What Is The Color Over The Rainbow?

As color designers we are asked time and time again as to what is hot? What is the latest trend? If the inquirer is designing a product it can be a very important question, but if it is a consumer, what difference does it make? Is it merely curiosity on their part or will they rush home and change everything in their homes? We can also preface our answer with, hot in what? And, hot does not mean best seller, it may mean that it is just “different” from anything out there. Fashionable automotive colors will not tell most people what color to paint their bedrooms. Trendy interior product colors will not tell the inexperienced what color to paint their front door and there are dozens of questions that need to be answered before a definitive color solution can be determined. Following a trail of influence is essential to finding true satisfying results. Listed below is a brief overview of where to find the appropriate color origins for the elusive hot color you may be looking for.


• Is the color for an Interior or an exterior? Typically exterior colors are based on neutral and near neutral colors because they need to last a long time, sometimes as long as 40 or 50 years. You wouldn’t want to have something really trendy, and in 10 years have it look dated and out of place. Chic new colors could be used on the front door or shutters where they can be refreshed when the hue goes out of style. Exterior colors get their influence from interior colors that have lasted the test of time and then they are neutralized to give them longevity.

• If the color is for an interior then the question would be what room is it going to be used, but most of all what is in that room already? If you want the hip color will it fit into the current environment? Fashionable interior colors can derived from women’s fashion palettes, but don’t be so quick as to take them in their original context, usually they become interior colors once they have proved themselves and last more than one season. Then they may be interpreted as neutrals, near neutrals or watered down versions of the original color. Look more the color combinations in fashions, they are more likely to become evident in what you can put in your home. You would be more likely to use a stylish color as an accent wall or an item such as pillows, wall décor, area rugs or accessories, as long as they work with what is already in a room.

• Other factors that influence color trends are evident in the news, on television and most of all on the internet. What a first lady is wearing, what a sitcom has as a set design, good economy, bad economy and emerging lifestyle changes are just a few of the triggers for colors emerging in the marketplace.

• So, with all of that…..What is on the other side of the rainbow? With a glimmer of hope that the economy will improve we see brighter, cleaner colors on the horizon. We are in an era of dusty, neutralized colors for interior and exterior colors and they will remain popular but the evolution of the high chroma colors will advance, slowly but surely.

• The question that is the answer to this all is “think of a color you have never seen”. In it the answer is, there are no new colors, just new combinations, new uses of color on existing products and new textures and effects that make existing colors look different so that we can call them “new”.

There is More Than Bland Behind Beige

Beige is a best selling color, and to stretch its reach even farther you can include off white as a pale version of beige. Not only is it a best seller in interior colors but also in exterior colors. Its scope extends from the rich tones of tan to the grayed nuances of taupe. Beige is not a color family, only a tone in the family of Orange. Its big brother Brown is the darkest value of that tone and it is also a winner in the marketplace, enjoying a revival as of late. So what is the mysterious allure of beige? Why does it play such a key role in decorating today?

Why does it play such a key role in decorating today?

There are a number of reasons why we are inundated with beige. First of all it is a neutral, a color that plays well with others and is a great companion. In the scheme of things it is in the correct hemisphere, the warm side of the color world. Warm colors outsell cool colors by quite a large margin. They are comforting and offer refuge from an over colorful world. Color love comes from a memory of things that are pleasant, familiar and predictable. Our minds make connections with colors we see around us every day, such as our natural surroundings and objects we love and cherish. We see these warm tone colors in the trees around us, the earth beneath our feet and in the wildlife we cherish. So as humans we have a strong connection to this color family and it translates into big sales in a broad range of products from carpet to siding and from low end to high end. It looks good on flat surfaces such as walls and on textured surfaces like carpet. It is rich as a best selling metallic or pearl of automobile finishes and even on plastic wastebaskets. How can they possibly make it look fashionable and new?

Tone on tone neutrals can suggest a rich, luxurious look. High end fabrics made of silk, wool and cashmere can add ambiance to a humble color like beige. Pair that with our memories of the familiar and it doubles its power. In today’s economy beige is a proven winner as it can live a long time in a home environment. It is easy to punch it up with a broad range of accents, both warm and cool, giving it an even longer life.

I used to call beige a chicken color, not the color of a chicken but a color for people who were too chicken to pick a more colorful hue. I take my words back, easy or not, beige is where its at!

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