Benjamin Moore colour trends 2012

Benjamin Moore colour trends 2012

Benjamin Moore colour pulse 2012 colour trends

 Benjamin Moore's Color Pulse trend forecasts have won  awards and international recognition in the design world. Each forecast is compiled by leaders in the industry at  least two years in advance and other bloggers have had their go at this topic long before me.  It's not because I'm tardy, it's because I like to wait until people are thinking about change in the new year.
The 2012 forecast theme Preservation reflects our current social and economic climate and connects our past with our future.  The impending palette from this forecast will be influenced by four key elements:

 our past

 our journey

our vulnerability 

 

 our future

Image source: MeCC Interiors

What will all this mean for your walls or accessories  in the coming year or so? 

Doty Horn, director of color and design for Benjamin Moore, explained that the palette continues to be reflective of the gray and brown scale that’s been prevalent the past few years. “We’re seeing camel and khaki as the new neutrals upon which richer, more traditional hues can be layered and accented,” she said.

As in most Color Pulse forecasts there's something for everyone.  The grays are still prevalent, as are the purples from last year.  Yellows seem to be moving more toward the gold which isn't surprising with the current trend to brass and gold away from silvers in metallics.

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There's a range of greens from silvery to teal tinged. An obvious pairing is green with the heavier yellow golds.

 Caitlin Creer Interior Design

Reds range from the feminine to orange tones.

 Lucid Interior Design Inc.

Blues are experiencing  a resurgence.

 Garrison Hullinger Interior Design Inc.

From the four categories above I'm personally attracted to  Protection and Enlightenment.  I like my colours light and fresh and my neutral preference has always been gray- long before it gained popularity.

What are your thoughts?

Benjamin Moore colour of the year

Benjamin Moore colour of the year

Benjamin Moore colour trends Furniture wythe blue

My favourite paint brand is Benjamin Moore and I follow their colour forecasting closely.  As a professional  I need to know what's current in the industry so I can discuss colour  intelligently and also have a sense of where the industry is headed.  Colour forecasting  also affects fabric design, accessories and furniture.  

 . This year Benjamin Moore's colour  of the year is ....

 

   Tobi Farley

This is not a new colour,  but a refocusing from the current collection based on the opinions of groups of designers in the industry. I've always been attracted to greeny blues because they remind me of the ocean on a summer's day.  They are restful and inviting.  If you like a serene environment this is the colour for you.

 Chelsea Textiles

  This chest of drawers is an all time favourite of mine.  It is washed with a colour similar to wythe blue.  Hubby may be building a knock off version for night tables for my bedroom reno. Too many ideas....

Home Decorators

I spied this vanity last year and fell in love with its lines and colour.  Don't you agree that colours similar to whyte blue are excellent choices if you want to paint a piece of furniture? This would also be an excellent colour choice for a bathroom.

 

 This is a daring mix but this orange is certainly a winning combination with wythe blue. Complementary colours are always so invigorating.

 Hawthorne Threads

A similar colour combination to the one above but this time in a fabric. This lively print has so many possibilities.  It would be fantastic stretched over a frame and hung on your wall or made into pillows.  

Color Chats

These would also make good combinations with wythe blue. French press and deep ochre show that wythe blue would look good with wood tones.  Of course gray is always an option for every colour as is white.

 This vignette is a calm as the fabric above is energetic.  It  gives you an idea of how lovely wythe blue would look with soft white or cream....

The Sweet Survival

or  with yellow.

Houzz

Painted cabinets are all the rage now and what better colour to use? While this is darker than wythe blue you get the idea.

 3 Meadow Lake Cottage

If you like a  country look or have a country house, there's no better colour to choose .

I'm getting carried away with the bits and pieces rather than whole rooms.  But that's really my message.  If you don't want to paint a whole room wythe blue you have lots of options to use is as an accent.

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 And here are the colours in  the Earth and Sky palette.  Do you have a favourite combination?

Doesn't this lovely quilt I saw on etsy sum it all up?  Stay tuned for several posts on colour for 2012.

Think vintage wine

Think vintage wine

2011 accents colour schemes colour trends design tips Pillows purple re-purposing

No, not that kind!   I Googled vintage wine and didn't get what I expected. Isn't everything about colour?  To anyone familiar with Benjamin Moore Paints ,Vintage Wine  2116-20 is the colour of the year for 2011. 

Out of all the colours in the Benjamin Moore palette,  how and why was Vintage Wine singled out as "the" colour for 2011?  Benjamin Moore's team of experts observe the world looking for inspiration and trends.   Sonu Mathew, senior interior designer at Benjamin Moore and blogger, notes that the team is always looking two years ahead.  That means that the colour of year for 2011 was chosen in 2009! The key concept for 2011 is balance -  buying into our efforts to find  calming influences  in a hectic, disorderly world. As Sonu puts it "Remember that 2011 is all about balance- work/play, nostalgia/future state, new purpose/old materials". There's no doubt Vintage Wine is a calming colour that is both comfortable and luxurious at the same time. 

