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These days, one hue won't do

 Color palettes are in, and an expert says that each one "speaks to a real human need."

By ELIZABETH BETTENDORF
Published June 27, 2006

Colors come and colors go.

What's a hot hue one season in home decor is as out as that once-favorite faux leopard lampshade the next.

Alas, ubiquitous pink has been replaced by purple, and the most recent color du jour - celery - has been eclipsed by a slightly more retro seafoamy green.

So before you wield a paint roller and that can of sumptuous Ralph Lauren Baja orange, take heed: Attitudes toward color are changing as home decor buffs shift from color fads to coordinated color groupings, design experts say.

Now, more than ever, it's not just about one color "but about palettes," says Leatrice Eiseman, author of six books about color and executive director of the Pantone Color Institute, an organization that forecasts color trends.

"There's a spirit of new direction right now. What's hot is not one color. There are fewer hot colors and more color combinations," says Eiseman, whose most recent book, More Alive With Color Capital Books, 2006, examines the connection between color and emotion.

The Pantone home interior palettes for 2006 include offbeat "downtown" colors that are "funky, fun, romantic, like bright bits of confetti that have been tossed into the air and land randomly," Eiseman says.

Aimed at a youthful audience, the grouping brings together an unexpected blend of mimosa-yellow, orchid and warm pink.

Compare that with Pantone's contemporary "uptown" palette that combines colors like amethyst purple, peridot and Brazilian red with rich browns, blacks, silvers and grays.

Lowe's spokeswoman Jennifer Wilson notes that two palettes remain strong among consumers in 2006 and will continue through 2007.

A warm palette includes reds, golds and browns "that are light chocolate to dark walnut," Wilson explains. "A lot of folks are using browns and golds as accent colors."

Lowe's cooler palette features mint green, slate blue, light gray and metallic.

Those cool color combinations, she adds, also include buttery yellows and soft whites, antique lace and buff, long preferred by Lowe's more traditional clientele, who tend to use trendy colors more conservatively, typically on accent walls.

And no matter where people live, Wilson notes, coastal beach house color combinations remain a popular decorating choice.

"People are so busy and spend so much time at their jobs that they really want to turn their homes into places they can relax, into soothing retreats," she says.

At Home Depot, in-store designers such as Nancy Clark see firsthand new color trends and the latest emerging palettes.

"We're seeing demand for greens, yellows combined with melon, touches of lavender and then darker neutral shades of brown and taupe," says Clark, a design consultant with Home Depot's Tyrone store in St. Petersburg. "We're also seeing bright, very tropical colors geared toward a Hispanic market."

She said that Florida design trends might vary slightly from the rest of the country because many people live in small condos. They tend to paint walls shades of white and introduce popular color into their decor through accent walls or accessories, such as throw pillows.

Bringing in the latest color using a white paint infused with a new hue, such as an icy blue, is another way to dabble in the trend.

"I try to get people to do a little ceiling color or paint the crown molding," Clark says.

She also encourages people wary of investing a lot of money or time to try a new color in a creative way.

"Paint a piece of furniture," she suggests. "Try an older piece you're not really crazy about and paint it a fun color like apple green or mango. If you have a lot of browns in your house, blues look very pretty with that."

At the Home Depot on Dale Mabry Highway near Interstate 275, Lance Cook, paint department manager, gets a lot of requests for retro 1960s and '70s colors, including oranges, greens and fruit colors.

He also fields a steady request for colors that buck the latest fads in favor of the sentimental: team colors.

Glidden offers a line of sporty paint colors to match the Bucs, Devil Rays and University of South Florida.

"We get a lot of requests for the USF colors, usually from college kids," he says.

Sherwin Williams also offers a good selection of the latest color palettes, including one called Fifth Avenue, a nod to modernism and luxury, which mixes colors such as "grandeur plum," "resounding rose" and "Turkish coffee."

So the next time you're wondering how that latest shade of misty lavender made it on to your bedroom wall, consider this.

Pantone arrives at its color forecasts using methods that include polling consumers and tracking social trends.

"We really listen to people and what they need. We're not in an ivory tower," Eiseman says. "Each palette speaks to a real human need."

--Elizabeth Bettendorf can be reached at ebettendorf@hotmail.com.

[Last modified June 26, 2006, 23:35:17]