How to Update the Gray Trend with the New Color Trend

earth colors

Greens in nature

WITH 2022 HALF OVER, many of our clients are asking us how to update the gray trend with the new color trend. The answer involves incorporating earth colors! Yes, the gray trend is ending – finally. The current trend toward earth tones is very different than the browns, beiges, golds, olives, and  maroons of the 80s. Colors for 2022 are warmer, earth-toned schemes of updated beiges, blues, greens, browns, warm grays, whites, and greiges. We’re even seeing more pinks and peaches, like the early morning sky of a new day. “If you’re afraid to bring more color into your home, you need not worry,” – says Lili Englehart of Color Confident Home. “Using neutrals on your walls as a backdrop is not going out of style.”

Though we are getting lots of requests for color on walls, clients who want to change up accessories often, or per season, gravitate toward neutral backdrops on their walls so they have the freedom of variety. Others feel calmed by using neutrals all around. The key to creating depth and a designed look with all neutrals is to use pattern and texture. So whether you want to add color to your home or choose from the myriad of neutrals and their hues, we can help. We take the fear out of choosing colors that are right for you and your home with 3 Easy Steps to colors you’ll love!

The New Color Trend
Evergreen Fog

Sherwin-Williams 2022 Color of the Year

Design trends typically have a lifespan of about seven to ten years. Fads, such as the current black and white craze, go out of style even quicker. Besides the normal lifespan of color and design trends, the COVID-19 pandemic also contributed to the new color trend. Just as the pandemic has shaped every other aspect of life, its effects have also reached home design. With everyone working and studying at home 24/7, being surrounded by gray became depressing quickly. As Joa Studholme, the color curator for Farrow & Ball, recently said in a New York Times article, “There’s nothing about gray that evokes wellness….There is a tendency to crave warm tones in challenging times.” She goes on, “It’s all about being warm and earthy and choosing deeply saturated color. It’s about trying something that gives you a great big hug.” Notice the similarities in 2022 Colors of the Year – the choices reflect this need for color. For instance, Farrow & Ball’s Tanner’s Brown, Scotch Blue, Green Smoke and India Yellow, Benjamin Moore’s Aegean Teal (2021) and October Mist (2022), and Sherwin Williams’ Urbane Bronze (2021) and Evergreen Fog (2022) all offer a much needed atmosphere of comfort.

2022 Benjamin Moore Color Palette

Benjamin Moore 2022 Color Palette

Lili emphasized, “It’s especially important to move away from gray in Midwestern states, where six months out of the year are cold and gray outside. We don’t want to bring that chilliness inside!” Updated neutral options, such as greiges and light beiges, instead make the home feel more inviting after coming in from the winter cold. Even some warm grays can make a drastic difference as opposed to neutral or cool grays.

Update the Gray Trend with the New Color Trend: Earth Colors

If your home is currently in the gray trend, and you’re stumped on how to update, don’t fret. There are plenty of solutions to create a fresh look, while incorporating the gray you already have in your home with the incoming color trends. Many people look to only update one or two rooms at a time, then follow up with the other rooms at a later date. This often leaves clients wondering how they can refresh some spaces with new colors and decor without dating rooms with older color palettes.

A great way to avert this concern is to assess the overall color scheme of your home and the new colors you wish to include, even if the rooms are different styles. Then, choose furniture and accessories that have accents of colors and elements from each room to create a connection. Small, less expensive items such as pillows, throws, rugs, and artwork are a few of the many accessories you may consider to achieve this. For example, if you have a recently updated kitchen and dining area from the gray trend and a colorful living room with blues and greens, you could use a tablecloth with blues, greens, and hints of gray in the kitchen/dining area and an area rug or artwork with a similar color scheme in the living room. The 60-30-10 rule is a helpful tool to keep in mind to create harmony and flow amongst the varying rooms in your home. Color Confident Home will help you with a new color scheme, and if you need help furnishing or accessorizing a particular room, we can create an eDesign to help you furnish and accessorize one room at a time!

Guest room blue yellow

Color Confident Home eDesign using the 60-30-10 Rule

Listen to your home

Most importantly, listen to your home. This seems like a simple suggestion, however mixing color and design trends is tricky. We often see homes decorated with competing and mismatched components due to too many patterns or uncoordinated hues. Beth Maguire, the Benjamin Moore designers’ representative in Michigan, best put it in words, “Design for the home you have, not the home you want.” If you struggle to find a balance between what you want and what your home wants, take into consideration the fixed finishes that are difficult and expensive to replace. If your budget doesn’t allow a total remodel, consider the fixed elements and take them into consideration when deciding on a new color scheme. They include, but are not limited to, flooring/carpeting, tile, countertops, cabinets, fireplaces, etc. Any elements not being replaced must be coordinated with your new color scheme in order to create a deliberate, designed look that has harmony and flow throughout your home. For an expert color consultation, call us or send us an email!

