Venturing into the Wilds of Color - An Adventurer's Guidebook

[Haleigh]

We've preparing our new color blends for next year, and studying the trends for both 2008 and 2009 created the perfect jumping-off point for another post on ways to use color - my favorite topic : )

The top colors for 2008 were, for the most part, not a huge surprise: Green was a major player, as were shades of blue (Iris Blue was Pantone's pick of the year) and earth tones. I've always referred to these three as "safe" colors. Water and earth tones seem to appeal to the widest segment of the population, whether you're referring to fashion or interior design. No matter what else happens in the design world, greens, blues and earth tones will always play a big part, because they are familiar, comforting colors.

The fun part of 2008 came in with "crewel colors" and (of course) Pantone's typically stunning color palettes that combined unusual colors along with the standards.

To illustrate ways to use bold and unexpected colors in the right ratios, I'm going to include both some blends that we created at MosaicTileSupplies.com and blends that were created with the MosaicMaximizer and added to the ColorMAX gallery this year.


Pantone's 2008 Color Trend Predictions were bold, energetic and beautiful. The question is this... Did any of you step outside of your comfort zone and make use of these fantastic color combinations? If not, then maybe it's time to venture into new territory. Let's see if some of the ideas submitted by Max and our customers can help you with the journey.

Fuchsia and other deep pink shades have always intrigued me, because they're incredibly bold, even in small amounts. Pantone made use of these colors in several of their palettes for 2008, to great effect. If you're ready to take the plunge, you might want to consider a color blend that we created this year that makes use of small amounts of fuchsia with copper-based earth tones and satin metallics, to create a palette that will work for even those of you who are completely "anti-pink".
Interior Identity: Glamorous

Another color that we've been playing with this year is the deep orange-red that was included in Pantone's Ethnic Chic palette. Combining that color with earth tones, and a splash of contrasting color turned out to be a lot of fun. For examples, see
Gala Blend

or Tapas Blend

These are just a few examples of ways that you can use a very bold color in small amounts and create a color palette that works for you without being overwhelming. If you have a color that you've always wanted to try out, but can't seem to find the right palette, I'd love to hear from you. Post the color, and let's see what palettes we can come up with together.