of brown.
So, is brown a color I gravitate toward? Absolutely not. Is it a color I notice or make note of? Not really.
Maybe it’s not that brown is boring, but rather, it takes a backseat to the more vibrant colors and enhances the overall vision. I’ve come to think of brown more like a background dancer. It enhances a character’s performance and provides additional entertainment and visual appeal.
Is brown really a boring color? After much refection, I think not. What are your thoughts?
The Sunday Stills photo challenge this week is the color ‘Brown’. This challenge has me rethinking my thoughts on the color and enjoying all the lovely things that are indeed brown.
Live Laugh RV 
74 responses to “Is it Boring?”
I love brown, Ingrid. My kitchen cabinets and flooring are dark brown. (Although I realized after I made those choices that it’s not a good color for someone like me who cooks everyday, as it shows every speck of dirt and fingerprint!). Your pictures are beautiful! ☀️
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Thank you, Lisa. My kitchen cabinets are brown as well, but I have a white countertop and light beige tiles. So, I’m pretty happy with my kitchen, but the good lighting helps a lot.
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I’ve never thought about the color brown that way before. I’m going to need to pay better attention to my surroundings. I do agree with you though, I think it’s a pretty nice color in the right shades and places. Thanks for sharing!
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Fabulous, I have never focus on brown color ever before reading your post. Marvelous explanation that makes me kind towards all colours.
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Thank you. I too never focused on brown until putting this post together. It was enlightening.
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Nice
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Ingrid,
A well-written post. Brown is a color I don’t notice either, although I’m surrounded with brown inside our fifth-wheel. I suppose that if I don’t notice brown, that must mean it’s doing it’s job. Love the jackrabbit and the woodsy image that follows. Hope your weekend is going well! Joe
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Thanks Joe. Like you, I just didn’t pay much attention to things that are brown until I made it a mission. Wishing you and Helen a lovely Thanksgiving.🦃
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What a refreshing post, I mean i never thought of brown as boring and all.. In fact I never gave it much attention, but I absolutely loved your take on the colour brown and how its everywhere yet goes unnoticed..quite a captivating title and the content too indeed..
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Thank you. I appreciate the comment and your thoughts. The color brown does seem to go unnoticed unless we make a point to look for it and then it’s everywhere in all kinds of various shades.
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“Maybe it’s not that brown is boring, but rather, it takes a backseat to the more vibrant colors and enhances the overall vision.” I think this is very insightful; some things have to take a back seat for others to thrive.
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Well said. I agree; brown takes a back seat so other colors can thrive. 🙂
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Yes, everything is brown. When I lived in Nevada I was always in awe of the desert and its thousand shades of brown. Brown is beautiful.
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Ah, you too lived in Nevada? When I moved from IL to NV, I initally had a hard time adjusting from a lush green landscape to a brown barren landscape. However, over time I discovered the beauty seen in the desert and my AZ desert is even more beautiful … but it took time for me to see it.
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In the 50’s and 60’s (19-) my father subscribed to Arizona Highways magazine, which always had the glossiest, most awe-inspiring photographs you could imagine. Beautiful desert.
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Every year, I purchase an AZ Hwys calendar. The photos serve as inspiration for me to get out more with my camera in this beautiful state.
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👏 👏 👏
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Great points, Ingrid. I love the statement, “brown isn’t in your face” – unless it is, as in your adorable cow picture. My very favorite picture was the duck (?) picture. That face is so cute. There’s lots of brown there, but it’s not in our face! I also love the brown stairs going down to the water. That scene is primarily brown, but is so compelling. 🙂 xxxx Have a great winter. See you in spring!
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So nice to hear from you Marsha. Hope you are doing well. I found this photo prompt enlightening and having me look at various subjects with a new set of eyes. The duck photo is one of my favorites as well.
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How could anyone not love a duck face like that? xxx
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Love your photos and the story around them. I was very interested to read all the comments. My entire house is decorated in various shades of beige and brown with green accents. 😊 I never gave it a thought that it could be boring, more the colors of nature and very easy to live with.
