COLOUR TRENDS
2010 sees hopeful, nature-inspired hues
November 21, 2009
Donna Laporte
REAL ESTATE REPORTER
With 2010 around the corner, consumers are rebalancing not only their portfolios, but their home lives.
"The pendulum has to swing," says Alice Chu, professor of colour and design at Ryerson University's School of Fashion.
The negativity of the past year is lifting and colour choices reflect this.
Remember U.S. First Lady Michelle Obama dazzling onlookers last July as she stepped off Air Force One in Rome for the G8 Summit resplendent in a canary yellow dress?
"Yellow is hope," Chu says, adding that yellows in the 2010 palette for interiors range from green yellow to an orangey yellow and even a sunflower yellow.
Our interiors take their cues from the world of fashion, which is the testing ground for new colours. Popular colours are adopted and toned down as they move inside our homes.
Chu belongs to the Color Marketing Group, a 1,500-member-strong international body that forecasts what colours will be fashionable for all manufactured goods up to three years into the future. The group met last week in New Orleans.
A member since 1990, Chu sits on the international trends committee, which monitors economic, social and political events. The committee doesn't forecast, per se, but studies and interprets the trends around them.
"We're not the colour mafia," she says, laughing.
Another reflection of optimism is the shift to a more blue green, which reminds us of sky and water. Think "lagoon."
The green movement – reduce, reuse, recycle – is still with us, but we're tired of it being drummed into us, especially by our kids.
"We've seen too much green," she says.
However, the influence of the natural world is strong. We are moving toward simplicity and self-sufficiency. Back in vogue are canning, knitting, organic gardening.
Our colours reflect that; natural colours that last are slightly greyed out, less harsh, closer to brown.
So, for example, think iron, zinc and stone.
Maize is also popular, as it relates to vegetables such as squash, beans, mustard and corn, of course.
Slate, thistle and cranberry are also popping up.
"Let nature inspire us, let organic vegetables inspire us," Chu says.
Stronger colours are used for accent colours, to add "punch" to decor.
But we are living with things we love, such as furniture handed down by our grandparents or an expensive piece we have bought and intend to hand down ourselves.
These items "can't have too strong a colour," Chu says.
We may be doing more with less at work, but we want to live with less and love it, she says.
Companies who supply our paint and interior design materials take their cues from the CMG and then further interpret the trends and create their own colour palettes.
Sico, for example, sees three ways to express new beginnings: authentic lifestyle, which highlights the values of home and family and uses muted tones such as soft clay and golden bark to express them; a super-synthetic world, which reflects the depletion of the world's resources and the rise of engineered materials such as polymers, resins and vinyl. Colours are vibrant and energetic, a detox from the recession; and finally, a mix of the two previous categories to create an unexpected look, a patchwork of textures and colours and blending of old and new.
Stéphanie Pelland, marketing communication manager for the Sico brand, says, "slowly, colours are moving toward the midtones" to reflect the casting off of fear and uncertainty.
Browns and beiges are being pushed aside to make way for dark greys, which have become the new neutrals.
Behr Paints sees four global trends. The company refers to Farm House Craft to reflect the organic movement and return to crafts of yesteryear.
Artisan Voyage acknowledges that people are still travelling and collecting treasures to display at home.
Colours in this palette are fun and vibrant. Soft Contemporary shows textures and rounded shapes. And finally, Dark Glamour has the Industrial Age meeting art deco.
Behr has introduced a new palette of 386 colours in its Premium Plus Ultra Interior line.
A paint and primer in one, all but 10 require only two coats to cover. Sample jars of 237 mL (8 oz.) cost $4.99 and give approximately 24 square feet of coverage, letting you experiment to see if the colour suits your interior.
Jennifer Jones, marketing and communications manager for CIL Decorative Paints, mentions that Siesta Key, a light blue, and Spring Thaw, a pale yellow lime will coordinate well with the cool neutrals and greys coming into vogue.
"All of the colour families are lightening up," she says.
Read more about the latest paint and primer combos.
Toronto Star