Category: All About Colour

So.. whats up with grey?

9/25/2019

Benjamin Moore Revere Pewter HC 172

I mean, who doesn't have this colour somewhere in their house? Revere Pewter popularity is rivalled only by the 90’s trend of taupe. Why do we love it so much? It is a soft grey-but not quite white. It is the embodiment of ‘greige’ with a warmer feel than what we commonly think of as grey. The slight green in it makes it more palatable than a blue/grey. It looks great with white and again, because of its green undertone is friends with so many other colours.

I'm more of an 'Agreeable Grey' or Edgecomb Grey' person myself...

The search for the perfect grey began in 2016.

Whites were a hot topic then too. We chose BM Cloud white as our ‘perfect white’ years before. Then we needed a wall colour to partner with it. As with Cloud White, we searched for something not too cool. We live in the northern hemisphere so we wanted something clean but slightly muddy to keep it from being too chilly. Revere Pewter fit the criteria.
So we cleared our clutter and simplified our palette with grey and white. Our decor became more sophisticated. Country went upscale, traditional became more contemporary. The real estate market went wild with it. Suddenly, you can only sell your house if it is grey and completely devoid of personality and even furniture. I believe it is this trend that has started to cool our love of grey. When the pendulum swings that far, it will have an equal and opposite swing…

As we explore this grey colour trend, which I have embraced a little myself, we have to realize we lost our joie de vevre to a large degree. (Sophisticated minimalism needs very strict rules in order for it to work.) So instead of using grey to flatten everything, think of using it to compliment. Its not that we are using grey, that is the problem, but rather how we are using it.. You can and should use warm or intense contrasts with grey to give your room/home dimension and interest.

But not to fear, the design world is here to help you step it up a notch. Are you ready for it? We all know that as much as we have loved the grey trend, it is time to make some adjustments. Remember the taupe trend we loved and now never talk about?

Don’t worry though, the next movement doesn’t necessarily involve getting rid of grey and white but simply giving it some life.

"We should think of our colours as transitioning rather than trending."

Where do Colour Trends come from?

9/23/2019

In a word.... everywhere.

Colour comes from our favourite movies, fashion, street trends and last but not least…Colour Forecasters. Probably the most well known is Pantone. But the interesting part about colour trends is the masses don’t necessarily fall in love with the predictions. At the very least, we as conservative Canadian, are wary about embracing new and possibly wild colours. Maybe that is why the grey appealed to us so much- even though when it first came on the scene predictors were saying we would not use it because of our climate. So much for that!
If you have ever painted anything artistic you begin to have a new appreciations for the nuances of colour and how they interact with each other. I’ve taken workshops with Leatrice Eiseman (executive director at the Pantone Color Institute) and it has expanded my understanding of colour incredibly, even beyond what I knew as an artist.

I get excited about new trends - they can build on ones that have already been accepted. This can take us to a new level of interest in our surroundings. As a decorator I have to be open to all of it-to be able to if not embrace it, to at least know how to interpret it.

Some motives behind trend following:

Guidance: may apply to people who don't pay much attention to their personal style and therefore don't know what suits them. They want an instant solution in the era of instant everything because they're either not interested in decor (but they feel the need to stay current) or they don't have time to think about it. "If it's trendy, surely it'll look good in my house." This is often not true and ends up leaving our homes in discord with itself.
Smoke and mirrors: Sometimes we just want to impress others. Some believe they can prove to others that they are the same as their “decor idols". The world can be a fake-it-till-you-make-it place and that is not always a bad thing when taken lightly and perhaps a little tongue-in-cheek.
Fitting in: When we were kids there was exactly one right pair of jeans & the music everyone listened to. High school is so freaking traumatic that we often fall in to that trap with our homes and lives as adults.
Playing with trends: Creative types can embrace a trend just because it's there. If you are savvy and it doesn't work for you, you just let it go. Sometimes we have to understand that new isn’t always better. But change can be exciting or terrifying depending on who you are.

Colour -Art or Science?

9/19/2019

The answer to that question is of course, both.

Choosing colours is very fluid.
It’s also collaborative. The process is part science, part art. It is influenced by its environment and its colour partners. It not only sets the tone for a space but transforms it. It is an immersive process to truly understand colour, the trends and the nuances of paint. Once all the directives are clear we work to summarize the space with a colour that accurately conveys a message. The message is whatever that room requires to bring out its true character, or to set a backdrop for all the other elements to come together harmoniously.

As with many things in life, nothing ever stays the same. I usually say when someone has lived with a colour for 7 years, they have lived with it at least 2 years too long. For some it is less. Why? We are ever evolving beings. We don’t stay the same, there is no reason to expect that the space we live in would stay the same.

As we navigate our way through this life we search for connection, simplification, stability and novelty. Some of us embrace change more easily than others, while some just crave harmony and consistency. No two people are alike and this is reflected in the space we live in.

Colour trends happen because of this philosophy of life. As we move through the different collective phases in our society, we influence the popular foods, fashion and environmental choices we make. In the past years we've moved away from cute and naive to more sophisticated desires. Our homes followed us. Clean lines, simple colour palettes and decluttering have helped us cope with the overwhelming amount of daily outside impact. With all the unrest in the world we seek out stability and classic foundations satisfy that craving. This might explain the popularity of grey.

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I think everything around us is eye candy. Right down to the mundane everyday things I see as I go about my daily life. Come here to see what I see and to read about life hacks, local musings and practical decorating musings. My hope as you follow this blog will be that you enjoy the humour and delight in the smallest of things right along side me.

So.. whats up with grey?

Where do Colour Trends come from?

Colour -Art or Science?

The answer to that question is of course, both.

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