2018 Color Predictions

Every year color experts research color trends in order to predict what colors will be popular during the upcoming year. Last year, violet-tinged hues dominated the selections by major paint companies while Pantone’s pick was a bright green.

This year, it’s still all about creating a sanctuary with color, but deep shades of blue are dominating the predictions. PPG unveiled “Black Flame”, a black infused with an undertone of indigo, as it’s 2018 Color of the Year touting it as the “new neutral” fulfilling our craving for comfort, privacy and hope. As you can see, it’s very similar to Benjamin Moore’s “Shadow” from last year.

PPG’s “Black Flame” touted as the timeless “little black dress”

Sherwin William’s pick is “Oceanside”, a jewel-toned blue-green much like my “Sacre Bleu” created last year for Hunt Slonem’s Antebellum Pop Exhibit. I can’t tell you how many powder rooms and front doors have been painted with it, so I’m not surprised to see it as one of the colors of the year.

Sherwin Williams’ “Oceanside”

“Sacre Bleu” used in Hunt Slonem’s Antebellum Pop exhibit at LSUMOA

Pratt & Lambert went for a more midnight blue with it’s “Heron” selection for 2018.

“In our search for serenity in today’s dynamic and often hectic world, we found Heron . . offers calmness, tranquility and adaptability allowing it to transform an ordinary space into a sanctuary that truly showcases the power of color.”  – Ashley Banbury, Sr. Designer, Pratt & Lambert Paints

Last but not least, Benjamin Moore selected “Caliente”, a red with hints of orange, as their top color for 2018. Although a jewel tone, it’s a total departure from the soothing blues and a whole lot like one of the first colors I created for my Magical Gems Palette back in 2001,”Carnelian”.

Ben Moore’s “Caliente”

“Carnelian” in Hunt Slonem’s Brooklyn Studio

So what do you think Pantone’s number one color for 2018 will be? According to their color trend report for 2018, look for anything metallic, pearlized or translucent as well as intense colors to match our intense lifestyles. However, Pantone also predicts that 2018 will be the year of pink as a power color. So who really knows? I have to say, I’m always surprised!

 

2015 – Color(s) of the Year & House Beautiful’s “Fantasy” Issue

I usually post about the “Color of the Year” for each upcoming year long before now as believe it or not, it is by far my most popular post.  My “2010 Color of the Year” post had well over 7,000 visitors on New Year’s Eve alone. However, this year, I really dropped the ball and only just thought about it when I saw Color Consultant Amy Wax’s Facebook post where she created this collage of 2015’s top color picks:

Color 911’s 2015 Color of the Year collage

Amy also created my favorite color app, “Color 911” which has won numerous awards. Although a great tool for designers and color consultants, it is also especially helpful for the “do-it-yourselfer” who is trying to put together a color palette. It is by far the most comprehensive and accurate app when it comes to color!

Interesting how close Pantone, AkzoNobel and Sherwin Williams are when it comes to their pick for 2015. Of course, if you follow fashion, you could have predicted something similar, no?

These earthy reds are everywhere in fashion and according to Pantone, will be seen soon on sofas, carpets and other home furnishings.

I was asked recently what color I predict for 2015 and while I have no idea what the new trendy color is, I am focused on a color artist Hunt Slonem mentions in his new book, Where Art Meets Design. He described it as looking like “moss growing on the wall” and said the color was called “Old World European Chartreuse”. When I Googled it, I found this photo and fell in love! It reminds me of what I call “fairy moss” which grows in the woods on my property. When my daughter was a toddler, I would create little fairy houses in it. It’s the epitome of rejuvenation and the magic of nature, yet it has this old world quality about it. Although I have two similar colors, “Chartreuse” and “Jaunty Jen”, this chartreuse has that intriguing combination of gold and green which will be perfect as an accent wall in a new project I am working on with Sidney Coffee called “The Goux Roux”. The Goux Roux (Sidney’s take on “guru”) will be a sacred space that will host a variety of events. Located in an old fire station building on the grounds of Circa 1857 in Baton Rouge, the walls are all old brick except the back plaster wall where we will be installing a giant Buddha fountain.

“Goux Roux Green” will be the new name of this Full Spectrum Color.

