Pink and baby blue, all grown up
Pair these soft pastels with other colours, writes
IN 2016, Pantone invited you to reconsider your feelings about pale pink and blue. Instead of remembering them as stuffy or relegating them to nurseries, Leatrice Eiseman, executive director for Pantone Colour Institute, suggests pairing the pastel “colours of the year”, Rose Quartz and Serenity, with the bold colours of recent years. It will make both feel fresh. As the world’s foremost colour-trend watcher, Eiseman had noticed blush pink and a soft periwinkle blue popping up on runways and in interiors, but it was a retrospective for 20th-century American painter Agnes Martin at the Tate Modern in London that arrested her attention.
“I was just taken aback,” Eiseman says of Martin’s work, which used pale colour washes in abstract forms.
“It was an unexpected usage of colour in a grid or in striping, and yet it has this quiet, soft inviting feel about it.”
But it’s the pairing of these soft pastels with other colours that really has Eiseman jazzed.
Take a rich chocolate or modern aubergine, for example, and add a blush pink or a lighter blue (don’t stress over matching Rose Quartz and Serenity exactly), and you have something new for the new year, a fresh start.
And isn’t that what trends are all about? Ideas for adding these tones to your decor:
Mini wood colourblock planter are everywhere these days. They can add just that dash of pink to a desk or tabletop. “Step outside of the mind-set of blue for boys and pink for girls,” Eiseman says. “These are not weak baby colours. They have a bit more strength than that, and more to say.”
Dinner plates in trendy blush or blue can stand on their own as a set – layer pink on pink, blue on blue – or be mixed and matched. Monochromatic or polychromatic, “it’s all in the combination”, Eiseman says.
Interior designer Samantha Friedman suggests using pastels in accessories and other items that are easy to change out, such as bedding. Replace conventional white sheets with pink cotton percale. Want more pink? Pair the sheets with the pretty throw, quilt or blanket.
“I have noticed a movement in the last couple of years toward lighter, airier interiors,” Eiseman says. If your dining room is feeling too heavy, refresh it with a lighter-coloured set of chairs.
Friedman suggests adding a rug or carpet in the faux bois pattern trend for a feminine touch. It will add subtle colour to a mostly white bedroom, soften a black-and-white living room or tone down a vibrant family room.
Eiseman likes Rose Quartz and Serenity not only with bold colours and neutrals, but also with each other. “Blue says one thing, and rose says another. But when you bring them together, they intensify each other,” she says. “It’s like the perfect marriage.”
Trends are just like seasons. They feed our desire for variety and change. But if change comes slowly for you, “the tabletop is a wonderful place to experiment with colour combinations”, Eiseman says.
Start with a sky blue or blush Compartment Cafeteria Tray and create a compelling vignette.
A petite, task lamp is Friedman’s pick for nightstands or desks, in blush or pale blue. The diminutive size means that the colour will add a subtle sense of calm to a bedroom.
If you had any doubt that pastels could read modern, check out Ferm Living’s birch-and-oak Large Spear Tray at burkedecor.com
Dusty rose meets navy meets seafoam green meets olive green.
More and more of Friedman’s clients are requesting a white palette and neutral decor, turning away from the bold colours of recent years. “I think people want more of a neutral palette against which to decorate,” Friedman says.
Try light colours in an ombre fashion. “Nude” pairs a light pink and peach; “blue” pairs cloud and storm blue. – The Washington Post
Roberts is a freelance writer. Her website is lindseymroberts.com