Here’s what ICI had to say about their choice:

“In keeping with our overall theme of ‘Reclaim’, we are looking towards the qualities of truth, integrity, openness and hope. The Colour of the Year is an airy and optimistic blue that symbolises infinite horizons, new beginnings, renewed energy and a positive dynamic.

This clear, transparent shade encapsulates a sense of purity and goodness – a hopeful and chemical free colour full of possibility. It puts over an image of vast skies, breezy ozone freshness and the energy and essentiality of water. Given these associations plus the fact that it is a receding colour it will always create a sense of space.

Blue, in colour psychology terms, is the colour associated with sky and sea. Airy light blues are recognised as being refreshing, soothing and liberating. They are good in helping to combat mental strain and stress, physical tiredness and feelings of exhaustion whilst at the same time being re-energising and encouraging fresh starts. They are also thought to enhance powers of communication which can help to promote feelings of confidence.

A balance of the spiritual and the intellectual is represented by the allusion to air, sky and water – the freedom of the spirit married to the rationality of the mind; the vision of the artist to the knowledge of the scientist. Both in interior and exterior settings this blue has an important role to play. It complements perfectly the contemporary materials and modern neutrality of glass, steel and concrete, but also works with stronger and more traditional interior shades such as crimson, burgundy, plum, teal, pewter and gold.

This colour speaks of hope and clarity – a pure, clean and unpolluted direction for the future of our planet; a chance to reclaim possibility with renewed vigour and energy – the clear new horizon of tomorrow.”

As I was reading ICI’s forecast this weekend all I could think was how extremely inspiring in nature this color is and how this color brings the feeling of freedom, relaxation, calm, and openness into a space. It also got me thinking about some great rooms I’ve seen lately and some of my favorite designers. So as Kate and I sit here in Atlanta, GA (getting ready to teach our Color Certification Course tomorrow at ADAC) I felt it was only appropriate to share some rooms by one of my new favorite (Atlanta) designers Janie Kirsch who’s icy blue designs are truly icy hot!  Oh and on top of that I added a few extras from one of Americas most well-loved TV designers, Candice Olson, and some shots from the best home mags around. 

To download your copy of ICI’s 2010 color forecast go to  colourfutures.com

One of the “traditions” I’m most known for is that I will completely out-do myself with my holiday tabletop designs, at least that’s what I’m told. Family and friends expect to be surprised, because they know the table won’t look anything like it did the year before.  This is fun for many reasons, but my favorite is (no doubt) the requirement and responsibility that comes attached to this custom…purchasing new dinnerware! Oh, the overflowing excitement of planning the perfect place setting, like this one below. A Bountifully Beautiful Dining Space!

Traditional Harvest Holiday Table (yes, we also did a tree) designed and decorated by Holly Adler, seasonal decor product designer and myself (Kiki Titterud) for the Celebration, FL Holiday Home Tour 2007.

Although we love the classic look from above, this year I’m inviting you to start a new tabletop tradition. Isn’t it time to toss the quintessential turkey aside and bring in a new bird? How about saying no thanks to harvest gold, pumpkin spice orange, and olive green and putting a twist on fall colors with new combinations?

That said; I’ve created this recipe for setting this year’s hottest harvest table.

B + B + R  (Birds + Blue + Red)

Combine at least two of these three elements for something uniquely familiar.

Follow this fresh take on fall color combinations…

Then place them on your holiday table…

A special thanks to two fabulous ladies with loads of potential (who also helped pull some of these images) Laura Giles and Susanna Foster, Interior Architecture students at Auburn University in Auburn, AL. It was super fun spending yesterday with both of you for ASID’s National Real World Design Week Shadow a Designer Day. Watch out designers, we’ve got some rising stars here!

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I thought about what I was going to say, put together some great boards and worked with Cathy the fabric guru at Ainsworth and Noah to find fabrics that would capture the audience’s imagination but what unexpectedly inspired the design mavens that attended my talk was the color of the sweater set I was wearing.

Sure, its is a great color for me and I love blue-greens but who would have thought it would have evoked so many comments?  One of my friends from House Beautiful even asked me if I knew what paint color would be that blue since during my presentation he decided it was the perfect color for his bedroom.

Funny but I have been lusting after a room in deep blue too ever since I saw Windsor Smith’s kitchen on the cover of the September House Beautiful (okay, I confess I’ve been carrying the awesome special color issue that included my ‘What the Color Says’ around with me ever since it arrived) and I have thought about painting a room this color every time I put on the sweater set but I hadn’t gone as far as to see if the color existed in any of my favorite paint brands.

