Dynamic & Sophisticated

Written by Stephanie Cavanaugh

I see…a little Chinese violet in your future.

Not a flower, but a washed shade of purple as soft as the sky at dawn. It’s one of 50 hues that will soon be showing up in everything from paints to carpets to wallpapers and towels. Even vehicles get in on the act.

It’s no accident that suddenly each season certain collections of colors run riot through the stores and that your KitchenAid mixer matches your Nikes.

Forecasting which colors are going to make our fingers tingle for the credit card is big business.

The Pantone Institute, one of the leaders in the field, plots the direction of color trends with the help of experts from nearly every industry and every country. These seers take the world’s pulse, watching what goes on in politics, on the streets, and in the arts, and consider how events might influence the shades we will be thirsting for, 18 to 24 months in the future. It takes that long to move new ideas into large-scale production.

Where once a color or two might emerge – remember harvest gold and avocado – today’s spectrum is extremely broad.

“Years ago there was one hot color and designers issued edicts to their clients,” says Leatrice Eiseman, executive director of the Pantone Institute. “Whether they loved avocado or hated it was immaterial. Today the mind set is different. People want options and don’t want to be dictated to.”

They also understand that adding “color is often the way to spike up a traditional interior and make it more interesting and appealing,” she says. The direction you choose depends on your mood and your lifestyle.

“The one size fits all mentality is a dinosaur.”

Retro-Fantasy Offerings

Pantone has come up with eight collections for spring. “Retro-fantasy offerings” they call them. These are colors reminiscent of the ’40s, ’50s and ’60s, technicolor shades that range from playful to sensual, which are dynamic and sophisticated, with whimsical names that reflect the impact they will have on an environment.

A family with young children could go for the jelly bean greens, reds, yellows and oranges of the RePlay collection. Adults free of the sticky-fingered set might dare the tea rose and southern moss pales of Respite. Minimalists would appreciate the chinchilla, caviar and champagne shades in the Recurrents group. And those with a flair for drama could douse themselves in the jewel-toned Radiance palette.

What do some of our top local designers think of the forecast?

“The colors we have now are dynamite; the most exciting I’ve ever seen,” says Camille Saum. “But people can be skittish about colors on the edge. They’re afraid of the unfamiliar, and colors can be very adventurous.”

But, ah, when they see what a jigger of lime can do…

When Saum painted the solarium at last fall’s National Symphony Orchestra Decorators’ Show House shades of tangerine, Dijon mustard, and ivory—then punched it up with a pair of rattan chaises cushioned in psychedelic lime patent leather, visitors were grinning ear to ear, and not just women with an eye for style.

“I cannot tell you how many men came through and were smiling, saying ‘I just love this room,’ ” she says. “It was such a happy look, fun and whimsical. And that’s because of color.”

Pleasing the Eye

The biggest mistake people make with color? “Chickening out and choosing a pastel,” Skip Sroka says. “That’s never going to work. You repeat the cycle of being afraid of color.”

It takes some gentle nudging to move clients away from the safety of beige and white, cream and taupe. “Most people don’t realize how well they live with color. Once they have it, they want it,” he says.

Though sometimes even the bravest will blanch. One such client leaves town each summer with instructions for Sroka to go in and “spruce up her house”–his cue to liven things up.

Last year he painted her big, beige foyer a gorgeous warm red and flew in a Turkish carpet in brilliant shades of deep blue, gold and celadon green to run up the stairs. The client’s response? “She said, ‘I would never have done it but it looks wonderful,’ ” Sroka says with a grin. “Color that is well conceived and executed is a joy.”

He’s wary of trends, cautioning that sometimes colors that may be popular today quickly end up looking badly dated. So would he use avocado? “In a heartbeat,” he says. “When you need a green that’s fairly neutral, it works beautifully. I’d use it with russet oranges and blues and yellows and cherry wood. It can look just wonderful that way. There are no bad colors, only bad combinations. It’s not what color you choose but how you use it.”

“People have very strong reactions to color,” Barbara Hawthorn of Barbara Hawthorn Interiors says. “It affects them tangibly: in their physical and mental state and viscerally, in the gut. It’s very personal.”

While she’s certainly aware of fashion trends, Hawthorn doesn’t follow them blindly. “What I try to do first is get a sense of what are the colors that these people feel most comfortable with, that give them that feeling of welcome,” she says. When it comes to color, “most people are still in neutral. The majority is more comfortable with things that are not challenging. They want a restful environment when they come home.”

That doesn’t mean they want boring.

Hawthorn uses neutrals as an anchor, taking them through the house so there’s continuity and flow. Then she adds colors, tweaking them according to the room’s use. In a home that’s predominantly golden beige, “You might brighten a breakfast room with orange and gold and yellow, mimicking food colors, bright and cheerful,” she says. “You might take a sunroom and go even warmer with a corally color, maybe on a wall. For a gentleman’s study, go with warm brown tones and coppers…with wonderful leather. It’s still beigy gold, but stronger now, with warmer tones that cocoon him and look beautiful with books.”

And for those with enough confidence to paint the house puce? “I have a ton of fun with those who just love color,” she says. “Then we use neutrals as a relief. We stand it on its head.”

