Choosing an On-Trend Color Palette with Staying Power
The color that you surround yourself with is more important than you might first think. Color can lift the mood, calm anxieties, and generally set the tone. There are entire companies dedicated to color and understanding the impact it has in the everyday.
These color professionals act as barometers to society, who reflect current mood and needs through color. For instance, the last few years were tough. You might have craved comfort, stability, or happy energy. That’s why the popular colors in 2021 were warm, soft, and interesting. A similar phenomenon continues to occur into 2022. The color masters’ predictions help you bring what you need into your spaces.
So what colors are on trend this year? How can you use them in your color scheme and ensure that scheme will stay relevant for many years to come? Read on.
2022’s Colors
Pantone, the color matching giant, crowns a color of the year each year in December. 2022’s color is Very Peri, a periwinkle meant to reflect the inventiveness and confidence needed to face a post-pandemic world.
It is a “fusion of modern life . . . and the digital world” and how they play off each other. Leatrice Eiseman, the Executive Director of Pantone commented, “Very Peri brings a novel perspective and vision of the trusted and beloved blue color family.” And that’s just the sort of attitude needed to take on the pandemic-transformed world in 2022.
The leader in paint, Benjamin Moore, chose October Mist as their color of the year. This soft gray-green color embraces the warmth that has evolved out of people spending more time at home. The need for comfort, both emotionally and visually, increased as more worked, studied, and played from home full time.
Green has been an up-and-coming color over the last year so it comes as no surprise that classically natural green should rise to the top in 2022. Benjamin Moore wasn’t the only tastemaker to pick a green hue.
Sherwin-Williams presented Evergreen Fog—another gray-green—as their color of the year. Organic and familiar, this shade of green invites calm yet restorative energy into any space.
Blue is another favorite that seems to make an appearance each year. Valspar picked Mountain River—a rich, dusty blue—as a part of their color palette of the year. Blue is soothing and always trending.
You really can’t go wrong with any type of blue in 2022. Everything from baby blue to midnight blue is on trend. The warmer, muted blues are especially popular and can function as a neutral color or an accent color.
Your On-Trend Color Palette
With so many stunning colors to choose from, how do you know what will suit you and your spaces? How do you know what will have staying power instead of becoming a passing fad?
Selecting Your Color Scheme
Picking colors can be tricky and is often best done one of two ways: using a color wheel or taking inspiration from a favorite pattern. The color wheel helps you find coordinating colors that work well together. Include at least one neutral color, a secondary color, and a bolder accent color.
You can also look to prints, art, and patterns to find a color palette. If you have a favorite piece of art, use it to find your three-color palette. Your closet is a great place to find inspiration too. Look at rugs, throw pillows, and upholstery for ideas as well.
Always make room in your color palette for black. Black belongs in every palette. Whether you add a lot or a little, black is like punctuation at the end of a sentence that brings it all together.
Colors that Stay Relevant
If you’re concerned that a color you’ve picked might be a passing fad, (think avocado green and mustard from the 1960s) there are a few rules of thumb you can follow so you make the best choices.
Neutral colors will pretty much always have a home in design. They don’t generally date your space or relegate it to any particular style. Keep your neutrals light and airy to ensure they stay relevant.
Some colors that act as neutrals also tend to stay on-trend. Blue and green, especially if they have some gray in them, are colors that always look good and bring a good energy to a design.
A Word About Gray
Gray has been the most popular color in the color palette for nearly a decade. As a mix of white and black, it’s a true neutral that plays well with any and all colors. It holds its own in a pattern and looks nice splashed across vast surfaces like walls.
Any color with lots of gray in it is generally a winner. This is a great way to bring color into your design without taking too big a risk on a brighter or bolder color. For example, if you love purple but wouldn’t dream of painting a wall purple, try a dusty purple-gray. You’ll be amazed at how well it blends in while still offering some interesting color.
Colored Concrete
Trueform can help you achieve your color dreams with concrete tinted to match any Pantone or Benjamin Moore colors. Whether you want concrete countertops, a sink, table, or anything in between, Trueform offers the color selection you need to complete your palette.
Choose from standard colors in neutral gray and taupe shades. Or, go wild with a custom color to add a splash of interest.
With concrete, pigment is added to the mix and blended thoroughly. This results in color that goes all the way through the concrete rather than being visible just on the surface. Concrete does have some subtle, natural gradations, just like any other stone product. But it also offers the most flexibility out of any stone product when it comes to coloring.
Find out more about concrete and how it can be customized to suit your design.