About Color Trends — Universal Interiors, LLC

Every year Pantone and name brand paint companies unveil a color of the year and color trends for the coming year. While it may sound advertorial, a lot of effort goes into deciding the color trends. Experts travel the world following fashion, music and culture to determine what color(s) we will want to see in our clothing, on our walls or in our fabrics.

Why is color so important? I have spent a good portion of my life exploring the world of color but had not actually dissected it’s importance. Color is a feeling, it is an emotion and the presence of colors can evoke a memory, no different than when we hear a song on the radio. While most of us would not redesign our homes every year to keep up with the trends, the reality is the colors we choose to live with play an important role in how we feel when we are in our living spaces.

Color theory is not a new concept. Evidence-based design has documented scientific proof of this and, in recent years, the proof has been applied when designing healthcare facilities, using colors that will promote wellness, rehabilitation and recovery.

While color is all around us, the fact is, not all of us see color and many see very few colors. The human eye contains three sizes of cones for viewing color wavelengths, small, medium and large. These cones originate in the “X” chromosome which means women have an extra set of these cones waiting to be used, but they typically are not used. Like most parts of the human body, the more the cone is exercised, the stronger it becomes. This is most evident in painters, designers and florists, to name a few, they tend to have a more sensitive distinction between colors. It has recently been discovered that some women have developed a fourth cone, which allows them a greater ability to see colors we do not.

So what does all this color talk have to do with your choice of color for the living room wall? Take a look at these trending colors and, while you look, think about your initial reaction, emotion, or thought.

If your initial reaction was relaxation, do you want these colors in your work space or exercise room? Probably not. But touches of these colors in a kitchen or gathering space would work nicely as in this example;

As a designer, I often assist my clients in choosing colors that will set the mood in the room. Often clients want a lot of color without realizing that too much color, or not the right color, can have the opposite effect in a room than was intended.