Has Your Upgrade or Remodel Come to a Halt?

You’re Ready to Upgrade or Remodel But Don’t Know Where to Start?

If the coronavirus has suddenly brought your upgrade or remodel to a halt, you’re in the right spot. Now you can get that designer look without leaving the safety and comfort of your home. Discover eDesign! At Color Confident Home, we’ll help you make choices that fit your style AND your budget.

Has your upgrade or remodel come to a halt?

A Perfect Solution

You’re stuck at home and decide to finally upgrade the rooms you’ve put off. Or you’re right in the middle of your remodel with no idea how to finish. And now you can’t go to the stores due to potential coronavirus crowds. Plus you already feel exhausted at the thought of an endless search for the perfect furnishings and accessories. Look no further.

We will curate a design board just for you! First we’ll do a Facetime discovery call to help you decide on the perfect package. Then you’ll answer a questionnaire about your style and some more details about your project. Once we receive all your infomation, our designers will use the rules of design to create harmony, flow, and balance in each room. Then we’ll search a variety of vendors for furniture, area rugs, throw pillows, bedding, lighting, artwork, accessories and more. And finally, we’ll put together a design board with furnishings and accessories that are perfect for you!

Easy Ordering

When you receive your design board by email, YOU decide on your favorites. Then just click on the items to order straight from the vendors. AND have them delivered RIGHT to your home! You’ll purchasing direct and avoid trips to multiple stores, which are probably closed right now anyway! You also SAVE money and time while protecting your health and your peace of mind.

Contact 248-509-4720 and schedule your FREE Facetime Discovery Call to discuss your design project or click HERE to sign up for our package options now!

How to Choose COLOR in Your Color Scheme

Who’s ready for some change? To ring in the new decade, choose color in your color scheme!

Color is the New Gray

The gray trend is at its end, and more of my clients are asking for color! If you want to know how to choose color in your color scheme, start with the 2020 Color of the Year choices of different paint companies. In reviewing the color picks, I found a trend toward restful nature, revitalizing the spirit, mindfulness, and well-being. With our fast-paced, demanding world, I’m not surprised that homeowners are looking to color to create nourishing environments where we can relax, reflect, and recharge.

Color Confident Home will show you how to choose color in your color scheme.

(by liliyroseinteriors.com.au)

Color Me Blue

Color Confident Home will help you choose the right colors

(Photo by Pantone.com)

When we look at Pantone’s 2020 Color of the Year Classic Blue (19-4052), their website describes “a rich, dreamy, dark and beautiful shade of azure. This particular shade of blue is reflective, anchoring and self-assured. It’s relaxed and restful and meant to offer us all a sense of needed tranquility.” Shades of blue help create the calming environment we crave after a busy day. Good for bedrooms, many of my clients opt for a deep, confident blue while others crave a warm, enveloping blue with soft, pink accents.

Choose color!

Benjamin Moore’s 2020 Color of the Year (photo by BenjaminMoore.com)

Positive Pink Color Scheme

When I began seeing pink in fashion, I wasn’t surprised to see Benjamin Moore’s Color of the Year 2020, First Light 2102-70. On their website, it says First Light “symbolizes an upbeat and hopeful start to the next ten years” and is part of their new collection of colors that “provide security, comfort, community, self-expression, and optimism.” For clients looking for more subtle color on walls, choosing First Light is light and airy and harmonizes with the on-trend blue and navy colors that have come onto the scene in the last several years. It also coordinates nicely with the current restful greens showing up in furnishings and accessories.

Back to Nature Color Scheme

Colorful scheme

Behr 2020 Color of the Year (by Behr.com)

Behr 2020 Color of the Year  (by Behr.com)Behr – BACK TO NATURE S340-4 a collection of invigorating and restorative hues designed to infuse vitality and life in any room through color. The Behr 2020 Color Trends palette was inspired by natural elements such as sky, earth, water and plant life.

Color schemes with navy

Sherwin-Williams 2020 Color of the Year (by Sherwin-WIlliams.com)

Navy is a Neutral Color

Sherwin-Williams is getting in on the design trend by revealing Naval SW 6244, a bold navy shade, as its 2020 Color of the Year.  “The use of color in interior design is changing. It’s not just about what a space looks like anymore, but how it makes you feel,” said Sue Wadden, director of color marketing at Sherwin-Williams. “People want to feel grounded and inspired to pursue their mental, physical and emotional well-being. Naval is reminiscent of the night sky, which people have looked to for centuries for guidance, as a muse and as a reminder to live more mindfully.”

