Embrace All The Colors Of The Year

Embrace All The Colors Of The Year

By Carleton Varney- Special to the Palm Beach Daily News

We are several weeks into 2019, and that means design-related companies have made their predictions for the color of the year.

The paint company Benjamin Moore has selected a color titled Metropolitan as its of-the-moment tone. You might not know it from its name, but Metropolitan is a very stylish gray with cool undertones, a color I suspect that today’s millennials will be using to drench the walls of their condominiums and houses. Grays — in all sorts of tones — are certainly favorites in the decorating world these days.

Taking a different approach, Sherwin-Williams, another fine paint company, has chosen Cavern Clay, a soft russet tone, as its color of 2019. This tone has an adobe feel great look for Santa Fe and a color considered a neutral that can be a background color for other popular shades, perhaps oranges, pinks, aqua blues and mint greens.

The paint company Fine Paints of Europe, meanwhile, has chosen a color titled Cobalt Buzz, an exotic blue, as its favorite for 2019. This brilliant blue is one that I think will be popular with the decorators working in a retro style, along with those who prefer an Asian influence in their designs. Cobalt Buzz would be a great complement for golds, coppers, yellows and whites.

This year Pantone, a company known for leading color trends in décor and fashion, is promoting Living Coral to be the tone of 2019. The color — pastel in feeling — is what I call a neutral. It’s not pink, not white, not actually coral, but a tone that recalls the inside of a sea shell in its lighter versions. I like to use it as a background color that crosses style lines — great for modern, traditional or contemporary furnishings.

All of the 2019 colors of the year are favorites of mine, even if I’ve never found a color I do not like. I’ve put together a drawing room or living room decorative scheme that combines all four selections.

Let’s start by covering the walls of the living space with a wallpaper or paint featuring one of the lighter tones of Pantone’s Living Coral. The wood or plaster trim in the room should be painted white. For the floor covering, go for Cobalt Buzz from Fine Paints of Europe. You can either choose wall-to-wall carpeting or an area rug of exotic blues on a white ground.

For your window drapery and to upholster your lounge chairs, find a fabric with either a floral or geometric pattern that includes colors similar to Cobalt Buzz, Living Coral and Cavern Clay. Believe it or not, it won’t be as hard as it might seem. And for the fabric to cover your sofa, a tone similar to Benjamin Moore’s Metropolitan would be perfect, accented with throw cushions of the Cavern Clay, Cobalt Buzz and Living Coral. Choose one of the latter colors for ginger-jar base lamps and pick them up in your decorative accessories as well.

To complete the room, I’d place a beautiful throw of Living Coral as an accessory on the gray sofa. The blanket or throw will be comforting this season, even in South Florida, where room temperatures tend to be cool, thanks to year-round air conditioning.

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