If you haven’t seen the latest issue of House Beautiful magazine, be sure to pick up a copy. The theme is “Fantasy” and it certainly has filled my every fantasy in that it has an eight page article on Hunt’s new book which not only features me as his “color specialist” but has gorgeous photos of many of his colorful rooms painted in my Full Spectrum Paints!

House Beautiful article has an 8 page spread on “Where Art Meets Design” by Hunt Slonem

To get you into the mood to create magic and fantasy in your sacred spaces, check out House Beautiful Editor Newell Turner’s description of the December/January issue which will be on newsstands through January.

Now, back to the 2015 Color of the Year. What’s your pick?

NEWS: “What’s Next in Color?” and a Paint Sale!

Have you seen the September House Beautiful?  It’s a great color issue with a “What’s Next in Color” article where they interviewed the color marketing directors from eleven major paint companies.

For starters, several pointed out that “feel-good” yellows are trending, from “pale, luminous yellow” like our Buttercream and Classic Marc to brighter more vibrant orangey yellows like our Del Sol and Tuscan Sun.

Classic Marc, originally created for designer Marc Charbonnet, on walls above are both classic and now “trending”. Gustavian Grey, in the foyer beyond, is a perfect example of a complex gray with warm undertones.

Gray is still the most popular neutral, but now grays are predicted to be much more complex, with both warm and cool undertones. I pulled out our palette of timeless, tried and true colors and found matches for every color described in the article. For complex grays described as “warm & toasty”, our Stone, Silt and JV Violet are perfect examples. Putty and Pumice (in addition to the Gustavian Grey in the photo above) are also easy to live with grays, but with warm, green undertones. The best thing about all of these grays is that they work especially well with wood tones.

Walls above painted JV Deep Taupe, created for designer Jon Vaccari, are a perfect example of the “warm and toasty” grays with undertones that give this color the grounding and nurturing qualities of a “cozy and safe” brown.

When it comes to color, grayed-down pastels are also forecasted as coming into the foreground, with nature’s predominant blues and greens still very popular, especially the watery blues ranging from turquoise to deep indigo. Pantone color guru Leatrice Eiseman chose a very warm “Linden Green” (see our Spring Green, Peridot, Chartreuse & Jaunty Jen) as the color to watch for, so will this be Pantone’s 2014 color of the year choice to replace Emerald? I’ll report back as soon as I find out!

All color enthusiasts anxiously await Color Guru Leatrice Eiseman’s Color of the Year, so it will be interesting to see if Linden Green will be it for 2014! 

In the meantime, we’re having an end of the Summer Sale on our best-selling VOC-free no smell Lifemaster Eggshell product. $7 off per gallon through Friday, September 6th!

Order online via our online store:  Order Lifemaster Eggshell on Sale!

The Last Word on the 2013 Color of the Year (& other news)

In my Autumn Living Well Newsletter on the 2013 Color of the Year & Color Trends, I reported on predictions of next year’s color of the year by pretty much everyone but Pantone. Although it was looking like “Monaco Blue” would be Pantone’s pick, they just announced that “Emerald” was their pick for 2013.

(“Emerald” in the center is Pantone’s pick for 2013’s Color of the Year)

Interesting that it is very close to Pratt & Lambert’s “Tidal Pool” which was their pick for the 2013 color to watch, a dead ringer for our Full Spectrum “Albania Teal”, that appeared in the October issue of House Beautiful. Here’s a photo of Albania Teal in artist Hunt Slonem‘s NYC studio featured in Russia’s Architectural Digest Magazine (I didn’t even know they had an Architectural Digest!). “Albania Teal” was named after one of his plantation’s in Louisiana. The great thing about this color is that it is both soothing and rejuvenating at the same time.

I have to say, I’m still selling a lot more whites and complex neutrals, than the saturated colors predicted. We mostly use the more neutral, easy to live with colors, in main areas and save the jewel tones for jewel box spaces like powder rooms, closets, inside of cabinets and bookcases.

Speaking of whites, one of my biggest “JV Cloud White” (JV for Designer Jon Vaccari & created for his New Orleans showroom) fans, Karina Gentinetta, has been making quite a name for herself on the national scene and will appear on More Magazine‘s television special about women who reinvent themselves (Karina was an attorney for 13 years before becoming an antiques dealer, artist and interior decorator). After seeing this video of her segment, I’m thinking she needs to have her own TV show! (Karina used “JV Cloud White” in her 1st Dibbs Showroom and Annunciation Restaurant in New Orleans which you’ll see in the video.)

