My first thought is why did she paint her front door a color she does not like.

While I have no doubt that exposure may make anything more easily liked, I also believe that there are underlying experiences (of which we are not even consciously aware) that influence whether/how much we like something. Which makes me wonder if one's initial reaction to something is adverse it may depend on how severe our previous experience was. If it was not too severe we might come, in time, to like the new thing for the benefits it provides or it's intrinsic beauty.

I am sure your neighbor will never come to like that orange door as she has reinforced her dislike by proclaiming it aloud. "I shall affirm a thing and it is so" comes to mind. If she were more open to her choices and said "I may come to like it" then there is a possibility that she eventually would.

My answer to your question "...if your first reaction doesn't like it, does repeat exposure mean you simply learn to live with it?" is it depends. On so many things as many emotional/psychological questions do.

Trying to analyze her reaction would be difficult since she apparently didn't ask for a resolution from you. And it may be that another family member or friend talked her into the color when she was quite comfortable with what was prior. She may hate your door or mine too.

My admission to decor changes at this point is that I'm very tired of shades/hues of tan, gray etc. I have been tired of it for a long time, and no, time isn't changing my feelings surrounded by this color on my walls. I loved it when it was done, but easily began to get very tired of the look. Am thinking this is due to seeing so much of it "everywhere". The same is true for something done or bought which didn't work for me. I'll change it's form or let my daughter swoon over whatever it is and she happily gets a new addition to her house. Gratefully there is enough in my life that nothing more is going to come into the house. Changes in some form will though.

I can't remember having something in my decor that I hated. Am a bit of a tool, paint lover along with upholstery projects. So I always find a way to revamp or sometimes destroy in the process. If I need help physically, it is interesting how those available can't see the plan and love to suggest just leaving it alone.

Yes I love decor and have from many years of yore. I still enjoy GW as my first go to before the blogs, pins and HZ galleries. Am not a designer by any means, but do believe in my visual contexts.

I live in an interesting area of all types of homes from Victorians, MCM, cottages, craftsman. Each one built through the years. At one time I wanted to photograph them, the colors of each home remind me of every holiday possible. And each one is a true inspiration with colors I would not have considered, but work so well together. Their visions did not let them down.

Am sitting here with gallons of paint to head towards off whites. A challenge in itself to find the right one and not sure I've chosen correctly yet. It is time for me to lighten up the entire house. Repaint for a whole new "canvas" to play with.

Even if I decide to repaint a room in color, the whites may not work like I am seeing in my head, but paint is my friend. A deep teal keeps talking to me for at least one room change. And Annie's seeds got me heading in new directions.

My kitchen isn't changing though. A brick red which I painted 7 years ago and still love it.

Also an admission that the amount of color hue options is driving me nuts. Not just paint, but furniture and decor. You would think an artist could get a grip and thrive on the offerings available.

Apologies if I got off course.

OT but I remember meeting people for the first time and hating them but then later they became my favorite people. I still remember a 7th grade social studies teacher. For some reason the first day was horrendous. He ended up being one of my favorite teachers of all time.

In my example I think it was because he was so different than any teacher I ever had. Once I realized that it was a good thing that he was different my attitude changed.

So the red door is out of her comfort zone. Perhaps she will embrace the change and maybe not.

The first time I ever had fresh cilantro was in a burrito from a cart, about 1981. I thought it tasted like soap and positively ruined the burrito. The next couple of times I went back for a burrito, I told them "NO cilantro!!!" Tick, tock, tick, tock, a few weeks passed. I woke up one day and decided, actually I didn't hate cilantro, I loved it. Like a light switch. No gradual coming around. It was like night and day. I would gladly marry cilantro.

There is no doubt that repeated exposure to something helps train your eye so it no longer looks odd. That's how fashion comes and goes. The football sized shoulder padding of the 80s looked good...back then. Not so much now. I remember how dorky long skirts looked in the day of the mini, but not now.

But some things we really dislike, we will always dislike regardless of exposure.

This post was edited by AnnieDeighnaugh on Sun, Jun 1, 14 at 8:03

As a good researcher, I hope you will follow up with your neighbor in a few weeks to see if she has learned to like it or if she still hates her door. You might develop a lovely friendship over her paint choice.