Since I’m not the only one loving this color I decided once I got home I would find out.  Now I was on a mission to see if it was a readily available color or one that was going to have to be custom blended.  I was speaking at Calico Corners in the evening so on the way I stopped at Vienna Paint, sweater in hand, to see if Benjamin Moore had a color that matched.

I pulled many color swatches but none of them matched the quality of the color exactly.    The closest was 2059-10 Marine Blue but it was a tad dark and lacked the hint of green the sweater has.  While all of the other paint color swatches were close they seemed either too dull, too green, too blue…you get the idea.

Actually the closest match I found in for Benjamin Moore was the color they used on their brochure of historical colors and although it looks close to the paint swatch in the picture it really wasn’t that close.  The brochure was a much better match but unfortunately, they couldn’t ‘read’ the brochure with the equipment they use to match colors.  They couldn’t ‘read’ the sweater either since it doesn’t work with fabric either but offered to mix it by eye.

The next day I was running into Lowes to pick something up and even though I didn’t have the sweater with me I decided to swing by the paint department and see if any of their colors looked like a match.  I immediately honed in on color 4011-5 Newport Gray (not a color I think anyone would describe as gray but that’s the name) and thought it looked like it might be right.  I grabbed a swatch and as soon as I saw it against the sweater (ding, ding, ding) I had a winner!  It was a great match.  Not too green, not too dull and not too dark.  Perfect!

It is so good that I could see the Valspar ad with my sweater color being ‘poured’ into the can of paint.

And as the ad says “Now the colors of life can last a lifetime” and this is one shade of blue that I think is worth keeping around that long.  What do you think?

]]> http://www.sensationalcolor.com/colorforyourhome/the-perfect-blue-at-house-beautiful-color-institute/feed/ 7 http://www.sensationalcolor.com/colorforyourhome/trend-tuesday-going-blue-green/ http://www.sensationalcolor.com/colorforyourhome/trend-tuesday-going-blue-green/#comments Tue, 18 Aug 2009 11:00:57 +0000 Kiki Titterud http://www.sensationalcolor.com/colorforyourhome/?p=1378 The statement Going “Green” has represented our efforts to build eco-awareness and to live a more self-sustaining lifestyle.  The color green dominates much of the natural world; grass, trees, and plants including food sources, which makes it an ideal backdrop in interior design.

And although “green” has been associated with the eco-friendly movement locally, a broader perspective is being expressed through blue globally. Picture looking down from space the majority of your view will be blue, right? Blue encompasses the beauty of the earth’s resources in water, sky, and minerals, bringing us a natural feeing of calm and relaxation.

Good for the mind, body, and spirit blue is perfect for our interiors.  So imagine the impact of these two colors merged into the tertiary hue of blue-green aka turquoise, teal, or aqua.

Nature is an amazing inspiration in all types of design. So when I think of blue-green the first thing that comes to my mind is tropical waters from around the world….

the second is Peacock feathers…..

and the third is Tiffany’s, of course! Ok, so Tiffany’s isn’t a part of nature (it’s just natural for us ladies to often dream of getting a new piece of the iconic jewelry), but it’s famous packaging is definitely influenced by it.

As a color trend forecaster I have the privilege of watching as the colors evolve from season to season and year to year. This evolution is key and is what separates a trend from a fad. The slow shift in color allows us to easily incorporate a trend into our décor without the fear of being “out-of-style” in just a few months. We’ve watched an interesting rotation around the color wheel over the past years.  Starting with lime green moving to grassy greens and into the pale blue-green aquas.  NOW were into the more vibrant, hip, and punchy Turquoise variations and the deep, subdued, sophisticated Teals.

Going forward blues will emerge as the dominant color family in home décor trends. Turquoise and Teal will continue to motivate design, as a full-range of blue-greens and blues offer numerous values from light to medium to dark. Here are some spaces successfully using blue-green creating schemes by pairing with other hues.

Monochromatic…simple and sophisticated using just one color family.

Analogous…combinations of these three to six colors. Cool, refreshing, and creative.

Complementary…a favorite combination of mine and one to be on the lookout for as we move into fall. This combo will help keep the freshness and warmth of summer alive into the cold months.

Split Complementary…adding another color. Let’s make it three!

Going all out with color…the full 6 color tertiary color scheme. Beware, attempt at your own risk. This one can get complicated, but the rewards are quite beautiful.

