Picking Colors for Your Home
Choosing colors for your home has always been a difficult choice. To begin with trendy colors are only going to stay trendy for an unknown period of time, after which they will become dated and out of fashion. And the savvy owner often considers the implications of color choice when it becomes time to sell, whether that move will be upgrading or moving to smaller quarters. By the time it’s time to sell, a buyer may very well be turned off at old, tired color schemes. Is the safer choice, therefore, to stick with time honored neutral colors like whites and beiges? On the other hand, is there still something to be said for originality, vibrancy, and boldness – after all, you are likely to be living in the house for many years. And a homeowner often likes to put his own stylistic stamp on the house. This holds for paint color choices as much as it does for furniture styles.
With this in mind, let’s take a look at what the most renowned color thought leaders are saying about 2020. Pentone and several other paint manufacturers chose their 2020 color of the year choices as royal and navy blues, dusty pink, and many variations of green. These strong color patterns, while certainly not traditional, are bold and daring.
Many designers feel, there is a collective yearning for personalization. New York designer, Gordon Mendelsohn, reports that some of his clients feel, “The more colors the merrier.” Amy Wax, a New Jersey color expert thinks that “Strong colors can make a home more memorable for both its owners and would-be buyers.”
One solution about whether to embrace tradition or trends is to do both. Perhaps use traditional tones as the overall color scheme but liven it up with more trendy, bold accents. This way, you can indulge your own creativity - and it will be much easier to repaint the accents (as opposed to the entire home) when it comes time to sell, if those colors are long out of fashion.
Its also important to remember that Pentome, Sherwin Williams, et al. are companies that market new colors regularly to improve sales. There’s no reason that a homeowner should take the opinions of paint manufacturers as the gospel. Indeed, with all the new color trends which debut every year, neutrals continue to be very popular year after year. For example, white continues to be the most popular color for cabinets, followed by medium shades of wood. As for walls, beiges, whites and grays are still very popular.
One advantage to neutral colors is that they are easier to accent with other colors – they clash with other colors far less often. Additionally, neutral wall colors will not often clash with furniture choices and room decor, be they modern, antique, etc.
Is it possible to be bold and traditional at the same time? An interesting option is offered by Melanie Berniet of The Spruce, a home and lifestyle website. She tells Realtor Magazine, “We think grays and beiges will always have staying power, but our paints have hints of colorful undertones. They’re less traditional than [classic] beige or gray and feel a bit more modern but aren’t too experimental.”
Many designers like Wax and Mendelsohn ask their clients what makes them feel good and comfortable. But at the same time an experienced, wise designer knows a client may need to be guided. The designer, for example, knows that the size and brightness of the room (in addition to many other factors) are important when making color choices.