When Your Colour's Not in Style

Two women were chatting in a shop:

"You don't see much red."
"No! Lots of pink, but not much red."
"Plenty of pink!  I don't know why they have so much pink."
"I always like red, but I guess they think it's winter, people won't want red."
"Well, I like red."

A casual conversation, but it makes a real point. Red is a classic colour. In languages which have only a few words for colours, red is always one of the colours that has a name. Red will never be so completely out of style that nobody wants it.

And yet, these ladies were looking for fabrics for home decorating, and couldn't help but notice that there were few choices in red.

Pink is trendy this season; red isn't. One result of that fact is that more goods are available in pink and fewer are available in red. The women hadn't noticed that pink is in style, but they had noticed that red was scarce.

If you notice that your favourite colour is hard to find, it may be that it's out of fashion this season. What can you do about that?

• Ask. When red is out of style, there will be fewer shades of red paint on hand in shops, but paint companies will still be making red paint. The shades below are the ones Dulux is currently offering in its gallery of reds -- some of them might more accurately be called orange, pink, brown, or even lilac, but there may be at least one shade that appeals to the red lover.

• Go custom. You can always have a paint colour custom blended to your taste. Find something -- even if it is a picture of a strawberry -- that shows exactly the colour you have in mind, and have your paint blended to match it. 
• Go neutral. You probably have some accent pieces in that favourite hue of yours. If you need to paint and your top colour isn't trendy, go with great neutrals and get the colour from soft furnishings or accent pieces. Check antique stores or op shops for retro treasures in your shade. 

Consider the trendy colours of the season, but don't feel that you have no choice.