Why do Hispanics paint the trim of their homes teal, turqoise, or magenta?
I am just curious. I am too poor to purchase a home more than $80,000 so my Realtor has told me I have to look for homes at least 10–15 miles outside of Houston which is mostly Hispanic neighborhoods. I love Mexicans and all, and I am accepting of the fact that I may have to paint over the teal trim to the house I buy, but what gives? Is it a cultural thing?
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Great question! I have often wondered the same myself!
LMFAO! Now asking that takes chutzpah that I can really appreciate. I hate to say that in NY people call fuscia “Puerto Rican Pink.” I would think in their home countries it is normal.
Look at photos of predominantly Spanish, Puerto Rican, Dominican, Mexican, et al houses in the home country. Everything is colorful and quite pretty. It’s cultural; just bring a bit of home into the U.S.
I’d like to know too, but I’m sure its a cultural thing. We had a Mexican family move in across the street from us and paint their back yard walls a nice bright orange. I’m sure they would have done the front of their house too if it wasn’t against our neighborhood ‘codes’.
Oh, and thanks for bringing me back, @JLeslie, hahaha
Part of it has to do with social class too. My husband is Mexican and he would not paint the trim on our house magenta.
Think of a Flamenco: dancer or Mariachi band when you see those colors being proudly displayed.
Yes, it’s cultural. Just like Greeks with white houses, statues, and blue shutters/mailboxes, and Greek flags flying.
this question just got me thinking. Has anyone ever seen a house painted completely black? I dont think i ever have.
Frequently cultures in tropical areas such as the Caribbean and parts of Central America and Africa do paint their houses in bright colors. Yes, it is a cultural thing, but not restricted to Hispanics.
@uberbatman – When I was house-hunting in Gainesville, Florida, one of the houses I looked at was not only painted completely black on the outside, the owners were terribly proud of their home-made wall-to-wall carpeting, which was made up of sample carpet squares. There was also a house in Berkeley, California, that was painted black, but the gutters and the door were bright orange. And the driveway was alternating rectangles of green and red concrete.
It’s not just the trim. And it’s not all Latinos. Personally, I think it’s great. How many more tan houses with white trim can there be? Blech!
Never seen a painted black house!!! It seems more like a cultural thing than a class thing… you can tell a neglected home is a sign of class; this applies to all cultures/races etc!!
i’ve never ever ever noticed this.
my house is painted teal/turquoise with like coral trim.
(i’m not spanish)
Um… ok. I’m going to try and not take this question the wrong way.
I’m mexican… i would NEVER paint the trim on my house any of those colors. Different regions have different cultural customs and some parts of Mexico get this kind of thing.
However i do have to point out that there does seem to be a certain trend as far as a “class” structure goes… with higher classes staying away from this kind of decoration. Take that as you will.
@Dr_C Don’t lie, vato. Your crib looks like Pee Wee’s PlayHouse
@Grisaille sssshhhh that was a secret homes! now i’m gonna have to go pick up my 13 tias and 35 cousins in the el camino and rob a licor store to pay for the new trim paint!
@Dr_C VATOS LOCOS FOREVER HOMES
Ask Titi Mira to cook me up some empanadas!
I think the idea that it has to do with social class is obscene. Just because someone has more money they don’t like bright colors or no longer feel like subscribing to cultural beliefs? Case in point. A friend of mine lives in an up-scale neighborhood. She always tells this story. A new family moves into the neighborhood. They paint their entire house an obscenely bright yellow or orange. The neighborhood has a hissy fit and tries to force them to re-paint the house. Of course they don’t win. But this is a better example of why you don’t find brightly painted houses in upper-scale neighborhoods: the neighbors have a fit.
@uberbatman Yes. Du Pont painted almost everything on his property black, he had people do it while in jail. This threw everyone in the area in a tizzy lol
Studies on monozygotic Latino twins separated at birth and raised in different homes show that the propensity for painting trim in cheerful colors has a genetic component of about 60%.
The Latin Race just happens to have a gene which codes for uplifting color schemes, as opposed to the “drab” gene which was recently isolated in White Anglo-Saxon Protestant men.
People in Portland Oregon seem to paint their houses with bright trim colors and a lot of them aren’t hispanic.
Oh, in Portland it’s the drinking water.
@Grisaille and @Dr_C LMAO again! I remember visiting my sister-in-law in Dom Rep (she lived there for a few years) and she criticized them for living 10 in a house and piling three people on a moped (she can be incredibly insensitive and has a Napolean complex I think.) I turned to her and said that is what American’s say about Mexican’s in America. She is Mexican.
Now, my house in Delray Beach was melon (in the orange-color family) The whole house. I would post it if there is a way to attach a jpg? But we have pink houses in FL also. I lived in an upper middle class neighborhood. My girlfriend lived in Ft Lauderdale in an expensive area, $700K and up for the houses, and a neighbor across the street painted their white house’s trim color red, and everyone knew the black family lived there.
I thought it was the drinking water in Ashland (you know with the Lithium in it) hehe.
@Marina Those are cute homes. Much more lively then the cookie cutter “custom” homes that have sprouted among Suburbia!
@Marina Love the pics. Great Answer.
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