Right now the colors that have been holding fast since 2010 are the soft, gray muted blues, greens, and creams (see image), according to certified color specialist Donna Frasca, based in Charlotte, North Carolina.
“I recently traveled up to Long Island and stopped off at the Benjamin Moore store in Port Jefferson,” she relates. “I asked the store manager which colors were trending there. He replied, ‘We are selling a lot of sage green, beige, and gold. People are really gravitating to the Historic Colors [from Benjamin Moore], too,'” Frasca has found that color preferences are not regional. “There seems to be a common like for coastal colors and the highly requested ‘spa feel,'” she observes.
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“In upcoming colors, Iíd love to see ‘orange’ ranging from the light peaches to the spicy and exotic vibrant hues. These are the perfect companions to both blue and green and can be used just as an accent color or on the full wall to update these trending color schemes,” Frasca recounts.
“As far as future lighting trends, that may get complicated. Weíll have to sit tight to see what the light bulb restrictions will be, but I feel that eliminating traditional incandescent bulbs and switching over to LED or CFL will have an impact on how colors will be viewed in our homes.”
Frasca also has a wish list for lighting manufacturers: “Lighting products are not only an obvious source of light for our homes, but they also provide ambiance, mood lighting, and also color as accent features. My ultimate dream would be to see lighting manufacturers debut products in new finishes. Why just brass, satin, pewter, bronze, brushed nickel, and variations of those? I would love to see a brushed nickel with an undertone of green, blue, or red. Why not? After all, you now have denim in all colors whereas jeans used to be just blue. I say letís get color into standard products and finishes and start thinking outside the box!”
There really are so many colors that I’d like to see hitting it big for 2012. Although blue is a very likable hue, it has been #1 for a while. Tweak it towards the green side, pair it with salmon and I’d be happy with that! We’ll see 🙂
As I re-read this from October 2011 to now, I do see the explosion of ‘orange’ that came blasting in. Tangerine Tango to coral to soft peaches – it was and still is a nice trend to be watching. I’m still waiting for the oranges to get much softer and start seeing more of those peaches which will be a great complement to the minty greens that are also trendy right now.
As far as the coastal colors, they are still prevalent but have become ‘cleaner’ instead of being so muted. A great example of this can be see in the Color Stories collection from Benjamin Moore which I’m working with hot and heavy right now.
What will be strong for 2013 in my opinion? I’m going with green – somewhere between the yellow greens but not a cool as the mint greens. Why? Because they are perfect partners to all the orange hues that are still going strong.