Surprising Combinations

Fiona Newell Weeks loves strong colors and so do most of her clients. “When you have color around you, you tend to be a happier person,” she says. “If you wake up each morning to a bright and happy room, why wouldn’t you be bright and happy, too?”

When the designer painted her living room a brilliant brick red some years ago, she was amazed at the response from men. “Normally, you don’t hear men comment,” she says. “But they just loved it. They said they felt so comfortable. My mother [gossip columnist and author Diana McLellan] said, ‘It probably reminds them of the womb.’ She’s probably right,” Weeks laughs.

Though the designer doesn’t purposely follow trends, sometimes colors or color combinations pop up that please a surprising number of clients, she says. “These days the colors my clients are liking and being drawn to are cantaloupe and soft sky blue with a hit of raspberry. It’s a really pretty combination that makes people feel good.”

They’re colors that she’ll use throughout a house, changing the balance from room to room. “I might use blue as the predominant color in the living room with the others as accents,” she says. “Then I’d use raspberry in the dining room – it promotes conversation, they say – with accents of the other two. Then, in the family room or kitchen, I’d use cantaloupe with accents of the others.”

For those who prefer darker, more dramatic shades, the designer likes to use a pale delicate orchid as an accent for deep chocolate brown walls in the living room and sofas and chairs in light toast. She flops the colors for the dining room, using toast on the walls and upholstering the chairs chocolate.

How delicious, and great for hiding stains.

Shades Of Accent

You needn’t spend a fortune or up-end your entire house to get a hit of the latest shades. “Do it with paint if you don’t have a lot of money, or an appliance, or a pillow,” says Hawthorn. “You get a touch of what’s au courant without a terrible investment.”

This designer is particularly tantalized by the eye-popping hues of small kitchen appliances; blenders and mixers so outrageously cheerful they make you want to stop and…bake something. “There was cobalt, then orange, and this year it’s a gorgeous chartreuse,” she says. “When used as an accessory, these colors are virtually neutral.”

Neutral? “Think of any kitchen colors,” she says. “They have black or beige appliances and light or dark wood tones. Chartreuse would be great on a dark granite counter, beautiful on white marble. Can you think of any color that it wouldn’t look good with as an accent?”

A chartreuse toaster may give you a lift, but the same shade in a fridge is a downer.

Basic black, white and the steely gray of stainless have edged out avocado and harvest gold with good reason, says Sroka. No matter what color you choose for the walls, floors and furnishings, these shades are always right at home.

But be careful with white. “The white most fixtures come in is pretty cold, not beautiful, and difficult to use effectively,” he says. “The shade to watch is biscuit, an off-white creamy ivory that goes with everything.”

Don’t Forget the Ceiling

Deborah Wiener of Designing Solutions says inspiration should guide every color choice. Look at what’s in a room, blend colors – don’t match, and think of what effect you’re after. “Colors that give off warmth have reds and oranges in them. Apple greens, true soft yellows and creamy white make rooms look fresh and new,” Wiener says. Medium blues, taupe and beige are easy to live with, while dark, rich colors including purple, burgundy, navy blue and chocolate brown give off a dramatic, sophisticated look. Gray, blue gray and pure white offer a cool, open feeling.

Try something new and don’t forget the ceiling. There’s no reason to leave such a large area stark white or matching the wall color when a contrasting color will add a decorative punch instead, Wiener adds. “Ceilings are important to a room’s decor–they are what a matching purse and shoes are to a designer dress or what a beautiful tie and pocket square are to a pinstripe suit–the finishing touches that turn average looks into show-stoppers.”

With pumpkins, golden yellows and neutral colors including whites and browns, try creamy white trim and very pale blue on the ceiling, Wiener adds. “A little bit of cool color paired with warm walls makes a great contrast. Strong, dark colors including green and navy blue as well as cool tones in gray come to life when paired with whiter trim and warm ceiling color in pale peach and pink.” Try rich tones of deep red, purple, medium blue and burgundy with golden yellow on the ceiling and creamy white on the trim.

Painting the Town

When the C2 Collections of Color hit the Washington market several months back, they became the immediate darlings of top designers and homeowners for their sophisticated palette, superior performance and competitive pricing. Then there are the poster-sized swatches, coated in actual C2 paints that make it possible to see what the color will actually look like in the room.

“I have to give them fantastic reviews,” says Saum, who used the line in the solarium she designed for the NSO Show House. “They’ve taken colors we’ve looked at for years and made them different.” She flips through the sample wheel of 496 shades, rolling through names, “Terracotta, Tangerine, Delicata, moving into Radiant then into Sundown. Even the way they have labeled them goes with the tone. Serengeti, a mustard gold, is fabulous. Above it is Plantain; it’s like the light comes on in this color.”

Bill Thornton of the Alexandria Paint Company, which handles the collection, says the hottest sellers are cinnamons, terra-cottas, and shades of pink, everything from dusty rose to plum and deep purple. “A trend,” he notes, “that comes directly from women’s fashion.” Blues and greens, soothingly muted or with the zingy clarity of an icy fjord, are also strong. And at the deep end is Chocolate Therapy, a brown so rich it’s sinful. Thankfully you can’t get fat just by looking.