We have a combined kitchen and family room. The couches are medium blue with a floral print and the window coverings are yellow. The kitchen has cherry and white accents. The furniture in the family room is cherry.  Currently the wall color is a medium sage green.  Katherine

Kate suggests:

To update without many changes to your furniture and accessories a new wall color is always a great option.

I think your existing scheme sounds lovely and your color combination made me immediately think of the sun-drenched colors of Provence.  There are the colors often associated with French Country style.  Even if this isn’t the style in your home the colors still bring to mind that same warm and comfortable feeling.

Shown above is a print from Pierre Deux that shows color similar to the ones you describe in your own scheme.  Depending on where and how you use the colors the scheme can be sophisticated, traditional or lively.

Another picture from Pierre Deux shows a more sophisticated yet comfortable look with blue print sofa.  Depending on your style I like the idea of replacing the sage green walls with a combination of beautiful neutrals.  The three colors on the bottom would be a place to begin thinking about going with a neutral or combination of neutrals.  Keep in mind that every home’s style and lightening is different it will be important for you to sample and study the colors in the room to make sure they are pleasing to you.

The blue is to show a color close to that in your coach, along with colors from Sherwin-Williams Pennywise SW6681, Gleeful 6709, Brentwood SW8146, Shore SW8115, Antique White SW6119

Shown above is a green that I think is probably a bit brighter and clear than the current green.  Just updating the green to a fresher version of the color is another option that could work to give you a whole new feeling.  As could going with yellow on the walls and not just the window treatments.

This is a Sherwin-Williams ad showing a brighter green with blue and yellow. In this case the blue and yellow they have chosen make it perfect for a nursery but with deeper blue, yellow and red a green that is a bit more vibrant and less grayed than sage green could work in your Family Room and adjoining kitchen.

Here’s a picture of the room now followed by my advice.

Red is a wonderful color but I agree it could be a bit overwhelming if you don’t chose just the right color.  If you really want to go with red I would choose a color that is more of an earthy red such as EB 38-1 Cabin Red.  This color is part of the Eddie Bauer collection from Valspar and is available at Lowes.

Here is a picture I grabbed off the Valspar website to show you how this color looks.  As you can see it is not a bright, stop sign red but rather a red that looks like it has aged or weathered.

Still red covering the large wall space you have could seem a bit too much even it you like the color.  As an alternate I would suggest a natural soft green for the walls and then you could bring the red in as accents and accessories.

Here’s an example from the Martha Stewart collection. This collection is also made by Valspar and is available at Lowes.  I like MS266 Anjou Pear and as you can see in this picture it works very nicely with the red cushions, black trim and dark brown table.

This close up shows the colors in the fabrics a bit better.  The print may not be as contemporary as you might like but you could bring other accent colors in accessories that suit your style.  I just wanted to get you thinking about color options.

Another wall color that would work beautifully with the brown and red is MS285 Fountain.  This works well with dark brown and would make a nice background for red.

I’ll look forward to seeing a picture of your completed project.

I recommend the following paint colors from Sherwin-Williams.

Living Space:
Bagel SW 6114
Samovar Silver SW6233

Kitchen:
Heart of Palm SW 6415
Viva Gold SW6367

You can hear why I suggested these paint colors here:

I recommend looking at the following Benjamin Moore paint colors:

• Audubon Russett HC-51
• Copper Mountain AC-12
• Silver Pine AC-21

Listen to why these are the colors to set off this antique blue cabinet:

Here are some photos from Domino.com in the blue and orange combination.

These use blue on the walls but Kim over at Desire to Inspire put together a collection of rooms with orange walls so if you would prefer the orange on the walls check out the pics.

If you don’t want to go with this scheme in a room how about on your tabletop? “Autumnal colors just pop against a blue and white tablecloth,” says Carolyne Roehm in House Beautiful magazine.

Or how about the Etch bedding from Crate and Barrel?  It would look great against blue walls or with some blue accessories.

While blue has long been a favorite in the home orange has more recenlty come into its own and looks great in an entire range of colors from bright and bold to muted and earthy.  All of the many hues of orange look great when paired with blue.

Holiday decor expert Kiki Titterud gave us the latest color trends for Thanksgiving and Harvest.

I posted the streaming video of this live trends talk and you can access it simply by clicking here– Happy Harvest Holiday Decor Trends.

Here’s sneak peak as the color trends she highlighted.

I’d love it if you’d snap a few pics of your own tabletop decor and share them with us.