Chasing Rainbows
Monochromatic grays have dominated the residential interior landscape for more than a decade. Grays are still popular although homeowners, once wary of color, are suddenly discovering a rainbow of opportunities in paint colors and home furnishings.
Some of that warming toward bolder colors— even a sage green can seem bold against the backdrop of Dove Gray— is just part of a naturally evolving design process, while some of it is environmental and circumstantial.
People, being at home so much in the last year because of COVID- 19, are looking differently at their four walls, according to Andrea Magno, director of color Marketing & Development for Benjamin Moore & Co. “Color has risen to the forefront,” she said.
Jennifer Coleman of Ridgefield- based JKC Designs LLC said color is playing a more important role in people’s lives
because they are spending so much more time at home. “We’re working from home, we’re vacationing at home,” she said. Rooms are serving multiple functions: dining rooms as offices, or kitchens as distant learning spaces. People are asking themselves, “How does this room make me feel?” Color can evoke emotion. It can give a home some excitement and joy, she said. Paint colors are an inexpensive way to update a space, she said.
As a designer, Coleman said it’s very exciting to use color in interesting ways. “It makes for a more interesting interior,” said Coleman, who has painted the ceiling in her dining room peacock blue.
Past trends centered around one particular color, such as gray’s long reign. This year, several colors have emerged. The majority of homeowners are sticking to neutral hues on walls and in draperies, while adding a pop of bolder colors through picture frames, pillows, and other home furnishings, said Sandra Long, owner of Laura’s Draperies, Bedspreads and More in Norwalk. There are exceptions. Long said she has seen more people using dark colors, like navy blue on dining room walls and plum and chocolate brown in bedrooms. “Darker colors make a room feel more intimate and cozy,” she said.
“Color is a powerful tool, and it’s the best way to create an emotional experience in a space,” said Kate Smith, owner of Fairfield County- based Kate Smith Interiors. “By playing with color, shade, and tone, you can make a room feel fun or serene or exciting or moody. It helps to create a total sensory experience.”
For those leary of using color in a room, Smith suggests starting with a small space, such as the powder room, where you can use colorful wallpaper or a bright paint hue, for example. “Color can make a big impact in a small space, and it’s low on commitment; you can have fun with it, and be experimental,” she said.
Color can be added to living spaces through accessories, as well. “If you don’t want to commit to color with a green sofa, for
instance, you might consider adding colorful green throw pillows to your more neutral couch,” she said, adding that pattern is also way great way to introduce color to a room. “Try a neutral background wallpaper or fabric that has a bright geometric or floral pattern,” she recommended.
Benjamin Moore color experts begin work on selecting the annual Color of the Year and complementary palette of colors a year in advance of the official announcement, meaning they were prescient in their choice of Aegean Teal 2136- 40 for 2021, perhaps intuiting that 2020 was going to be a challenging and unsettling year and that we would need calm in 2021. Aegean Teal creates natural harmony; it’s “a soothing color,” Magno said, and this year color is about comfort.
Aegean Teal is “a balance between blue and green with a touch of gray. It’s a mid- tone, an easy color to live with and it’s still going to work with neutrals,” Magno said. Among the palette of a dozen complementary colors released along with Aegean Teal are Muslin OC- 12, Potters Clay 1221, Rosy Peach 2089- 20, and Gray Cashmere 2138- 60, which Magno said is like a cashmere blanket; the paint color “wrapping the room with warm welcoming color.”
“The twelve hues in the palette radiate warmth and wellbeing. These are colors that make your home feel even more like home,” the Benjamin Moore website says.
Pantone revealed two Colors of the Year for 2021: PANTONE ® 17- 5104 Ultimate Gray, which is “practical and rock solid but at the same time warming and optimistic,” and PANTONE 13- 0647 Illuminating— a bright and cheerful yellow.
“This is a color combination that gives us resilience and hope. We need to feel encouraged and uplifted, this is essential to the human spirit,” said Leatrice Eiseman, executive director of the Pantone Color Institute, at the December announcement.