Wo-Built Inc: Clients' Advocate for making their Dream Home happen: Sylvia O’Brien

Thursday, 20 December 2007

Paint Colour Trends 2008... Are you making the most of your investment?

Paint Colour Trends
Images No: 0510560, 0746540, 0313295 from Canstockphoto
Copyright reserved

In our recent past minimalist trends in decorating dictated only a whisper of colour for the walls. Pale and neutral prevailed, but that has changed and colour has regained importance. Changing paint colours is the most effective way to inject newness into our environment. After all, as far as interior paint colour goes, investing in an sunflower yellow wall is not as major a commitment as buying a sofa in that hue!

New trends in paint colour for interiors indicate greens are still vital. The colour of nature and growth, the newest greens echo the colour of chlorophyll, like the first sprouts of spring, or green bamboo, or that slice of lime in our gin and tonic!

Orange and red have joined forces to create new looking tones of persimmon, copper & coral. Interior paint colours are becoming less & less shy as colour theory and colour psychology have been introduced to the mainstream.

Yellow alert! As a trend yellow is more important than ever. Try a sun yellow room, or a marigold wall, or at least some yellow accessories. The newest yellows have a lot of punch, and work best when grounded with a neutral...such as grey. Take a look at Glidden’s “Ginger Ale”. Glidden cited ”Ginger Ale” as their #1 trend colour for 2008 (think buttercup).

Blues have been strong since the turn of this century, but in 2008 all types of aquatic blue tones are strong. The best ones have some warmth in them and look like blue tones pulled from nature....blueberries, the Atlantic Ocean, the Prairie sky, the periwinkle flower.

Graphite, Flannel, Silver... all rich sounding names for the latest rich neutrals, look best in anything from icy pales to dark midtones. Pair the deep grey tones with soft coral or pale yellowy greens for the newest combination. Pair icy silver grey with warm golden yellow. Look to black as an accent colour for smaller pieces and accessories for interior layering.

Next time I’ll talk about exterior paint colour. In the meantime have some fun with paint colours inside your home .... it’s a reflection of you!

_______________________________________________________
This article was contributed by Sylvia O’Brien, colour consultant and creative director of Colour Theory, a Toronto based firm that helps clients pick the perfect colour for paint, flooring, cabinetry, countertops etc. for their living and working spaces. Colour Theory helps clients pick colour for interior and exterior paint, flooring, cabinetry, tiles, countertop, roofing, siding, aluminum, vinyl and hard landscaping.
To learn more call 416-766-6789 or go to www.colourtheory.net

links:
Wobuilt Inc.: How many paint colours?!
by Sylvia O’Brien

technorati tags:
5,043 posts tagged

colour
1 post tagged

colour consultant
30 posts tagged

colour theory
63 posts tagged

paint colour
No posts tagged

paint colour trends
17 posts tagged

paint color trends
15 posts tagged

Glidden
No posts tagged

Sylvia O’Brien

Posts that contain paint color trends per day for the last 30 days.

Get your own chart!

Posts that contain paint colour per day for the last 30 days.

Get your own chart!

Wednesday, 28 February 2007

How many paint colours?!

Image:HSLSphere.svg Author: Mike Horvath
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
This image is licensed under the Creative Commons

Wonder why a trip to the paint store to choose colour can be overwhelming? Should be simple....right? You don’t have to study colour theory or colour meanings to make a decision. After all you know what you like...right? Once you’re faced with a wall of thousands of paint colour chips it’s easy to become trapped in indecision because there’s actually too much choice!

A consumer living in an urban centre and looking for interior or exterior paint colour has an estimated 20 to 30,000 options. Benjamin Moore has over 2500 colours, Parapaint a couple of thousand, Pittsburgh another couple of thousand...and on it goes. But Glidden? Well, Glidden has 6000 colours they can formulate. Glidden is the grandmother of paint colour offering.

As a colour consultant, I’ve noticed that each paint company has it’s own ‘personality’ in the colour palette it offers. For example Benjamin Moore and Pratt & Lambert have a lot to offer in the ‘historic’ look... murky and aged-looking colours that change a lot during the day and into the evening. Sico, Para and Pittsburgh are known for clear colour and strong pigment. Para and Pittsburgh have some fantastic ‘almost blacks’. Glidden has a lot to offer in more interesting pale tones (probably due to their 6000 colours!).

So, how to narrow it down? Determine which paint company’s palette you generally like the look of and try to keep within that company’s offering. Test the colours you think you’ll like (some of the companies mentioned have test pots you can buy... if not buy the smallest can to test the colour). Whether you’re selecting interior paint colour or exterior paint colour, this testing is a valuable step.

It’s amazing what happens to colour when you start to spread it around!

_______________________________________________________
This article was contributed by Sylvia O’Brien, creative director of Colour Theory, a colour consulting firm in Toronto, Canada.
Colour Theory helps clients pick colour for interior and exterior paint, flooring, cabinetry, tiles, countertop, roofing, siding, aluminum, vinyl and hard landscaping.
To contact Colour Theory call 416-766-6789 or visit the web site at www.colourtheory.net

links:
Wo-Built Inc.: Paint Colour Trends 2008... Are you making the most of your investment?
by Sylvia O'Brien

technorati tags:

43 blog posts tagged

colour theory
84 blog posts tagged