Robin Daly’s Color Trends 2013

I took a walk today around the mall. And I was going down…hit Nordstrom, hit Ann Taylor…guess what? The Color of the Year that we’re going to be talking about in just a minute is already in the window display. It’s here.

So, is there a color conspiracy? I don’t think so, but I do think we do respond to colors. So, I went to Shearer Painting, to their studio, and he had some gifts for us, and they were wrapped in these blue bags. The same I came to work wearing this blue shirt…my associate from Daly’s came to work wearing the same color blue. We didn’t plan it. I didn’t call him up and go, “Oh, what are you gonna wear today, huh?” So, just – trends happen and change over time.

So, PANTONE, who is one of the premiere color organizations in the world, just announced their 2013 Color of the Year, and it’s called, “Emerald.”

How would you use a color like this in your home?

Can I tell you something? My first reaction to it was, “Bleh.” I don’t know about you guys, if that’s what you’re thinking, too.

So, what did I do? Well, hopefully, what I do, is what you’re going to start doing, which is hit the Internet. And two really great sites are Pinterest and Houzz.

Pinterest is a pinning site. So, when you’re cruising around the internet, you see cool things, you can pin it to a bulletin board. You can also work within the Pinterest site, and see what your friends have pinned, and all of a sudden, things start escalating, and you’re going to see trends. You’re going to see ideas that really resonate with you.

Houzz is another one where professional interior designers will put pictures of rooms that they’ve worked on. You can email a designer and say, “What was that color on the wall?” or, “What was that lamp you used in that picture?” And, if you’re really lucky, they actually answer you.

I went on Pinterest and Houzz to look at what people’s responses were to the 2013 Color of the Year. And one thing I noticed…here’s the Color of the Year. But people’s interpretations of it are much more yellow. So, when we were looking at that Color of the Year, it’s kind of a blue with white mixed into it, but we are responding as designers. We like the idea of Emerald, but I don’t think it’s as dreamy as what they are showing in some of the graphics.

So, here’s that Color of the Year…and then here’s people’s interpretations of it. So, you can bring a trend into your home, with smaller things quite easily whether they’re throw pillows or pots with a beautiful glaze on it, anything like that, because they’re easy to change when you get tired of it, out it goes, incomes the next color of the year.

But notice how these green pots really make that yellow pop. If we didn’t have that, it would be a little bit more boring. So, you can use color to create dynamic vistas.

You can use an accent where you know, in this room here, you see a little bit of green all the way to painting your walls that entire color.

Now, I don’t know if you can see this from here, but this is a super high glossy paint on that wall. It’s Fine Paints of Europe. It’s a 20% higher gloss than normal glossy paint. So, you can bling out your space.

And, we live in the Emerald City. That’s not bad.

So, I’ve been staring and staring at these images, pulling a presentation together for you today, and I was driving home one night, and I realized, that color is all over the place! So, green means, “go.” And I think, as a society, we’re ready to just get moving on with business…right? We have felt stuck lately, whether it’s in politics or the economy, so I think that charging forward is one of the things that I’m taking away from this Color of the Year.

There’s more!

Every paint company seems to issue color trends. So, this year, Benjamin Moore came out with “Lemon Sorbet”…Sherwin Williams had “Aloe”…Behr had a number of different color trending stories…my friends at Pratt & Lambert also came out with color trending stories.

This last summer, there was this little book, called “Fifty Shades of Gray,” don’t know if you’ve heard of it. Well, we responded to the environment and society around us, and we came out with the “Shades of Gray” card. But I think this one you can take outside the bedroom.

So, what do I think of trends? I mean, really? If a trend is coming up every year, and it’s changing every year, in my world, at Daly’s Paint & Decorating, trends have a little bit longer life. So, last year, I was here, talking to you about Tangerine Tango. I still love that color – it goes with everything. And it sparks things up. It’s not gone, just because you come up with a new trend. And I think about trends, and they have a longer life, but in the end, it’s about you. It’s about what you’re going to do in your home. So, it’s good information to take in, but how do you interpret it?

