In living color

What's hot this season, and who decides?

By Mary Mulkerin Donius, Globe Correspondent, 9/11/2003

Color is back. From deep reds to soft greens and rich golds, people are warming up to color in an effort to make their home an inviting refuge from a troubled world.

Two years ago, professional color forecasters such as Pantone and the Color Marketing Group, which advise fashion, textile, and furniture manufacturers on what colors will be hot, reasoned that the events of Sept. 11, 2001, probably would result in people spending more time at home, reaching for warmer and more interesting colors to soothe them.

They were right. Bolder color families that were once relegated to the sidelines are becoming the ``new neutrals,'' replacing old standbys like taupe, beige, gray, and white.

``People are getting a little bolder and a little more comfortable with color,'' says Regina Whelan, color marketing manager of Benjamin Moore Paint in Montvale, N.J.

Other influences besides the events of Sept. 11 have been at work, too. Home-decorating shows such as ``Trading Spaces'' have empowered people to make changes in their homes.

According to Whelan, until recently people traditionally repainted a room every five to seven years, but it's now much more frequent _ every two to four years.

"Ordinary people are becoming more design savvy," says Whelan. "They're more likely to try new styles in their own homes rather than just looking at them in shelter magazines." Judy George, chief executive officer of Domain Furniture, headquartered in Norwood, thinks the broad acceptance of red as a home fashion color is directly attributable to the profusion of shades of red on fashion runways over the past couple of seasons.

According to George, when it comes to color trends, "furniture always takes a back seat to fashion," because "it takes people some time to get comfortable about a color" before they're willing to bring it into their homes.

This fall, Domain is going with a bold palette of reds, mixing them with greens in homage to New England fall foliage.

"Customers are more comfortable when someone with authority tells them red is a palette that is neutral and OK to use in the home," George says.

George says she and her design team were influenced more by nature and less by the color "experts" who predicted more than two years ago that variations of red would be popular in autumn 2003.

"We're following nature's lead," she says. "In fall, people come to New England to see glorious shades of red on display. And that was our inspiration."

People are ready for bolder colors at home, George theorizes, because, "the travel industry has shriveled up and people aren't getting visual stimulation through travel anymore."

Debbi Carducci, who owns DesignBlenders in Worcester, believes that due to the economy, "people want rich, earthy colors to help them feel that home is a haven." Natural earth tones such as caramels, golds, and chocolate brown are appealing for their rich warmth and have been nudging their cooler counterparts -- taupe and beige -- into the "dated" category.

Carducci says that people are embracing gold as another "new neutral."

"I'm presenting gold to clients in a color scheme, often with burgundy or navy, and people are really accepting of it," she says.

Benjamin Moore reports that its Dorset Gold and Boardwalk are selling briskly. Gold has found its way back into hardware, too.

"A year or two ago everyone was doing silver or nickel hardware; now we're seeing more antiqued gold hardware and satin gold finishes.

Carducci is another fashion watcher who gets some of her interior design ideas from style trends. "I read "W," she says, "and that really gives you an indication of what colors, shapes, and styles are coming next (for home). According to Carducci, home fashions used to be a year or two behind couture, but now trends are nearly simultaneous.

"This spring, clothing came in with ruffles and detailing and embellishment, and now we're seeing those details being mimicked on upholstery, trimming for draperies, and accessories," she says.

Like George, Carducci believes that colors that are seen in nature and then brought into the home provide an automatic comfort level and are especially popular this season.

"One of my philosophies is that people are very accepting of the colors they see in nature," she says. "They are used to seeing greens and reds and browns and can bring them right into a room."

That may explain the resurgence of soft greens in furniture and upholstery.

"The softer greens and buttery yellows are very livable colors," says Jan Hedrick, director of design at Jordans's Furniture and president of the New England chapter of the American Society of Interior Designers. She says the greens and warmer yellows even are turning up now on wood finishes and leather sofas.

"People are seeing these soft yellows and greens as new neutrals that are warm and inviting," she says.

While Hedrick uses color-forecasting firms to help inform her buying decisions, she says the ultimate arbiter of what colors are "in" or "out" is the consumer. The color experts "influence to some degree what we do, but not a huge degree." She says the color-forecasting firms have far more influence on the manufacturing segment of the market. "The manufacturers capitalize on certain colors, and that's where the trends develop," she says. "But the consumer is the ultimate test."

Jackie Hirschhaut of the American Furniture Manufacturers Association sees it another way: "If a lot of people show a color, you believe," she says. "If you see a lot of it, it must be right."

In fact, "trends" are something of a self-fulfilling prophecy. For example, if the Color Marketing Group, headquartered in Virginia, or Pantone, based in New Jersey, predict that orange will be a popular home color in autumn 2006, many textile and furniture manufacturers will be sure to emphasize orange in their 2006 collections. So, when buyers go to the industry previews, they come face to face with differing shades of orange and are likely to include at least some orange items in their orders. Then, when a consumer shops and sees orange used in advertising in shelter magazines and on showroom floors, he or she is led to believe that orange is "in" or "accepted" as a home color.

However, Hirschhaut says, consumers don't usually latch onto a bold new color right away. It's a process.

"People usually feel free to embrace a new color through accessories to get a feel for how much they like it and how much their families and friends accept it," she says. "If they get the high sign, they jump in even further."

Not surprisingly, color-forecasting firms usually hedge their bets by predicting shades of nearly every basic color. It may be Tiffany blue one year and Wedgewood blue another. For example, back in January, Pantone forcasted 81 colors in "directional color palettes" for the home in 2003, featuring everything from garnet to light mahogany to sage, mineral yellow, silver, and purple ash.

Hirschhaut says that in the next year or two, color is going to translate into outdoor furniture as well. She also thinks pink will come on as a major home color. Pink has been a huge fashion color, she says, and "it's been accepted as an accessory color, and it's a natural after the reds."