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Hi Karen. Your house sounds lovely and very much like the colors found in nature. Personally, if I were to visit your house, I would probably notice the green accents and not take special notice of the various shades of brown. However, I’d like to think after this challenge, I would take more notice of ALL the colors including brown and beige.
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Yes, the green is a great accent color. 😘
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I feel like I do lean toward brown being kind of a boring color. I associate it with winter, when all the plants are dead, so it’s not my favorite. But you’re right, there are lots of other things in nature that are brown as well, that perhaps deserve more of my attention.
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Totally agree that everything turns brown and boring in the winter unless there’s plenty of snow to liven things up. But then there’s brown seen in so many different ways which can add warmth and interest to a subject. I think I just need to be more observant and see brown in a new light.🙂
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One look at the cow and how can one not love brown, Ingrid. It made me think of the old statement… How now brown cow? I have a fondness for teak.
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That little brahman cow was the cutest and the prettiest shade of brown as well. Ah yes, teak is a beautiful wood especially on a boat. Thanks for dropping in Curt.😊
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Great post Ingrid!
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Thank you, Anne 🙂
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OK Ingrid, I’m no expert on color (just know what I like), and leave that to Steph. But just know that we DO love your photograpy! Miss you guys and hope you are well. dc&S
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Always nice hearing from you. We are doing well and enjoying life in SC. Any plans to escape the CO winter? Hopefully, you two will return to Phx for a visit sometime.
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I really enjoyed reading this as well as your photos which perfectly illustrate the points you make about the colour brown. Yes it is everywhere and yes, we tend not to notice it, but nature would be the poorer without it! No soil, none of the brown animals or birds, no tree trunks … 😀
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Nicely said, Sarah… nature would be the poorer without brown. I find it interesting how I never really gave much thought to all the brown surrounding us. Perhaps now I’ll notice it more.😊
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Ingrid, I love this post! I enjoyed reading your thoughts on the color brown and seeing all of your wonderful images. I laughed when I read about your friend’s brown kitchen. We still have our brown oak cabinets fro 1983. I love them! I wish you lived closer to me so I could invite you over for coffee or tea while we sat at our brown dining room table.
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Haha! Well, I have a 1970s brown kitchen. Fortunately, my white countertop and light beige tile floor tone down the darkness. I enjoy the warmth of wood cabinets. I would love to come over for a cup of coffee. How fun would that be? I think we’d talk non-stop … not for hours but for days.🙂
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Ingrid, I agree! We’d be there for days!
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Gorgeous photos and lovely sentiments on brown!
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Thank you. Thanks for stopping by and commenting. 😊
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You knocked this challenge out of the ballpark.
I loved your perspective. I love the color brown, as it evokes warmth and richness.
Beautiful writing, my friend!
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Aww, thank you Nancy. This prompt really had me thinking and going through photos with a new set of eyes. Let’s do coffee soon!
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Sounds great! 🥰
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Brown is a warm color, nature is never boring ever
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Well said … nature is indeed never boring and brown does provide a sense of warmth.
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I couldn’t take a bit of brown after 6 years in the RV and 12 years in our very beige and brown house, but now I’m over it. Thankfully… There’s something to be said for brown!
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Hey Laura, so nice to hear from you. Yep, I get it with those boring brown RVs, but like you, I’m over it. Now I’m noticing brown in a new light as in nature, wildlife, or chocolate and coffee.😁 Hope life in Portugal is everything you hoped for and then some.
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Interesting. I wonder what color she would like for her kitchen? It sounds nice the way you described it. I love all the brown you’ve found in nature.
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I asked her how she would want to change the kitchen, and she wasn’t 100% sure other than more white and less brown. 😁 Regardless, it’s a nice kitchen the way it is, and she agrees that it’s not so bad that she needs to spend big bucks to change things up.
There’s so much beautiful brown around us. It just took me a minute to realize it.
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Funny thing, my son suggested to me that we paint one curved wall in our living room brown. He said the grays are out and brown is in!