I write a design column for this magazine called, “425.” It’s a glossy home magazine focused primarily on the Eastside. And in this current issue, I came out with with my own color trends. So, I thought I’d share them with you. I thought, I can do it, too!

So, here’s what I think: this is one of our color trends, and I call it, “White Out.” I think we are ready to just lighten up already. And white is pure, it’s clean, it’s timeless.

Then, that color, formerly known as “teal.”

If you were here earlier, and you were listening to Tammy talk, you know that she said she was a child of the ‘80s. And, in the ‘80s, teal – that whole Miami Vice thing – was really strong. So, we’ve brought it

down. It’s deeper, it’s more contemplative. Maybe we should call it “peacock,” or some other kind of richer, more resonant color. But it is here. It’s unique! It’s soothing, and it’s timeless.

And then – oh my God, pastels! Soft peach is back! And shell pink. And pale, pale green. All these colors. You can give it a real retro flair, like having pink appliances in the kitchen. You can give it a soothing, very neutralized, sophisticated feeling. But I think we’re going to see this around for a long time. It’s all part of this lightening-up thing.

In the paint store, we do a lot of work creating custom wood colors for people, like, if you’re refinishing your floor, re-doing the cabinets or having something new built, people bring us samples. We brush out all kinds of stain colors. We custom-make stain colors all the time, and for the last 6 – 9 months, we’ve been seeing a lot of that.

Tammy also mentioned that at Sound Kitchen & Bath, they’re doing a lot of oak. And I had to nod my head. Yep, oak is back. But, it’s not…you know, when a trend comes back, it’s never like it was the first time. It’s always interpreted with what we’re dealing with today.

So, if you’ve got a set of oak cabinets, maybe we can help you to embrace it a little bit. Get some things out of the landfill, or maybe it’s time to blow them up, I don’t know. But lighter woods – you know, a few years ago, everybody was buying dark mahogany everything. Dark, dark, dark, dark, dark, dark, dark. It’s heavy, right? So, now, we’re just ready to move on from that.

The last trend that I wanna talk about is “true blue.” We have been just – these are colors that we have been working with at a client’s family home. They’re actually doing their exterior in blue. And we don’t – we haven’t, in the past, seen a lot of blue houses. But I think that we’re going to. It’s a very stabled, anchored, safe…not only that, it goes with everything. It’s like denim, right? Jeans go with everything. But it gives us a sense of comfort, and it’s a universal color. Everybody likes blue. I think it’s because it’s in our water, and it’s in our sky. It’s surrounding us in the atmosphere. So, blue is my last color trend.

But in the end, color trends don’t matter. What matters is what works for you and for your home. Here we are, looking at a door. The first color sample that you can see right here, the red was too pink. This next color sample, this red was too orange. Here we are, we’re holding up one that’s the perfect in-between. You know, if you were going for a trend, and you were like, “Oh, I need it to be orange” – what if that wasn’t right for your space? So, in the end, the idea is to do something that feels good for you.

Now, if you need inspiration, we can help. I have designers that, you know, they take it very seriously, what they do. They fight all the time over colors. But they will come and do a house call, do a walk-through with you, help you find the perfect color…if you’ve got pink beige carpet, and a yellow beige sofa, and you’re stuck with these two fighting colors, sometimes we can find a solution in the paint color. You don’t have to spend thousands of dollars – it’s just paint. It can make a big change.

I also publish the Daly’s reference list. And it’s online. It’s also available through our stores. If you’re looking for people to come out and do paint work, or refinishing or doing your floors, there are people that we know on all fronts.

So, does anybody have any questions?

[Someone asks a question]

Robin: Ok, do you want paint stores to stay in business?

There is nothing.

So, if you chose all-white appliances, because you think it’s the most neutral, or you chose stainless steel…everything is a choice, right? Every one of those is a commitment. There’s no way to be non-committal. I don’t know if that makes sense or not. But a lot of times that you have carpeting that thick, that’s a large amount of coloring that dictates everything going up. So, paint is one of the last things that you’re gonna choose. Because everything else is so much more expensive, and it’s gonna stay there along time.

Right? So…any other questions?

Thank you very much. I appreciate it.