Navy is a colorful neutral that goes with many colors and can be a backdrop for your artwork and furnishings. Look through any home magazine or sale paper and you’ll see many options for inspiration pieces and accessories.

 

Whether you’re ready to jump in and add color to your walls or you want to start slowly by adding colorful accessories, you have thousands of colors to choose from. Overwhelmed and not sure where to start? A Certified Color Expert who is trained in the science of color as well as the art of design can show you how to visualize your colors and take the fear out of choosing the right colors the first time. Contact us today!

Choose Paint Colors in Five Steps

Choose Paint Colors in Five Steps

Choose Paint Colors in Five Steps

Choosing Paint Colors

Are you overwhelmed with the task of choosing paint colors for your home? Small color chips do not give homeowners a true idea of how paint colors will look on the expanse of a wall. According to a Benjamin Moore survey, fifty percent of paint sales come from people choosing the wrong color the first time.
As a certified color consultant, I have observed many house interiors and exteriors. Some homes have different colors in every room, while others still have “builders’ white” in abundance. Many homeowners choose neutral paint colors but use different tones in each room. So how do you add color and create a look of harmony and balance?

Break it Down into Five Steps:

  • Cultivate your colors.

Decide which you like and don’t like. Dream, do a vision board, peruse the paint chips at a paint store, look in magazines and on Pinterest or Houzz.com (search for Color Confident Home and look at my idea boards on both sites).

  • Start with the Rules of Design.

Sixty percent of your room color will be a neutral or a color that is a backdrop for your furniture, accessories and artwork. A current trend mixes warm colors and cool colors, but to get it right you must have a mix of textures and an eye for design. Walls with vivid colors can create a dramatic look, as long as design rules are followed and the eye has a focal point as well as a balance that allows the eye to rest.

  • Hone in on Hue Families

Look at your existing furniture, cabinets, and other fixed items like countertops and flooring. Which hue families do your current colors fall in? If your sofa is brown with a pinkish hue, you’ll want to find paint colors in the same or coordinating hue family. If your carpeting is a goldish beige, be sure you choose neutral paint colors within the correct hue families. Choose your trim color based on your whether your color scheme is warm or cool. Off-whites and creams go well with warm, muted colors while white and cooler off-whites provide a crisp look for cool colors.

  • Look at your lighting.

Natural light, the number of windows in room, time of day and season affect the color of light entering your home, as well as how the colors in the room will look. Your artificial lighting, including the amount, type, and color of bulbs, also determines how paint colors will look on your walls.

  • Don’t skip the sample.

After you narrow down your choices to two or three, test your colors using the Color Confident Home tried-and-true-method for color selection, which does not mean paint swatches on your walls!! You will then be able to choose your paint color with confidence.

For more ideas, see my idea book at Color Confident Home – Houzz. Also, follow me on Facebook here. For a consultation or a quote contact me.

How To Choose A Paint Color – Rochester Hills

Color Selection Rochester Hills

How To Choose A Paint Color – Rochester Hills

With the thousands of pant chips available at paint stores, it can be hard to know where to begin. Have you ever painted a room only to find the color does not look as you thought it would? Many factors, including natural light, lighting fixtures, season, and existing furnishings, fixtures, and finishes, influence the way a color looks. If you want to make sure you’re choosing the right colors, as well as colors that will create harmony from room-to-room, or from interior to exterior, you can use the rules of design and color. Cheryl Adams, a certified color expert from Color Confifent Home, is trained to help you create your personal palette with confidence.

After an initial phone interview, Cheryl will provide an on-site consultation to help you choose your paint palette for walls, trim, and ceilings. Using her Six-Step Color Process and the rules of color and design, she will take into consideration your current cabinets, counter tops, and flooring and make recommendations for your overall color scheme. Cheryl will work with you the whole time, assessing your color sensitivity and likes as well as your current furnishings. She provides large paint samples you can keep for easier selection of your paint color schemes.

  • If you’re starting from scratch, do the hue families in your finishes match or coordinate?
  • Which neutrals and colors will complement those elements?
  • How is your current lighting affecting your colors and the feel of your home?

Cheryl Adams – Certified Color Expert – Color Confident Home of Rochester Hills Michigan can help you decide on paint and color for you home that creates harmony from room to room.

To see some idea books by Cheryl on Houzz

For more information on Interior Paint Color Selection

Call Today to schedule your Paint Consultation: (248) 509-4720

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