What would Vintage Wine look like in our homes?

Trends in colour are just that - trends or patterns to be considered.  Does it mean we should repaint walls a deep brownish purple?  Perhaps not. If you like a colour there's a continuum of possibilities for its use from over the top to the merest hint of it.

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This is my over the top application of a vintage wine colour.  I'm practical to the core and my personal design instinct for my  home is casual contemporary with lots of light colours, but  I love to contemplate extremes even when I know I could never live with  them .  This kitchen fills all my fantasy needs. I love its depth of colour and sleek lines, but I couldn't live with it for twenty years. That's my criteria when choosing hard surfaces or built ins in my home.

This room is featured in Benjamin Moore's Envision 2011 brochure. The colour scheme is from  the Soulful palette referencing the global balance achieved through communication technology- what was once foreign is now familiar.  On the style front, these beliefs are evident in the  "ethnic glam" trend characterized by  pattern on pattern, map motifs and  arts and crafts from different cultures, etc. 

Design Hint: This is not a look for every room. Don't try this application unless you have lots of architectural details and a high ceiling.

This is a good way to use a dark colour.  You aren't limiting yourself to several years of looking at 2011's trend.  If you want to change it to something else you'll need only several hours of work and a quart of paint. I love the way the dark draws you down the hallway into the main part of the house. I'm not a fond lover of accent walls everywhere, but this works.

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 Design Hint: Consider using a strong colour as a backdrop behind a light coloured  bed or sofa.  It allows you to keep your remaining walls light and  include a strong vertical line in rooms where horizontal lines dominate. It is also a great way to integrate dark and light furniture into a cohesive design. 

 

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This colour, similar to Vintage Wine, is Benjamin Moore AF 650 Caponata .  It provides a great backdrop for the light  furniture and black chairs.  Without the amount of creamy white used here, this would  have been a dark, dingy room.

Design hint: Use dark colour on walls to provide contrast with  light furniture pieces. This application allows you to highlight your furniture while still controlling your  light colour balance.  My preferences are showing! Dark rooms and dark furniture depress me.

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 This very sleek, modern room uses a purple green scheme as a backdrop for creamy white. I like the way that the vintage wine colour is used modestly as an accent. 

Design Hint: Are you tired of your wood grain entertainment unit? A current trend in decorating is re- purposing furniture. You many not own built ins that look like this, but you can achieve the look  with a similar paint combination. 

 

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Just because I love the table and the sparseness of the room.... The sofa, plush and plum, is the luxurious item in the room.

Design Hint: Every room should have one luxurious item in it. Size doesn't count.

Sarah Richardson via Decor Pad

Design Hint: If you don't want to commit to design trends in a big way, accessorize with them. Pillows make great trend statements.  Consider recovering them when you want to nod toward the next colour trend. As always the magic colour, white allows you to do so much.

 

This is my idea of a luxury item for my kitchen. Le Creuset’s gorgeous enamelled pots, are the ultimate in my mind, but only in my dreams so far. I have a perfectly good set of stainless steel pots.  There's always the dream list....

What are your thoughts on using trend colours?

Design trends for the new year

Design trends for the new year

2011 colour trends design trends forecasting trends re-purposing white objects

This time of year many design blogs and magazines present trend forecasts for the coming year.  They are interesting to read, but one has to recognize they are best guesses based on the knowledge and intuition  of the individual writer or design group.

On every newstand this month you'll see design magazines with design trends a prominent feature on their front covers. On closer inspection you may find there isn't a great deal of overlap from article to article and you have to work to piece together exactly what the trends are.  Exploration online offers almost too much information on the subject and the sheer quantity boggles your mind, but I keep reading.   Over the next several posts I'll  explore the  trends that appeal to my design aesthetic. 

Re-purposing 
This is a continuing trend from 2010 and I predict with the focus on everything green it will continue well into the future.  Finding creative ways to use what you have or to recycle furniture and objects from other sources  provides satisfaction on many levels. Re-purposing will be combined with buying new to develop a more unique, individual look that has a history. 

photo: Margaret Ryall

 artwork:  Will Gill  

This wicker chair acquired from a second hand store is one of my favourite pieces of furniture. I was attracted to it because of its unusual shape and I could see  beyond the horrible orange wicker and brown seat pad.  After four cans of spray paint it took on a new life.

I like a comfortable, more casual feel in my home,  therefore re-purposing has always been part of my design approach. I'm on the look out for a new chest of drawers to replace my sad little wicker set which is lost next to the chair. Then a  long overdue reorganization of this  space will be necessary.  The hunt is part of the fun.Yes, decorators have design problems like their clients and solutions need patience.


Sculptural White Objects:
The simplicity of grouped white pottery and sculpture has always appealed to me and I've used this interest in different ways over the years.  Finally it's a trend according to Canadian House and Home!

photos: Margaret Ryall

White vases to covet.....

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Check out the attic and the back cupboard, talk to your family and friends. Perhaps you can re-purpose white objects into a beautiful grouping.