Interior Trends for 2021: Part 1 - Colours
For part 1 of my blog posts on this year’s trends, I’m focussing on colours. While it’s much more important to choose things because you like them rather than because they’re on trend, it's good to have an idea of what we'll be seeing a lot of this year - plus you might spot something you really love! Unsurprisingly, the events of 2020 have had an impact on many of the paint companies’ colour choices this year.
Warm Neutrals
Dulux’s colour of the year is Brave Ground - a warm, earthy beige/brown. Dulux describes it as symbolising “stability, growth and potential”. As they do every year, they have provided four colour palette combinations to create different moods - Expressive, Trust, Timeless and Earth. As a lover of all things blue, my favourite is the Earth Colours.
I love how the cool blues and greens are balanced out by the warm tones of Brave Ground on the shutters (and this is a perfect example of how to avoid interior design mistake #1 - automatically painting the woodwork brilliant white!) The rattan chair adds texture and complements the natural colour tones perfectly. Dark colours work really well in a bedroom or living room if you use it mainly in the evenings. Add lots of texture for a cosy feel.
Little Greene has also embraced warmth this year with its new colour collection, ‘Stone’. It comprises of 36 beautiful shades, from warm neutrals to deeper warm tones, and includes 22 new colours.
Yellow and Grey
Because we’ve seen a definite move towards warmer neutrals recently, Pantone’s colour of the year, ‘Ultimate Gray’, came as a bit of a surprise. However, it is combined with ‘Illuminating’ - a bright and happy yellow. Pantone describe their choice as a combination that provides strength and hope - “practical and rock solid but at the same time warming and optimistic” - something we all need this year.
Yellow and grey is a classic mid-century colour combination, which Mini Moderns combine perfectly in many of their collections, including Dungeness, Festival and P.L.U.T.O. - pictured below.
To make a bold statement, try using these colours in wallpaper and picking them out in the accessories. The more yellow you use, the warmer and brighter the space will feel so if you want to tone it down, use more grey. I love how Mini Moderns have combined their Art Room wallpaper here with a painted floor in Farrow and Ball’s Manor House Gray. Pale wood tones complement the combination perfectly.
For a more subtle scheme, use grey on large pieces of furniture, such as sofas, and add hits of yellow in the accessories.
Sea Colours
With so many missed holidays in 2020, it’s no surprise that we want to welcome some soothing sea colours into our homes. Benjamin Moore describes their colour of the year, Aegean Teal, as “Intriguing, balanced, and deeply soothing” - I love it!
Teal is such a liveable colour - calming and relaxing without the coolness of some blues. Use on walls with a coordinating warm white on woodwork. For a more subtle scheme, keep walls neutral and add teal accents. Because they’re opposite each other on the colour wheel, teal and orange work brilliantly together.
Greens
As we’ve been stuck indoors for most of the last year, we’re increasingly using the colour of nature to bring the outside in. From cocooning dark shades to lighter variations, green is a naturally uplifting colour.
Brunswick Green features in Little Greene’s new stone collection and is a perfect colour to use in a utility/boot room, especially when combined with a terracotta floor.
If you’re a little nervous about being bold with colour, try going dark in small rooms which aren’t used as often, such as a cloakroom or a hallway.
So what do you think? Seen anything you love? Let me know in the comments! I also offer a colour consultation service (including a remote service) so if you need any help with choosing the perfect colours for your space, please get in touch!