GRACELAND -the way it was

[lvs2day]

in looking through some of the photos from the book by ELVIS unlimited[inside graceland] with the red decor and the way the trophy the way it was , should they of left it the way it was for the fans to have seen , it was said that ELVIS didn't cre for the red decor but what about the trophy room. So again i ask what you al think.

[Donut]

Everything should have been left the way it was when Elvis died. That he didn't like the red decor is just an excuse, if he really didn't like it he would have changed it... he had the money to do it. He could have decorated his house in blue in a period of his life, but people evolve and their lives change, so what it looked good to him and felt comfortable with in the sixties was not the same in the seventies. In my opinion they only did it because they didn't want to show the last years of Elvis and the person he became, something that goes farher than a matter of him having "bad taste" in decoration.

[presley31]

IN my opinion i'am so glad that they changed it from the awful red that was though the house. I don't think elvis liked it and have read somewhere he didn't and wasn't inpressed it was done in the first place.

[May]

Everything should have been left the way it was when Elvis died. That he didn't like the red decor is just an excuse, if he really didn't like it he would have changed it... he had the money to do it. He could have decorated his house in blue in a period of his life, but people evolve and their lives change, so what it looked good to him and felt comfortable with in the sixties was not the same in the seventies. In my opinion they only did it because they didn't want to show the last years of Elvis and the person he became, something that goes farher than a matter of him having "bad taste" in decoration.

I agree Donut. He could have easily had it changed had he wanted. The red decor was very seventies.

[presley31]

Something i came acoss on the internet.

While Priscilla lived at Graceland, the mansion reflected her decorating scheme, which included lots of white, greens, and blues. Later, after the Presleys' divorce, and during the time Elvis was dating Linda Thompson, at least part of the mansion was redecorated in vivid, and very gaudy, reds. Some ascribe this color scheme to Elvis, but his grandmother, Minnie Mae said it was Linda who redecorated the house in vivid red. Minnie Mae also went on to say that Elvis, himself, did not like all the red, and even started using the back stairs when he entered his home so he would not have to see all the red in the living and dining rooms. Minnie Mae said it was a shame that all the beautiful white and blue furniture was "being wasted" in storage. After Elvis' death in 1977, Priscilla Presley restored the mansion to it's earlier decorating scheme, discarding the vivid reds entirely.

Source:http://www.gracelandthenovel.com/about-graceland.cfm

[Donut]

I agree Donut. He could have easily had it changed had he wanted. The red decor was very seventies.

Yes, it was very seventies and very Elvis. You only have to see the Jungle Room or pictures of his bedroom to realise he probably didn't have any problem with the red decor.

[May]

In fact, the shower/dressing rooms at his Chino Canyon Drive home in Palm Springs were also red (and black) tiled.

[Diane]

I always read that it was Linda who changed the decor to red and that Elvis wasn't all that fond of it but that he didn't feel it was worth doing anything about it. As far as how I feel about it being changed back to blue, if he would have preferred blue then I would go along with that otherwise it really doesn't matter to me.

Diane

[May]

I think if it was decorated in blue and white exactly as it had been, then fair enough, but it isn't, its just the colour scheme and some of the original furniture. Personally I would prefer to see it how Elvis left it. I don't buy that Elvis didn't like the way Linda supposedly decorated it. I can't see anyone dictating to Elvis how Graceland, his home, should be. I can't see anyone telling Elvis anything he didn't want to do.

[Diane]

I agree with you May but from what I read Linda had re-decorated Graceland while Elvis was away...who knows what the real story is.

Diane

[May]

I just can't see it. If it is true though, surely Elvis would have just had it changed back. If he hadn't wanted to be there, he could have stayed away. Its not like he's one of us, and would have to get out the paint brush himself!

I dunno, I just don't see it. I think its very him, especially in that era

(maybe others who lived there made it up because they didn't like the colour??.. or Linda ?)

[Donut]

Neither can I, May. I don't believe Linda or anyone would dare to redecorate the house while Elvis was away without his consent. He had to know and approve it, it was his house.

[Diane]

You are probably both right May and Donut. So many things we hear and read are distorted. I can't really picture Elvis putting up with something he hated either.

Diane

[debtdbruno]

If it was Linda's taste, and Elvis 'put up' with it..........how come he didn't get the decorators in pronto, as soon as they split?

[Diane]

If Elvis really did dislike it and let it go the only thing I can think of is that he felt unwell and so out of it he simply didn't care anymore but I don't think that was the case. He must have felt it was tolerable or maybe who knows, he may have loved it and we heard it all wrong.....

Diane

[KPM]

The red decor was just one transition of the house, it did not look in 1957 the way it looked in 1960, and so on and so on.
Why people dislike the fact that it was not left exactly as it was when he died is a little funny to me.
If he had died and they had been totally repainting the interior of the home and dropclothes were everywhere and the furniture was in storage-should it have been left exactly that way because he had passed on?
Graceland changed yearly, some years it totally changed others years just small changes........perhaps they should revisit the big changes such as the red decor or the way the home looked in 1957 ....every few years maybe then people would not be so upset by the way it is now. Personally I have no problem with the way it looks today. Now if they gutted the home and did a total makeover with a motiff of Modern Chinese furnishings perhaps I might say hold on!

[monk37]

the red was Linda Thompson's decoration

whatever Elvis liked, Priscilla wasn't going to show the house with Linda's imprint on it - she turned it back to the blue theme it was when she was there

[debtdbruno]

The red decor was just one transition of the house, it did not look in 1957 the way it looked in 1960, and so on and so on.
Why people dislike the fact that it was not left exactly as it was when he died is a little funny to me.
If he had died and they had been totally repainting the interior of the home and dropclothes were everywhere and the furniture was in storage-should it have been left exactly that way because he had passed on?
Graceland changed yearly, some years it totally changed others years just small changes........perhaps they should revisit the big changes such as the red decor or the way the home looked in 1957 ....every few years maybe then people would not be so upset by the way it is now. Personally I have no problem with the way it looks today. Now if they gutted the home and did a total makeover with a motiff of Modern Chinese furnishings perhaps I might say hold on!

agree with you there Ken

[Diane]

The red decor was just one transition of the house, it did not look in 1957 the way it looked in 1960, and so on and so on.
Why people dislike the fact that it was not left exactly as it was when he died is a little funny to me.
If he had died and they had been totally repainting the interior of the home and dropclothes were everywhere and the furniture was in storage-should it have been left exactly that way because he had passed on?
Graceland changed yearly, some years it totally changed others years just small changes........perhaps they should revisit the big changes such as the red decor or the way the home looked in 1957 ....every few years maybe then people would not be so upset by the way it is now. Personally I have no problem with the way it looks today. Now if they gutted the home and did a total makeover with a motiff of Modern Chinese furnishings perhaps I might say hold on!

LOL, you're right, I agree 100%

Diane

[max]

Nice pic of Graceland 'Red Period"

http://dessaintes.webbuilder03.hostb...page134269.htm