Even if the economy is dull and gloomy, designers and homeowners are creating rooms and home environments that are anything but as the trend for paint colors going into 2009 is bright and optimistic. Benjamin Moore’s color experts even chose a zesty citron yellow as a top interior décor color of the year for 2009. The painters at Hester Painting & Decorating concur. “We notice the presence of color. Rather than safe neutrals, homeowners are selecting colors that make them feel good,” said Jeff Hester, vice president of Hester Painting & Decorating in Skokie, Ill. “Yellows, pinks and lots of green.”
The key to working with bright hues, according to licensed interior designer and Benjamin Moore’s senior manager of color and design, Sonu Mathew, is to pair them with a deeper, grounded, sophisticated color. She suggests pairing an optimistic yellow with a steely gray, or a fuchsia pink with stone brown.
“It’s about color in context. You live in an environment. The pairing of colors is very different than one color alone,” said Mathew.
So is it possible to paint oneself into a better mood? Perhaps. “There are physiological and cultural attributes to colors. To paint yourself into a mood, you have to have the willingness to go there. Colors with more life, that are more vibrant, will elevate your mood,” said Mathew. Read more.