(Click here to watch Karina’s More Magazine segment) 

I’m currently working on my Winter Living Well Newsletter featuring one of Interior Designer Marc Charbonnet‘s latest projects, where he had another designer friend of mine (Ken Tibbils of St. Francisville) make this table:

(I have featured Marc’s projects often over the years. and this latest project showcases his amazing design versatility. Wait until you see the rest of the photos!)

Chartreuse, Spice and All Things Nice!

I’m thrilled to report that Interior Designer Barry Johnson (of “Barry’s Babylon” color fame) was quoted in the June House Beautiful Magazine, naming our “Chartreuse” as his favorite healing color in the article where designers shared their favorite “life-changing colors” (color #5). Here’s Barry’s quote in HB:

“This color is about birth, growth and nature. It’s the color of new leaves. Chartreuse can be very acid but this is more of a soft yellow-green, Easy to work with. I see it in a Master Bedroom with creamy linens and a touch of coral. It would bring in some life.”

I created my full spectrum version of Akzo Nobel’s “Color of the Year” for 2007 and named it “Chartreuse” because it is the perfect balance between yellow and green. It is actually more traditional than the name suggests and I’ve used it recently on a couple of projects down here to brighten up spaces that had lots of dark wood (floors, beams, etc.).

I recently recommended it to Courtenay Dunk, author of the wildly popular SpiceLines.com Blog, when she sent me this photo of her office, saying that she was having trouble selecting a new wall color because all the samples she tried tended to have a greenish cast. In addition to her divine red & white chaise longue and rug, the only other major color in the space was her turquoise desk chair.

Courtney’s “before” photo of her office.

As soon as she said “turquoise”, Chartreuse immediately came to mind. I also figured if the light in the room tended towards green, why not enhance it and go with a green.

All photos are courtesy of Courtenay Dunk, SpiceLines.com.

The turquoise in the recesses of her bookshelves needed some special attention since the shadows affected how the colors we tried (Turquoise, Tiffany Turquoise and Eco Hues’ Peacock Blue) looked. We ended up going with 75% of the Peacock Blue formula, which turned out to be a gorgeous color and perfect with the Chartreuse.

When I first heard from Courtenay, I was immediately intrigued by her website, SpiceLines.com, in her email signature, so I visited it to discover a treasure trove of information about spices, cooking, exotic places and more! Courtenay describes herself as “obsessive cook, style fanatic, avid traveler, reluctant writer, food photographer when the light is right”, and as you can see by her photos, she’s quite the talented photographer!

When we finally talked over the phone, I asked her more about her office. She explained that this is where she writes her spice blog and her grandmother’s chaise longue is where she has tea most afternoons (and sometimes a nap). Books on the shelves are about spices, herbs and cooking. Objects have been collected on her travels.

All photos courtesy of Courtenay Dunk of SpiceLines.com

On top of the Tibetan chests there are jars of rare Indian peppercorns Courtenay picked up in Paris. “This is ‘le sniffing bar,’ where I try to keep my sense of smell honed by inhaling the scent of different spices everyday. Right now I’m trying to distinguish between varieties of peppercorns grown in different regions without looking at the labels.” 

The Buddhist Lohan is a beneficent figure whose presence bestows good fortune. 

Courtenay’s blog is far more than an interesting read. She also helped a coffee grower she met in Veracruz who was about to go out of business, turn his business around! You can read about it in her post, “The Butterfly Effect“.

Here’s what she says about her new Chartreuse office:

“I love your Chartreuse so much that I haven’t hung a single picture on the walls. It’s soft and lively at the same time.  When I’m working in my office, I feel as if I’m bathed in a gorgeous light that relaxes and recharges the spirit.  The modified Tiffany blue is like a little glimpse of the Caribbean.  It’s a more electric hue which really makes the inside of the bookcases pop.  The two colors are fantastic together, especially with the red in the upholstery and the Moroccan rug.”

If you’d like a hand-painted sample of Chartreuse, email me at ellen@ellenkennon.com with your address and we’ll get one right out to you!