Whats with the totally white rooms of all the LTT staff's homes?

[poochyena]

Every tech upgrade video makes me think LTT staff are all living in an insane asylum with the completely white floors, walls, and ceilings. Is it a Canadian thing or something?

[Middcore]

Riley is a "minimalist."

 

The others are maybe just hoping they can convince Linus to come over and paint for them. 

[AbydosOne]

2 minutes ago, poochyena said:

Every tech upgrade video makes me think LTT staff are all living in an insane asylum with the completely white floors, walls, and ceilings. Is it a Canadian thing or something?

From what I can gather (by just being around, mostly), "everything white" was a design trend from the middle '90s until the early '00s. My apartment is entirely extremely-light-grey (the only way you can tell is the switch plates are actually white and lighter than the walls around them) except for trim, doors, and flooring. The whole kitchen is white, including cabinets and appliances. I think it was supposed to make the space seem larger than it is, it's an easy "color" to coordinate, and a cheap paint color.

[Sprawlie]

it's the cheap default paint that exists in just about every home and condominimum in Canada.

 

When you buy a place, especially one that's new, most builders will only use eggshell white and leave it as that. When it comes to apartments and condos, while you can in some cases repaint, you have to get the approval fo the condo board or HOA. 

 

Especially if ones renting, they won't paint if they're not going to be long term because the owners of the building will often with hold security deposit, or outright charge you to return the  unit back to the "default" paint scheme.

 

 

Also: some of those condos, while "tiny" cost them hundreds of thousands and likely just haven't been able to, or bothered to spend the money to paint it yet. (Vancouver area where LTT is from is one of the most expensive places in the world to rent/buy right now with even tiny shoebox condos going for 1/2 mill +

[1518]

White also reflect light and makes the room feel bigger

[Heliian]

Can confirm that Canada does favour white paints. 

I think I have 4 or 5 different shades in my house and a floor that is pearl white.

However, there is also a multitude of brash colours adorning some walls/floors.

 

 

[GDRRiley]

20 hours ago, Sprawlie said:

Also: some of those condos, while "tiny" cost them hundreds of thousands and likely just haven't been able to, or bothered to spend the money to paint it yet. (Vancouver area where LTT is from is one of the most expensive places in the world to rent/buy right now with even tiny shoebox condos going for 1/2 mill +

thats not bad compared to most of California

 

White or some shade of off white is what most places start with and many people don't change it.

if you own it I don't see why you don't spend the 50$ and an evening or 2 painting at least 1-2 walls a room

[duncannah]

It always looks tacky to me when the walls or the ceiling isn't white (or black in some cases)... plus it's neutral, so it fits in with any kind of decor, while having coloured walls is limiting

[Sprawlie]

2 hours ago, GDRRiley said:

thats not bad compared to most of California

 

White or some shade of off white is what most places start with and many people don't change it.

if you own it I don't see why you don't spend the 50$ and an evening or 2 painting at least 1-2 walls a room

because as I said in my post that you responded to, there are more than the $50 financial investment, especialyl givin that most of the staff from LTT live in either rental or condo units. 

 

if it's rental units, they may not have any leeway to repaint depending on their contract. and most of them would require returning the room back to the unpainted form before moving out (so that it's in it's white/default natural state for the next tenant)

 

Painting is easy and cheap, I always paint my own house and rooms. But if I knew that I'd have to completely repaint in 1 or 2 years before moving out? i'd not paint today. 

 

I can't speak to the current california housing prices. I just know that Vancouver where LTT staff are based is one of the most expensive places to live right now (it's a Canada problem). Also incomes in Vancouver aren't as high as California (canadians as a whole make less overall than their US counterparts), making the unaffordability worse. but honestly, the housing crisis is a massive topic and it gets way too political for here.

[LogicalDrm]

-> Moved to Off Topic

[King_PIN]

On 8/17/2021 at 8:27 PM, Caroline said:

me in my room with white walls and ceiling:

 

walls have wainscot paneling tho so they're not entirely white, just 2/3.

