Color Trends in the Home for 2011

My choices in color for the home are rarely driven by trends, but I always love observing them anyway. They often reflect economic or global trends that help you see design within a larger context. And integrating a new color is one of the easiest ways to make a space look fresh. Since I’m in color consideration mode, I recently talked with Jackie Jordon, director of color marketing for Sherwin-Williams, to get her take on the colors she sees coming into the fore next year. Here’s part of our conversation:

Jean: Which colors or color combinations do you see emerging in 2011?

Jackie: We always see different directions happening simultaneously, so there’s never one color or group of colors that dominates. But we expect to see a lot of colors on the softer side of the spectrum next year. I don’t want to use the word pastel, because they’re not feminine. One of the colors in this group is a coppery color, a mid-tone sheer, others are in the blue-green range, minty colors. There’s also a classic chartreuse and a couple of neutrals that ground this group of colors, which is sweet, but not too sweet. We call these colors Gentle Medley.

Jean: What concurrent color trends do you see coming up?

Jackie: There’s a bold color combination we call Bold Invention, which reflects a micro-trend that you can see in the lifestyle changes of people who are out of jobs or who have lost jobs. Instead of saying “Woe is me,” these people are instead opting to be really creative, making the most of what’s happening in their lives and choosing to be optimistic by living with strong colors like bold teals, bright greens, and vibrant reds. At the same time, we’re seeing some off-beat global-inspired pairing of colors, with a lot of mixing of pattern—an African print with a Persian paisley, for example. The colors in this group aren’t bright, they’re rich and deep, such as indigo, purple and burgundy. We call this group of colors Restless Nomad.

Jean: Are there other broader influences affecting color trends?

Jackie: Another group of colors we call Purely Refined reflect a move away from glitz and glamour toward a more understated luxe that is in tune with what’s happening in the economy. These are beautiful soft, grayed-out dusty denim and lavender hues paired with cocoa and gold, colors that are sophisticated but unpretentious.

Jean: Do you see any subtle changes happening with neutrals?

Jackie: People are getting a little braver by going darker and using tinted neutrals. Grays have become incredibly popular and will carry through to 2011, we don’t see them as a flash in the pan. They’ll have staying power.

Sherwin Williams will be sharing the specific colors later in these groups in late summer/early fall. To experiment with the entire Sherwin-Williams color spectrum, try the new Upload Your Own Photo feature on the Color Visualizer tool at the Sherwin-Williams Web site. Or bring the colors you see on vacation or at the beach this summer into your living space by using a free downloadable color-matching app called ColorSnap, which lets you quickly and easily match favorite images with more than 1,500 Sherwin-Williams colors.