Color Futures - Paint Trends 2008

Benjamin Moore says it best: "Color is donate my car lifeblood of design." Paint will give you the biggest bang for your dcor dollar. Color is the first element that the eye sees before shape or size or texture -- color is what makes the first impression.

The trends for 2008 are blues, magenta, lavender, earth tones, neutrals, black and white and metallic.
BLUE: I have heard that blue is the new green. I love denim blue coupled with paper bag tan. It's earthy, yet modern. Blues give your room an instant calming effect and when using more vibrant colors, blue can cool the overall feeling down.

MAGENTA: Magenta is for the daring! I will never forget the reaction of one of my clients when I painted an accent wall in her townhouse a magenta color.
I was inspired by a magazine ad that featured a box of dark Thunderball in a magenta -colored box. I tore out the ad and showed it Archie comics my client. She wanted a dramatic change, having gone through a recent divorce. I chose a rich chocolate brown for the small walls in the kitchen and a khaki tan for the remaining living room walls. I got a call when the painters were finished painting the magenta wall. My client was shrieking into the phone "This is not the right color!" I went over immediately thinking that perhaps there had been a mistake. But it was the right color. I asked my client to please wait until the room was completed.

Thankfully, I stuck to my vision and the client, in the end, could see how the magenta wall was critically important to the overall design of the townhouse. Once the area rug, extensive artwork collection and accessories were in, my client could see how everything tied together. And now five years later she still loves it and so do her friends!

LAVENDER: All trends start on the fashion runway. Lavender was in five years ago and has made a comeback. Lavender can be used as a neutral if you apply it to all of your surroundings, walls, fabrics, area rugs, etc. Mixing textures keeps it from feeling fussy.

EARTH TONES: 2008 Earth tones are not the earth tones of the70's. Tomato reds punctuate caramels, browns and deep curries.

NEW NEUTRALS: Neutrals are the easiest way to get a timeless look. You can also get more flexibility when you use neutrals. Parchment, chalk and slate lend the perfect background for all kinds of accent color combinations.

BLACK AND WHITE: Black and white rooms are best for big bold patterns. You can combine large and small patterns easily when your base colors are all in black and white.

METALLIC: They are back in hand bags and shoes and interior designers are Sandman comic metallic to wall color as well. For a little surprise, I like to use a metallic paint on a powder-room ceiling. You could also use a metallic paint on the dining room ceiling to reflect the dancing light of your chandelier!

I believe that people are drawn to the same colors that they like to wear. You want to look good IN your house! So take a look at your wardrobe, are there dominant colors that you could draw from?

It's all about how you use color that determines the success of your decor. What kind of natural light does your home have? Lighting changes the way your colors will look, from wall to wall and at different times of the day. Ask your paint dealer to give you the large designer samples (they may charge $1 per sample) of the color you would like to use. Tape (with blue painter's tape) several of those samples around a room. You then have the opportunity to see how the color changes from morning to night before you paint!

An easy way to get a sophisticated look is to choose one color and use several shades of that color. Paint the dining room walls in the darkest value of the color you have chosen to create a cozy feeling at night. Then paint the living/great room in the medium shade of the original color and paint the kitchen in the next shade up. Another trend is to paint the ceiling in the same color as the wall color for a seamless blend.

You don't have to be bold with your room colors. Using a hint of an accent color like magenta as an accessory can be the ingredient that makes your room pop! Color used in small doses can be easier for family members to digest.

Get the brushes out...happy painting!

Kimberlee Jaynes is Portland Oregon's Color Specialist

Kimberlee Jaynes placed as a finalist in the Residential Interiors category of the Benjamin Moore HUE awards. More than 150 entrants competed in this national contest.

Kimberlee Jaynes is among Portland Oregon's most talented designers. Her work is a combination of comfortable sophistication and confident simplicity. She is continually praised for achieving that delicate balance between serene and striking, while creating a unique environment that instantly feels just right. A Kimberlee Jaynes interior is where art meets function - a delightful blend of "Why didn't I think of that?" and "This is the way my home was meant to feel."

An associate member of Northwest Society of Interior Designers, Jaynes has practiced interior design for 17 years. She taught visual Merchandising & Display Design at Clark College in Vancouver and Portland Community College Sylvania Campus. She was a manager of Visual Merchandising for Nordstrom prior to embarking on her interior design career.

To see dramatic before and after photos using color visit href="kimberleejaynes.com">kimberleejaynes.com click portfolio.