This Year's Favorite Colors

2012 THE YEAR OF COLOR!

PAINT COLORS WE LOVE.

THE MOST POPULAR COLORS

By Ken Rader
Ken Rader Interiors L.L.C.
Your FIRST CHOICE PROFESSIONAL PAINTERS
Painting Fayetteville and Northwest Arkansas beautiful !
Each year we change our minds when it comes to color.  We like to think that we are happy with what we have at present but that usually does not hold true. We love change and while all colors have been around for 1000’s of years we are always seeing a different shade or hue that is new to us and we fall in love with it.
This year's popular home interior wall colors include a few carry-overs from 2011, but there are also some new, emerging trends worth understanding. A new collection of popular neutrals includes off-white, beige, sage green, teal-blue, yellow and smoky gray. Adding tans, browns, grays and purple to teal-blue softens and controls its power. Choosing red, blue, peach, black, green or coral to pair with yellow can create an energized space. Be careful of your shade of yellow, however, because natural and artificial lighting can change its warmth or coolness significantly. Lemony yellow is more associated with anxiety and should probably be left as an accent. Dark gray is the most popular neutral for 2012. It grounds a room and allows you the freedom to add vibrant pops of colors such as intense reds, yellows, purples, blues or black.
Once you have your neutral choice, it's time to jazz it up consider what to add to it.  For a compatible combination, match warm neutrals with warm-toned accents and cool-toned neutrals with cool-toned accents. On the other hand, 2012 is all about unexpected combinations. While bright, bold shades seem to be declining somewhat, intense colors and contrasts definitely have a place in today's home design. The following combinations pack a lot of punch: cherry-red with blacks, blues, whites and grays; juicy, tangerine-orange with dark reds, browns and blacks; and deep blue-purple with yellows, blacks, whites and reds.
 Interior wall color combinations can bring new life to the important rooms in your home:
Here are some suggestions for different rooms in the house.

• Kitchen - Increase the energy and warmth with tangerine as either an accent for gray or as its own main color. Bright blue and white is a clean, fresh combination. How about yellow-green supported with earthy neutrals? Charcoal gray and white together are modernistic. Dark wheat, browns and white are sophisticated and versatile.

• Bathroom - This year's color trends support calm, relaxing and natural spaces. Cool gray-blues or warmer purple-blues look elegant but unpretentious. Smoky grays are also subdued. Pale greens and browns continue the nature theme and work well for bathrooms with plants and flowers.  Beige has made a big comeback though it is not the same beige as earlier years.

• Living room - A new trend is to return to the glamorous elegance of the Hollywood styles of the '30s and '40s. For a more playful approach, mix in some unexpected, vivid colors. Bright yellow-green and dark brown neutrals are earthy and comforting. A gentle mix of apple green and fuchsia is uplifting and optimistic. Dark grays with rich purples are dramatic and interesting.  This is tricky.  If you watch movies from the 30’s and 40’s they are in black and white.  So you have to imagine the clothes, hats, rooms and décor in color.  What you are looking for is a style that says “Glamorous”.

• Bedroom - Monochrome color palettes continue to be popular in this romantic room. Dulled gold, mustard-yellow and sunflower mix with browns to form rich combinations. Greens and browns pull earthiness and nature into the room. Bright blue and sparkling white are modern and refreshing.  Such terms as Earthy, Farmhouse, Natural, Country and Country Chic should get you thinking in the right direction.

It is important when choosing your interior wall colors don't neglect your own personal preferences' the colors that make you feel comfortable and satisfied. Your choices may lead you to a soft, earthy, natural environment; an intense, brightly energized space; an ambiance of quiet sophistication; or a fun place for quirky playfulness. Use your favorites as accents, or splash them everywhere. Feel free to express your personality in your choices. After all, this is your space, so color it to your tastes.  2012 is well on its way and almost over.  It has proven to be a year of change in the world of color.  While we can make small additions and changes in our color scheme in the home the trend is to make big changes.  This calls for painting several rooms.  Painting one room will usually lead to painting others to make the style complete and make all of your living space fresh and new.
Go to your favorite paint department and see what is popular.  The colors really have changed as the year has progressed. Look at your favorite magazines or notice what is being used by the decorators on makeover TV shows.  Our taste in color is changing all the time whether we are aware of it or not.  You will enjoy and be happy with the popular colors of the day for quite a while.  So don’t be afraid to paint the room or rooms.  Change is important and can give us a brighter outlook which is a good thing.
As Always “Happy Painting and Decorating”
Ken Rader
Ken Rader Interiors L.L.C.
Professional Painters serving Fayetteville and Northwest Arkansas with the finest the painting trade offers.