Yellow From mimosa and daffodil to amber and Dijon.
(Joel Benjamin)
Your Home: Color
New hue review
To freshen up your space (and maybe even boost your mood), get acquainted with these three color trends - the hottest of the year.
Yellow From mimosa and daffodil to amber and Dijon.
(Joel Benjamin)
Yellow: From mimosa and daffodil to amber and Dijon Walk into a front hall painted lemon yellow and the corners of your mouth tend to turn up. There’s a reason those ’60s smiley faces were bright yellow: It’s the happiest color in the spectrum. It’s also warm, friendly, and symbolic of better times ahead, says Leatrice Eiseman, executive director of the Pantone Color Institute, a New Jersey color research and information center that selected mimosa -- yep, like the orange-juice-and-champagne drink -- as Color of the Year for 2009. “If you’re concerned about jobs and health care, at least adding some yellow in your home gives you a place to go to have some hopefulness,” Eiseman says. “The last thing we want to do now is paint things gray.” Kitchens are a perfect place for yellow, whether on the walls or in tablecloths and place settings. It’s welcoming and nurturing, like good comfort food, according to Eiseman. “And Dijon in a dining room is delicious!” Try yellow in a room that gets little light or in a small home office, she adds. “If you’re easily depressed during the darker days of winter, it’s a great way to trick the eye and fool the mind that there’s sunshine.” For an exotic mood of far-off lands, match spicy mustard with Mediterranean blue, burnt orange, and a touch of scarlet and gold.
Green and Blue: From deep teal and ocean green to iris and azure Come December, a trip to a sun-drenched island will sound mighty nice. Why wait? Paint your bedroom walls Caribbean blue, with sea-green accent pillows against clean white linens. Blue is not only relaxing but also the best-liked color, with green the most calming. Put them together and you can’t help but feel serene and tranquil. Then there’s the environmental attachment people have to this eco-friendly palette, says Leatrice Eiseman. It’s a double whammy of pleasant thoughts. “Use them in bedrooms and bathrooms, the places people tend to go when they want to stop the world and get off or retreat from the kids.” And don’t just stick with the paler shades. A vibrant turquoise can inexpensively turn a tiny powder room into a jewel box, Eiseman says. “When company comes, it’s fun to open a door and see something unexpected.” Equally delightful is a kitchen that combines a bucolic Provence blue with a cheery daffodil yellow, an appetizing favorite in the French countryside. While color palettes may come and go, Eiseman acknowledges that the average person doesn’t completely redecorate every year. The newness can come from mixing colors in a fresh way. “And paint is the least expensive way to change any interior.”
Plum: From rose and merlot to lavender and amethyst Need a little glamour in your life? Introduce decorative elements in sensuous orchid and misty rose to a room dominated by browns or grays. Add a few metallic touches, and you’ve got an old-Hollywood Art Deco look, says Leatrice Eiseman. The plum family is also considered the most spiritual, a nice counterbalance to its association with royalty and sumptuous indulgence. Lavender is a great sleep-inducer, ideal for a little girl’s bedroom. But don’t think of purples as strictly feminine, notes the color consultant and author. Merlot, combined with grapevine greens, earthy browns, and sky blues, evokes the rustic simplicity of wine country in a masculine wood-paneled den or family room with fireplace. And for a luxurious yet inviting living room, team up shades of mauve and deep purple with warm russet and a touch of cornflower blue. Eiseman suggests using purple paint in small doses to create a dramatic focal point. For example, picture a beige living room with olive club chairs next to a beautiful bay window. By painting just the wall space around the windows aubergine, you make “a bold statement without being in your face,” she says. “And yellow with purple is sensational,” a combo that color research center Pantone predicts will be hot in 2010.
Tina Sutton writes the weekly Fashion Snapshot column for the Globe Magazine and is the coauthor of The Complete Color Harmony: Expert Color Information for Professional Color Results. E-mail her at tsutton@globe.com.
© Copyright 2009 Globe Newspaper Company.