Thanks for everyone's comments. Yes, Harmonyhill, I will be following up with her in my unofficial research! She and I speak often about other issues (have kids the same ages), and so are casual friends already. I passed her home today, and the door is the same color, although our weather this weekend has been rather humid for outdoor painting.

Although I love the idea of change, I'm usually pretty resistant at first. When I start painting a room or changing something around, I often announce, "This doesn't work!" within moments. My DH has learned to reply, so nicely, "You made a great choice... give it a few days." And he's usually correct.

Annie, my first suit purchased for job interviews had shoulder pads, and I thought they were flattering! What a memory. ;-)

I have slowly become accustomed to a lot of changes in decor that I disliked when I first saw them. The return of mid-century modern. The distressed wood floors. The open floor plan. Dining areas right next to breakfast bars.

But I still can't bring myself to like curtain rods hung far above windows, looking like raised eyebrows. I know it the the current thing, but I still feel that curtain rods should be placed on the window molding. That bare area of wall between the top of the window and curtain rod just bugs me no end. (Not criticizing what anyone else does with their curtain rods, just says what I will always do with mine, because that's what looks right to me.)

So, I fall in the category of some changes you see often enough and you grow to accept them, but there are some things that will just never look right.

These GW forums have underscored to me how decorating styles reflect regional diversity. As a lifelong New Englander my preferences in style of decor and colors would, I believe, leave many wanting more vibrant shades, layers, and embellishment than what pleases me.

I wonder if I'd grown up in Atlanta if I'd be more drawn to florals and flourishes. Would I come to love terracotta and turquoise shades if I spent a lot of time in the Southwest? And would I ever want to live with pastel blues and shell decor if we moved to Florida?

Hard to imagine, but it could happen, I suppose. Are we hard-wired in our preferences, or not?

amck, I think that idea is very interesting. I understand that what you grow up around would seem comfortable. I went the opposite. I hated everything I grew up around. I started being interested in houses when I was 7. I was interested in craftsman style or New England style cape cod homes even though I was never around them!

I'm like debrak, there are a lot of things I grew up with that I don't like, and certain color combinations are among them. Pink and gray, aqua and brown. They remind me of houses I lived in when I was very young, and I remember them as being bare, cold, uncomfortable, with no happy memories associated with them. MCM furniture (probably badly done and inexpensive) goes right along with these houses and memories of bomb drills in school, our parents worried about Cuba, and the death of JFK are thrown into the mix also. I think it's what's referred to in animal training as an "imprint". It's an emotional rather than a rational response. That may be what was happening with the new red door color.

I agree with Anna C.

I can appreciate the art of MCM, much like one can appreciate opera.

But I also have memories it associated with homes that were shabby, or relatives who were not financially secure and only owned cast-offs, and additionally church and school settings that used it. It never seemed new and nice, innovative, clean, or relaxing and comfy to me. It evokes the opposite emotional response.

I will say that it is surprising and interesting to me to see it done in a redux setting a la crate and barrel as new, nice, comfy, and relaxing due to its minimal aesthetic. But I can't go all in. I mix it with Waterford, Queen Anne cherry, and other items that are too "fussy" to be minimal.

If a person is prejudiced against something and someone talks them into doing it, they will never like it. Even if they do like it, they will never admit it. It's like admitting you were wrong. People cannot do it. There are people who are prejudice against certain foods even if they never tried them and there are those like myself who will never eat French fries because the first time I ate them I was sick and they made me sicker (secondary most likely to the grease) and I will never eat one again, will never try them, cannot stand the sight of them although it has been 40+ years.

On the other hand, there are people who have pain and even though over a few days the pain gets better, it really does not. I compare to a spinal headache which I once suffered. Each time I lifted my head the pain was excruciating but I would have to get up to use the facilities. By the time I had my shower and had brushed my teeth, the headache was better. It really was not, but I had learned psychologically to tolerate it. Will the owner of the home tolerate her orange door, will she come to appreciate it for being the beautiful focus of her entry or will she still be so prejudiced she cannot abide it? Human nature is a funny thing, it's human.

This post was edited by patricia43 on Mon, Jun 2, 14 at 8:29