Like the Indian Pink City of Jaipur for which it is named, the Pink City palette from PPG vibrates with the very pulse of life and the spirit of adventure.

Posted by: Tamela Adamson-McMullen

Next year in home fashion you can expect to see a surprising range of blues, a new family of purples, lots of pinks and color-cast neutrals. According to the experts surveyed for Paint & Decorating Retailer magazine’s 41st annual color forecast, home fashion is showing an early rebound from the recession and by 2011 will exhibit a kaleidoscope of colors.

Whether consumers are feeling more upbeat or simply need relief from all of the bad news, experts said there’s no doubt that interesting colors and color combinations are working their way into home décor. They said to look for vibrant colors and softly blended neutrals, deep and pale hues, burnished furnishings and barely-there textiles.

Experts reported that the single top color in this palette most certainly will come from the blue family and may be appear as a green-blue (turquoise) or a red-blue (orchid).
A blue-green is at the top of the Pantone Color Institute’s list of “hot” colors. The Institute chose turquoise as the No. 1 color for 2010 and said it will remain popular well into 2011.

However, there are many other blues on the horizon, from stormy, ocean colors to light, airy hues. Many are sophisticated, soft-handed and work well with neutrals.
Meanwhile, a wide range of purples have burst onto the decorating scene. Popular purples include everything from lilac and lavender to hearty plums and eggplant. But there are plenty more for the choosing, too, including an elegant purple-kissed brown.

Colorful neutrals are another big prediction for 2011. In addition to purple-cast browns, there are blue-cast grays and pink-cast taupes, all of which are coming on strong and will give a fresh, unusual look to the palette.

Purples often will pair with these neutrals and also with various shades of brown—a look that is cropping up in everything from paint schemes to upholstery to wallcoverings. In some cases the purples are slightly frosted looking and the browns, velvety.

Some of the emerging color schemes that experts listed were blues mixed with taupes, camels and pink; soft lilac paired with gray, sand and a deep brown; crisp white with an intense green, eggplant purple and yellow; purple browns with fuchsia; and earthy combinations of neutrals with “apricoty clay” and burgundy.

With a few exceptions, there aren’t many true reds predominating. This is a departure from a few years ago when diner-inspired color schemes of red, black and white were popular. In their place are orangey, burnished reds and a range of pinks, from whispery shades of pale pink to purple-inspired magentas.

A surprise color for next year, pink increasingly is being used outside of girls’ bedrooms and other traditionally defined female spaces. The color is so popular that one expert predicted it will combine with organic gray as the top color combination next year. The pink-and-gray combination already can be found in many wallcoverings, fabrics and window treatments on the market.

Despite their consensus, experts noted that none of these predictions are set in stone. With the economy in a constant state of flux, the home-fashion palette is liable to tilt, morph and evolve as we approach 2011. As always, it’s important for consumers to choose colors that are personally pleasing to them.

Emerging colors at a glance:

• Blues — all shades, including blue-greens, gray casts, marine blues and light, airy hues

• Purples —from lavender, lilac and orchid to eggplant, deep maroon and purple-cast browns

• Reds — some orangey shades but mostly variations of pink

• Greens — from pistachio to lime green to environmental greens with intensity

• Browns — chocolate and coffee colors are still with us, but lighter browns are on the rise

• Yellows and oranges — vibrant shades, used mostly as accents

•  Neutrals — organic grays, linen and crisp white

Tags: color trends

This entry was posted on Monday, June 7th, 2010 at 9:07 am and is filed under General. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.