Color Design Trends

The first big color trend that is expected to continue into the New Year is a move towards aged, distressed color finishes that are reminiscent of past times. Shades in earthy brown and aged greens, as well as smoky blues blue hues will continue to be popular for wall paints and fabrics. Lenzing Fibers, a cellulose fabrics manufacturer and retailer, reports that many of the colors that are going to continue to be seen in fabric design revolve around the earthly elements. Colors based on the colors of nature, i.e. minerals, soil and plants. Metallic colors are also expected to be a continuing trend in 2010. Pantone, the global organization that analyzes and sets color standards for each fashion season, says that the eight key color palettes for the New Year include: Greenmarket, Gatherings, Transformations, Pastiche and Ambiance, to name a few.

The Old is New Again

Antique and vintage interior décor pieces add a bit of warmth and human soul to a home, and in the past year, the urge to revisit the past in new design settings has been increasing and the trend seems to be ready to continue into the New Year. This also explains the rise in thrift store and consignment store shopping, as well as the surging of sites like 1stdibs.com. This same trend in revisiting the pasts design aesthetics has led people to revisit their own past heritage when designing the interior of their homes. A return to one’s roots is a growing interior décor trend. People are looking for Native American, aboriginal and tribal colors and patterns that employ bold hues and geometric shapes.

Going Green

A few years ago, green living was a brand new trend in the world of interior design. Now, it might be more accurate to call it a staple of contemporary design aesthetics. As we head into 2010, green design is still growing and shows no signs of slowing down. Green construction and building materials have become a huge part of the home improvement marketplace, a trend that will hopefully continue not just through 2010 but for many years to come.

Environmentally friendly paint, cloth fabrics, furniture and flooring materials, and energy saving lighting alternatives are just some of the green elements that are factoring into today’s interior décor fashions. Characteristics of green products include sustainability and a minimum emission of volatile organic compounds that could be harmful to people and the environment. Another design trend that is related to recent green living trends is the increased use of re purposed or recycled furniture and design accessories. Reusing, repainting and refinishing old items can give them new life and help avoid unnecessary waste.

Mixed Fabrics

The trend of mixing colors and texture when picking out a living room’s decorative fabric pieces looks like it’s going to continue well into 2010. A room with matching textures tends to get old after a while. Layering different textures of fabric creates a more interesting arrangement. Try mixing and matching satins, furs and cotton fabrics to see what you like, and feel free to incorporate patterned fabrics as well.

Layered Flooring

A home’s floor is as much a part of its interior design elements as the walls and furniture. Adding patterned mats, decorative carpets, area rugs and other decorative elements to your floor will give it a rich layered look that will in turn lend warmth and coziness to your home. Runner carpets for stairways and hallways are also back in style. Layered flooring started to grow as a trend in recent years and it seems poised to be a big part of 2010 interior design landscape. In a tight economy, layering your existing floor rather than replacing it with a new one is a money-saving way to completely renovate the look and feel of your home interior.

Here are some other reasons to consider tile with color or range:

• Dirt, hair, and scratches are much easier to hide, because the inconsistency of color creates a camouflage effect.
• The flooring appears to have more ‘depth’ & richness.
• More colors present makes designing easier- there are more color choices for you to pull for accents into your decorating scheme.
• It looks less ‘grid-like’ and mathematical. When there is no pattern or color interest, the eye falls onto the grout lines, which are emphasized and give a very geometric, sharp feeling.

Tile flooring is filled with options, and with the right choice, it can dictate a design scheme, bringing life and versatility into your décor. The best advice if you’re hesitant is to take home samples, and look at them laid on the floor, not up to your face (as this is the height you’d see the tiles from every day).

Feeling good is what it’s all about, according to recent fashion predictions by Pantone for the Summer of 2009. People will be most attracted to colors that reflect individuality and personality, colors that make people feel good about who they are. Color will be more than just a shade, but the very mood and style we wear to face the world.

Color is the essential ingredient in design and style, the very flavor that brings out the mood of design. Fashion and home furnishings are flavored with color, bringing out emotions and style. Color sets the mood like smell reminds a memory, as suggestive as a dream or the scents of the wind itself.

The Pantone Color Forecast features a string of “isms,” each designed with a personality that’s knows what it wants. Since personality comes in all styles of faces, there’s sure to be something this year that lights up your mood, whatever you are feeling in the moment. Step out on summer with designs that play with your personality. Dance the colors that suit your mood.

In an classical arts style that just seems to find its way naturally into any art opening, Classic-ism is nearly colorless save for a medium stripe of blue that suggests restraint and a polite calming grace. It’s subtle yet stylish, perfect for understating the obvious. Classically intoned, this color is sure to bring tradition into fashion and design.

Striking out more boldly, Today-ism steps into brightness with a proper balance of deep red hues and a somber brown, creating a playful dance to attract the eye. It screams right now, lighting up color with an immediacy that brings out a room.

On the experimental side, Fetish-ism experiments with carnal desire, seducing freedom with deliciousness. It’s boldly suggestive, yet subtly coy, like a wink in the bright lights of the night. It’s perfect for when you are feeling dangerously playful, ready to turn heads that follow you everywhere around the room.

Stepping into a stranger mood, Surreal-ism playfully creates the unexpected in a play of creativity. It plays with your imagination with all the brightness of a jewel, dancing and shimmering like moonlight on the water. It’s imaginatively artistic, yet dreamingly suggestive. Shining like a wine glass in the hues of the moonlight, this color dances creativity in the dreamy lights of the dance floor.

Turning absurdity upside down, Absurd-ism frees color from the binds of conformity and rationality, creating a playful twist on the disproportionate. Bending the rules of color in an innovative twist, it breaks out of boring with a playfulness that laughs at the color brown. It’s the kind of color that’s willing to stand on its head, tell a joke in a library, dance even when there’s no music playing.

Independent-ism strikes out on its own with a boldness that’s unique enough to turn heads. Why look like anyone else when style can be as bold as we can be? It’s the color we wear when we want to be ourselves, sure of who we are. It’s like stepping into a room and knowing what you want.

Female-ism celebrates the woman and everything that makes her beautiful. With medium pastels, it celebrates the female being with positivity, a dash of medium color with just a touch of retro glamor hues.

Each of these colors suggest a personality and a mood, a way of making style our own. Design plays on the emotions, changing like moods with the dress, the drapes and the color of the cake. It’s a dance that depends on the playful or the serious, the bold or the subtle. Design and color mean more than just occasion and circumstance, but the very mood and style we wish to step into for the moment.