Have the houses and shops in Ireland always been so brightly colored?

I came back from a recent trip with hundreds of photos of bright and cheerful houses, storefronts, and pubs. Is that traditional or is that new? And how do they come up with such bold and exciting combinations? Folks in the U.S. tend to be so much more conservative and dull.
Additional Details
I drove from Dublin to Wicklow, Wexford, Waterford, Cork, Killarney, Galway, Cannemara & Malehide and back to Dublin, seeing many smaller towns in between. I have seen older photos and the houses tended to be white or light in color. On this visit, I saw beautiful yellows and tangerines and bright greens and pinks. I was just wondering if it was something new, perhaps related to the improved economy in the past few decades or the preponderance of home decorating shows on television. Many of the places were tourist-oriented, so that may be it. I was impressed with the Tidy Town competition and saw that it's taken seriously and is a great honor. Perhaps it is a factor. Thanks to all those whose answers were helpful. P.S. I have lived in the Rockies, the Great Lakes region, the Southwest, the East Coast and have visited extensively in the rest of the country, and I have observed that styles in the U.S. tend to be regional -- San Francisco's Painted Ladies or New Mexico's adobe ranches.