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He’s right. The grays are out. When I worked in the housing industry, I quite often used a milk chocolate brown color for an accent wall and it seemed to be universally liked. Hmm, why didn’t I remember that sooner. 🤪
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I love brown wood, and the cow made me smile!
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I’ve come to realize that there are lots of fabulous things in this world that are brown, including cute cows. 😊
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I like brown and am even okay with bermuda grass that turns brown in the winter – Bev not so much.
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I never gave the color brown much thought until recently and then noticed brown is everywhere. As you mentioned, even green grass turns brown in the winter. Brown is part of nature and our everyday lives.
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Wonderful photos and I think what they show is the importance of textures in any colour. All the beautiful textures of old wood, rocks and living creatures – how can that be boring?
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Thank you and I agree … texture is equally as important as color. I’m a huge fan of old wood and mature trees which are definitely not boring.
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Beautiful photos, Ingrid. I liked your text a lot, too.
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Thank you Egidio. The color brown had me do some reflecting.
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I loved how you put that idea into our minds, too.
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Great photos. Especialy the duck.
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I had a fun time photographing that duck.
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Brown plays its roll in nature and works fine for me, I love the Jack Rabbit, so cute with its huge eyes! I have seen them outside of the city sitting and staring right at me. Too much brown in a kitchen takes me back to 1975, Ingrid, but like you said it can be decorated to offset the heavy brown.
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Trust me when I say I know all too well what a 1970s kitchen looks like. 😁 Once I moved west and saw my first jack rabbit, I was amazed as to how big they are and then realized, Bugs Bunny was a jack rabbit and not a cottontail. That made a lot more sense to this Midwesterner.🐰
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But… Bugs would be sad to know this, Ingrid! 🫣🤭
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🤣
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Oh, I think brown is anything but boring. For me, it’s more a color of life than death. The soulful eyes of a trusted canine, the beautiful trees in the forest, the luxurious fur of happily-spotted critters, rich soil, warm cocoa and hot coffee — it is so integral to all the things I treasure. Wonderfully common, but never boring. Your beautiful photos validate that!
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Thank you for your thought-provoking comment, Joodie. Ah yes, chocolate and coffee, two of my favorite things in life are indeed brown. After much reflection, I am in total agreement with you that there’s nothing boring about the color brown.
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nicely done, Ingrid! So any things to see and notice, some things are easily overlooked or we simply take it for granted. I am not sure if brown is boring, but it is everywhere. I am going to be outside today raking and bagging some brown leaves in brown bags. It’s what I do in the fall on a weekend. Have a fabulous Sunday!
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Overlooked is the perfect word to describe the color brown. At least that’s how I felt about brown. It’s just not a color I gave much thought to. I used to love fall (still do) and enjoyed raking up that first bag of leaves. Multiple bags, not so much 😁 Enjoy the lovely fall day.🍂🍁🍂
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I do think brown is boring in nature. But not in that cute cow! It reminds me of a dry landscape and wintertime. Yes, there’s a lot of brown around us in homes (and campers) as well, due to it being the color of wood. Interesting perspective, Ingrid!
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This photo prompt really made me think and take note of the things around me. It can be a boring color but there are so many fabulous brown things like chocolate and coffee that are definitely not boring. 🙂
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I got a little misty reading your description of brown, Ingrid, especially while punctuated with your gorgeous images. I always loved shades of brown because, as a teenager with curly red hair, brown and blue were my only color choices to wear without being teased! Your animal shots–the duck and cow are impressive images! But I love the look in the jackrabbit’s eye! You made brown proud today, my friend!
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Aww, thank you, Terri. The words teenager and curly hair had me cringing. I can relate all to well about being teased when long straight hair was the ‘in’ do and I had a mop of thick curly hair. I used to spend hours straightening those curls and now I embrace them. My how times have changed!
Brown was never a color I gave much notice to but realized we’re surrounded by it. There’s some pretty amazing things in this world that are brown and I’m a fan.
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Funny how that works when are impressionable teens. I was also lucky our high school colors were green and gray–easy for redheads to wear 🙂
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Having brown hair, I didn’t have to worry about colors as much as all the frizz associated with living in a humid climate.
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