 

I don't like coloured walls, a friend has lime green paint on her room's walls and, honestly, it's horrible.

The trick with white paint is to use one that's not too bright otherwise it'll reflect all of the sunlight, when it comes to artificial light, warm tones (incandescent or 3000K LED) are better than cold/blue-ish (CFL, 6000K+ LED) and the walls look better.

Also one should never use latex paint for interiors, it's shiny and bad for the walls as it doesn't allows them to "breathe" out any possible humidity, if that gets trapped it can turn into mold and crack the concrete, rust iron beams or rot wood studs, I'm aware steel beams and framing is used nowadays.

Say what?  LOL

  

I'm not sure if you're getting paint types mixed up.  

Latex - Not sure if pure latex is even sold anymore - water based

Acrylic Latex - Comes in different qualities from partial Acrylic to the best being 100% Acrylic but still water based

Alkyd - Oil/petroleum based

 

Acrylic let's the wall breath and is mostly mold and mildew resistant.  It comes in every sheen from flat to high gloss and is just as durable as alkyd paints.  

Low grade Acrylic or Latex is generally in Primer/Sealers or what's known as apartment paints but will still let walls breath, comes in sheens from flat(generally ceiling paint) to semi-gloss but is not good at hiding and not very durable. 

Alkyd paints are not normally used anymore except in specific situations.  As a top coat very rare but still used by some because they offer the best flow and levelling. Alkyds are prone to mold and mildew and DO NOT let walls breath. 

 

BTW:  For anyone curious pure white is the best colour to hide dark colours which is why sealers are always white.  The more pigment(colour) added to paint the more translucent it is and the worse it hides which is why dark colours always need multiple coats. 

[Jtalk4456]

white is popular simple as that

 

[BlueChinchillaEatingDorito]

On 8/17/2021 at 12:40 PM, poochyena said:

Every tech upgrade video makes me think LTT staff are all living in an insane asylum with the completely white floors, walls, and ceilings. Is it a Canadian thing or something?

It's pretty much the only colour you're presented with if you buy a new home (condominium, townhouse, or standalone). If you want a specific colour, well you're paying someone to paint the walls or doing it yourself.  

 

On 8/18/2021 at 11:08 AM, Sprawlie said:

I can't speak to the current california housing prices. I just know that Vancouver where LTT staff are based is one of the most expensive places to live right now (it's a Canada problem). Also incomes in Vancouver aren't as high as California (canadians as a whole make less overall than their US counterparts), making the unaffordability worse. but honestly, the housing crisis is a massive topic and it gets way too political for here.

There's also probably some trend where painted rooms make for a harder sell or something. I've seen apartments with rooms painted bright red or pink here. I'm sure it'll be harder to try to get someone to pay asking in those situations. I'll admit I haven't bought a dwelling in the area yet, but I can imagine a questionably painted room can be a sticking point for some buyers who are already paying top dollar. 

[poochyena]

1 hour ago, BlueChinchillaEatingDorito said:

It's pretty much the only colour you're presented with if you buy a new home (condominium, townhouse, or standalone). If you want a specific colour, well you're paying someone to paint the walls or doing it yourself.  

Interesting. They are all beige colored walls in the apartments in my area

[Sarra]

brb gonna paint my walls clear

[Monkey Dust]

57 minutes ago, Sarra said:

brb gonna paint my walls clear

[Virus__]

White reflects light, white makes small spaces feel larger, it's a neutral colour, easy to match decor to etc..

[Yeroh]

I don't know if it's the same elsewhere in the world, but I'm moving right now and the rental agreement of my apartment states that the walls have to be white when you give the apartment back. So our apartment was given to us with white walls and we don't plan to change them.

 

Frankly, I also like the versatility of white, you can still make the room look nice with pictures and decoration and it's easy to match to your furniture. Plus, as others have mentioned, it does make the space feel very bright and spacious.