2011 Color Trends

Front Door Entrance

The Farm, Order, Escape & Tribe

According to the Benjamin Moore design team, those are the guides for this year's color selection: FARM, ORDER, ESCAPE & TRIBE.

Could be any more cryptic? Here's their associated word / color associations.

FARM: earthy colors, including those associated with harvesting vegetables and other produce. Look for earthy browns, buttery yellows, milky whites, tomato reds, and pumpkin orange.

ORDER: creating a sense of balance by; infusing the basic complimentary colors red, blues yellows and greens with contrasting monochromatic variations of black and white and shades of gray. This is combined with basic geometric shapes for a pattern.

ESCAPE: remove yourself from reality by including some dream-like creations using sheer draped fabrics, with metallic finishes. Frost and opalescent colors will help remove our troubled souls from the cacophony of daily living.

TRIBE: return to our diverse ethnic backgrounds by looking at berry, orange combined with bronzes and charcoals. Patterns will be a big part.

Color can be one of the biggest selling points for your home. Keeping up with recognized color trends is a good idea to keep your house from looking dated. Remember avocado appliances and orange shag rugs? Those were all the rage a few decades ago, but having a dated color palette like that could cost you thousands in selling your house.

Earthtones are back

Mixing the earth tones and the global tones will actually be quite complimentary to one another. Earth tones are often more neutral in color and global tones tend to be vibrant and bold. For example, expect to see browns, greens and other neutrals in combination with pinks, blues and yellows or purples.

Yellows and Greens

Both yellow and green will be great colors to work with if you're planning a remodel in 2011. Yellow brings a vibrancy like no other while green is calming and soothing. Combined they can make quite a statement. Be careful not to overstimulate the yellow. Use yellow in a kitchen, it can stimulate and motivate and even aid in digestion. Meanwhile, using green in a bedroom can create a calming, earthy escape.

Kitchens

Kitchens should have a comfortable feel, that is warm. Avoid the cooler paint tones, especially if you have stainless steel appliances. Even gray paint can be selected in a warmer shade. Lighter colors will help expand the openness of the kitchen to make it feel even larger.

Yellows in the vibrant yellow-orange are being mixed with a pale neutral yellow to add some pop to the most important room in the house.