What Will the Hot New Paint Colors Be?

Question

We're going bonkers trying to decide what colors to paint our living room walls and trim. There are too many choices. Is there some kind of expert panel out there that chooses hot colors so we can just copy their picks and be done with it. We're not choosy. (Fern from Golden, CO)

Answer

Fern, you're not alone in being confused by color choices. Walk into any paint store and you'll find zillions of chips with slight variations on the same color - even a blinding array of whites. It's easy to be confused. We may have an expert body who can help you and other homeowners make some decisions based on "color stories."

Global Color Research, the 1999 UK-based color consultancy studio, is in business to make strong color and trend forecasting to all the markets that rely on fashion-based color choices. Serious money in product development - from appliance colors to paints and wallpapers - depends on predicting colors based on solid market research.

GCR produces Mix Publications, a publishing house that disseminates info on color trends, design, materials and products, and they've just released their Spring Summer 2011 color forecasts. We'll cover the four color stories that reveal their 20 colors of the future. We'll be covering each color story, so let's start with Story 1, called Whisper. (We'll keep adding updates to this column in the coming days until all stories are covered.) This story, and the other three, are part of an overall 2011 prediction set that sees us a bit shell-shocked by the political and economic flux we're in, yet everything is tinged with optimism for the future.

Whisper recognizes that much of the world of the future will be "smoke and mirors," a mirage of soft colors and hand-tinted finishes. Surface textures come into play, but all is opaque and soft and the architecture and furniture in this story are part of interiors that blend effortlessly with the outdoors.

 

The five colors in Whisper (see color chips above, from top to bottom): Soft Lilac (DE5974), Polished Aqua (DE5724), Thick Fog (DE6058), Egyptian Sand (DE6207), and Drenched Rain (DE5883). Look for these colors in the Perfect Palette color system paints available from California Paints and Dunn Edwards.