Deciphering the Top Color and Wall Trends of This Season
BY Amirah Zaveri
How to find the right fit for your home and lifestyle.
At the start of the year, Pantone named 'Greenery' the color of 2017— a yellow-green shade that evokes a feeling of the outdoors and connection back to nature. However, while the shade is supposed to be the go-to color of the year, the overall trend is still shifting towards neutral palettes and shades of white that brighten and freshen a space. To get greater insight, ESTATENVY spoke with two designers to get their recommendations on the top color and wall trends in season right now.
Heidi Ross is the owner of Showhomes Memphis. Every day, she uses her to eye stage and decorate homes on the market to up their selling potential. Ross says white or a similar neutral colors are very appealing to homebuyers since it appeals to the masses.
"White is just a very classic and elegant color. It takes a small space and transforms it to make it look so much larger and airier. If not white, a lot of people are also going towards a really soft taup—as long as it's not pink," said Ross.
When painting different areas of the house, Ross says to keep the same color continuous from connected spaces like the master bedroom to the master bathroom to help convey that the area is a suite rather than two separate rooms. And when it comes to choosing molding, make sure the color is always lighter than your walls—never darker.
Once the walls are painted and dry, it's time to decorate. Ross says the first line of attack should be to narrow in on the main focal point of the room—where your eyes goes first—and that's the space where the main piece of art should go. From black mirrors to landscape portraits, it can be confusing to know where to start if you're designing a room with several blank walls.
"We're seeing a lot of impression and abstract art. If I have a room with three walls, I would do a mirror on one wall, a canvas on another and a textured piece on the third. To many, it can seem a little risky to incorporate organic textures like sticks or fabrics into a space, but the addition creates a 3D element that really pops," says Ross.
Leslie Craigie has more than 25 years of experience as a designer and owns Eye 4 Color, an architectural color design firm, serving Chicago, Detroit and South Florida. Craigie says that various shades of blue with a grey undertone have also been very popular this year. The blue-grey-violet color, Mozart, is Sico's Color of the Year, has been a client favorite along with Moody Blue by Sherwin-Williams. Like Ross, Craigie agrees that white is gaining ground this year as a color that's adaptable throughout the entire home.
"I'm doing a lot more all-white rooms now than ever before. People love white cabinets, all-white bathrooms with white Carrara marble and tile. It's a much cleaner, more contemporary feel," says Craigie.
If you're diving into white, Craigie recommends Simply White, Vapor Trails or Mountain Peak White—all by Benjamin Moore—or Alabaster by Sherwin-Williams. To avoid going completely neutral throughout the whole house, it can be refreshing to add in a pop of color here and there. Craigie says bright colors like Tangerine or an elegant Emerald Green are some of her top picks for a classic accent wall.
Whether you're taking on the redesign of one room or an entire home, do your research beforehand or enlist experts like Ross and Craigie to create a space you or a future homeowner will enjoy for years to come.
Amirah Zaveri
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