With the end of the year just around the corner, the consumer home
décor magazines and websites are already predicting what colours and
themes will be hot in the home in 2008.
With the end of the year just around the corner, the consumer home décor magazines and websites are already predicting what colours and themes will be hot in the home in 2008. Here’s a look at what could transcend from the home decorating pages right on into your garden centre.
Combination Palettes
On the pages of Canada’s Style at Home, a home décor magazine, the popular colours that seem to dominate the November 2007 issue are shades of chartreuse green, paired often with a cream-coloured white, yellow gold, light silvers and earthy browns. Another popular hue combination featured in the magazine is a creamy cloud-white colour paired up with a warm woodlawn blue. The perfect third colour to add in would be a bronze brown or chocolate brown.
The Fall 2007 edition of Color Schemes, a special interest publication from Better Homes and Gardens, is an entire issue dedicated to the next colour trends. It names the blue and red colour families as the most influential hues of 2008. According to the Color Marketing Group, an international association for colour and design professionals, the 2008 Beijing Olympics have pushed red towards coral and raspberry tones. Spa and ocean influences have steered blue to more green-based tones along with gentle mild-tones blues and intense bright blues.
The issue calls pink, chocolate and green the colour combo of the moment and shows readers how playing up one colour in the trio creates a new atmosphere. Allowing chocolate brown to dominate makes the palette feel chic, sophisticated and modern. By focusing on the pink, the colour scheme turns more sweet, feminine and soft. Finally by playing up the green, the palette becomes more outdoorsy, natural and relaxed.
Living With Colour
On HGTV.com, the Home and Gardening TV network’s website, Jennifer Haupt writes about the colour trends that will hit living rooms in 2008. The living room is a place for welcoming and entertaining friends and family. It’s also where many floral and garden plants will end up, so it’s important to take note of the design themes being forecasted for this living area. The article describes five design styles that are gaining popularity.
The first is Hollywood Glamour, which looks back to the 1930s and ’40s for vintage inspiration. The era was filled with gold, crystal and metallic lacquer and to update it to 2008, this theme adds in textured wallpapers that feature metal threading. A crystal chandelier is the embodiment of Hollywood elegance along with mirrors. Under this theme, grey-blue is the “in” colour, with variations from pink to blue to purple, while baby blue is out.
Next up is the rustic theme of Sensual and Sultry. Warm shades of brown and gold are matched up with sensual red and orange to create a spicy, rich atmosphere. The gold in this theme strays away from the metallic version and is instead a warm gold that creates a glow throughout the room. Chocolate browns, earthy hues and purple are good additions to this theme as well.
In the article, HGTV.com writer Haupt calls the next palette Bold Basics. White and black serve as the background colours and help offset vibrant teal blues, orangey-yellows, deep lime greens and coral pinks. One or two bright accent colours create energy in a black-and-white room and give it a futuristic touch.
For a place to de-stress and unwind in, the Young and Decadent theme and its playful, bright colours works well. Chocolate brown balances a daiquiri green, deep fuschia, golden yellow and many other bold colours that fit in perfectly. The colours make items pop and add an element of fun to the environment.
Last but not least, is the neutral palette, which has become a trend colour staple. The Warm and Inviting Neutrals category includes earthy tones that help you to relax. The Color Marketing Group has brought in its New Neutrals palette to fit in with this theme. These colours consist of earthy brown and tans that imitate the hues of rock, stone and soil. Also popular are shades of mocha, taupe, caramel which can be accented by metal and nickel greys. A rose or reddish plum will also work well with this theme and is perfect for home accessories.
Off the Wall
In the November issue of Canadian House and Home, the magazine looks at what types of bold patterns and bright colours are influencing home wallpaper lines. The first category, Graphic Smarts, features busy graphic patterns that use geometric shapes to convey style. A simple trellis pattern suits a mixture of rooms and black-and-white combinations are a popular blend of colours. The patterns also use contrasting colours like red and pink or orange and brown.
The second theme illustrated in the magazine is Metal Winners. This grouping plays off the continuing metallic trend and features neutral browns, creams and light blues combined with a range of greys, starting with blue-tinged and moving to a deeper charcoal. The patterns go from simple and subtle (best featured in an oft-used room) to ones that get creative and use birds or stars and dip into floral. To make the metallic theme really shine, the magazine says to add Swarovski crystal appliqués to the pattern.
The final line featured in Canadian House and Home is one that would fit right in at a florist’s shop. The Petal Pushers theme includes oversized floral prints that range from busy to simplistic. The vertical designs are shown in spring pinks, pastels and purples, and can also feature the metallic sheen of Metal Winners.
The November issue also dedicates a few pages of the magazine to tartan, a pattern that is making a strong comeback from runways to chic hotels. The spread promotes the idea that “plaid can be rad in almost every setting” and says that using tartan throughout a room is a simple way to punch up an area. The pattern is no longer tied down to a simple palette and can be found in a variety of colours and scales.
Painting the Way
The Rohm and Haas Paint Quality Institute, located in the U.S., compiles an annual report that looks at what new cutting edge trends will hit the colour marketplace in the upcoming year. In this year’s Color Trends 2008 report, the Rohm and Haas Paint Quality Institute outlines three key palette themes.
The first is Go Green, a hue that institute says could be the newest neutral colour. Green can be used as a subtle backdrop to illustrate an interest in the environmental movement. In this palette, mid-tone colours of fern, palm, pine and sage can be used separately or combined with clear blue or aqua. This creates the feeling of the outdoors and nature. To add to the eco-friendly feel, sandy tan and adobe brown can also serve as complimentary colours.
The second theme in the report is titled Sophisticated Elegance and the palette relies on black and white tones to give the feeling of affluence. Accessories like lighting, mirrors and rich fabrics help enhance the two basic colours along with silver metallics and high sheen finishes. A bright and rich red can help add punch to this theme or a toned-down pink or taupe can serve as a subtle way to include colour. Another way of spicing up the palette is to bring in a classic animal print.
Crewel Colors is the Rohm and Haas Paint Quality Institute’s third paint colour trend for 2008. Rich cranberry reds, warm browns, pumpkin orange and deep-tones blues are key to this simplistic theme. This combination caters to consumers who are interested in traditional family activities like homemade crafts and home cooking. The creamy, rich colours help create the feeling warmth and also serve to personalize a living area.
To see examples of the colours mentioned in this story, please visit www.canadiangardencentre.ca.
Print this page
