 How to make the best use of interior colour palette trends Colour trends are a significant thing to consider when talking about interior design. Each year, painting companies come up with a colour and a colour palette of the year. Before we dive into how to make the best usage of colour trends, it is important to understand what they are, and where they come from. Let’s get into it, shall we? What is a colour palette? A colour palette is a range of colours that are carefully curated and designed to complement each other without an undesirable “clashing” effect. In other words, they are a harmonious combination of colours. Where do colour trends come from? Where do colour trends come from? Who gets to pick these palettes, and how do they do so? Well, one quick answer to these questions is: fashion. And what influences fashion, you may ask? Simply put: cultures, environment, art, technology, and so on. Colours are an integral part of all industries.  Photo by Hector J Rivas, Unsplash
We could dig deeper into this conversation and mention the CMG (The Colour Marketing Group). The CMG is a non-profit organization with thousands of members such as designers, marketers, colour scientists, consultants, educators, and artists. These members are forecasters of colour directions across all industries. Because the main focus of this blog post is to find ways to use these colour trends to our advantage, I won’t get into more details about their origins. It is however a very interesting topic, in my opinion. This year’s colour trends As an interior designer, I choose to use Benjamin Moore’s paint colours. It’s pretty much just a matter of personal preference. There are several other great painting companies out there. Sherwin Williams, Behr, and Dulux, to name only a few.  Photo benjaminmoore.com The 2022 colour palette from Benjamin Moore has been released and is now available to the public. This year’s palette is a beautiful combination of calming and replenishing colours. It is very botanical, reminding us of nature. Benjamin Moore’s colour of the year is October Mist 1495; a soothing, pleasing light green. If you’re familiar with colour psychology, then you already know how colours can affect our moods and emotions. The green colour represents relaxation, healing, and growth. It doesn’t surprise me that such a light green has been selected as the colour of the year. In fact, a bit of calm and serenity is quite welcome these days!
Photos benjaminmoore.com Should I follow colour trends? As discussed earlier, colour trends play a significant role in the interior design world. They’re a great source of inspiration, and an excellent starting point when choosing paint colours for your space. Some say trends aren’t worth following, as they change rapidly and consistently. I sometimes joke about how by the time I receive the sweater I bought online 4 days ago, it will already be out of style. Now, that’s a bit of an extreme commentary on how quickly fashion evolves… There is however some truth in such a statement. When committed to keeping up with trends and making bold decisions on colour selections, you must be willing to make changes more often. It’s the name of the (fashion) game.
I like to view colour trends as a basic anchor point. It’s a good place to start when brainstorming and playing around with mood boards and paint swatches. You don’t need to follow trends if you don’t want to. There are a few tricks I like to use, and I’m just about to share them with you. My colour trends strategies Here is what I do. First, I look and study the colour palette, and I ask myself: what are the colours that resonate with me the most? Are there colours I don’t like in there? And I go on with eliminating those disliked colours. Because here is the thing. Colour preferences are subjective, and even though Paula likes that pretty orange on that accent chair doesn’t mean George and Tania are going to like it too. It’s quite a basic example, but nonetheless valid. Once I have established which colours I prefer the most, I proceed to group them and play around with my favourite combinations. For each combination, I include at least one or two neutrals. This is very important, as skipping this step could result in overwhelming colour schemes. There’s nothing wrong with a bright and colourful room. That said, the human eye does need to rest somewhere at some point. Including neutral colours such as white, grey, black or brown allow for a more pleasant visual experience.  Another possibility is to simply pick one colour from the entire palette. Why not? From there, you can go on and pair this one hue with your other go-to colours. Colour trends aren’t just for walls Remember that colours can be used for all sorts of purposes. Use them on furniture, accessories, art, rugs and so on. You could have a room that is painted in gray and white but add punch to it by including a yellow sofa or a colourful Turkish area rug. The basic rule of thumb is to always try to achieve balance. If you keep this in mind, you can have a lot of fun creating trendy and timely spaces.
You’re the one in charge At the end of the day, it’s up to you to decide which trends you want to follow or dismiss. I generally like keeping up to date with trends, partly because I’m a curious human being by nature, but also because I do enjoy fashion. Some people like to stick to what they know they like, and there’s absolutely nothing wrong with that. As long as open-mindedness is still lingering around, any classical stylistic approach can be timelessly compelling. Final thoughts I believe colour trends allow us to embrace change. They somewhat force us to evolve and keep the forever-changing interior design world interesting. So, whether you consider yourself a trend follower or not, they are not going anywhere anytime soon. We may as well use them to our advantage! Have an interior design project you’d like some help with? Don’t hesitate to reach out!
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AuthorKiki Lalancette Design Archives
January 2022
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