Grab your sunglasses. Brights are back.
Mango and tangerine make bold statements next to strawberry or electric grape, and citrus shades of lemon and lime are electrifying side by side with cobalt blue and turquoise. In short, fruity hues are juicing up the home fashion scene, just as they’re adding sparkle to apparel.
And the trend isn’t restricted to walls, fabrics and furnishings. Sassy solids and perky patterns are coloring utilitarian objects such as toothbrushes, razors, scissors, tape dispensers, plastic storage containers, dinnerware and candlestick holders.
It’s about time, says color consultant Leatrice Eiseman, executive director of the Pantone Color Institute, which tracks color trends that tend to run in five-year cycles. Pantone Inc. is a leading developer and marketer of products for the communication of color.
“Through the early ’90s we had the environmental influence,” she says. “The palette was browns and beiges, muted greens — almost achromatic, no color. It was a sobering time, coming out of the conspicuous consumption of the ’80s. But you can go only so long without bright color.”
Eiseman believes brights appeal to the child in all of us.
“Kids reach for the brightest crayons or jelly beans,” she says. “In our heads, we’re all little kids.”
Beyond that, bright colors simply make us happy. Research has shnown they can affect our moods, stimulate our senses or soothe the soul.
The timing of the switch to brights — especially evident in spring and summer fashion and home catalogs such as Pottery Barn, Crate & Barrel, Spiegel and Chambers — makes perfect sense, too: Winter is over.
“The exuberance of brights is welcome,” Eiseman says. “Everybody is ready.”
Most people probably won’t embrace the bright palette throughout their homes and all at once. Perhaps because of the intensity of the colors and because people have become more pragmatic, abandoning the throw-away mentality of the ’80s, they’re not likely to toss out entire rooms just to update.
Instead, brights can be brought in as accents, and “not only as itsy-bitsy objects,” Eiseman says. Introducing a bright slipcover on a chair, ottoman or even sofa won’t break the bank, but the color will be explosive in a neutral setting.
Not a room in the house is off-limits for brightening: A lime cabinet or table can add instant zing to a kitchen; bold hues in a shower curtain can transform an antiseptic bathroom; vivid colors in a chair, sofa or drapes can make a living room more inviting. In the bedroom, a touch of coral, papaya or mango is like a ray of sunshine.
Used singly or together, explosive colors can add electricity to a space.
One might think bright colors would overshadow a room’s particular style. Not so. Brights are at home in ethnic-influenced interiors; country; French; contemporary and even traditional, formal rooms.
Last fall, Traditional Home featured a color-filled living area. The cover photo, in fact, showed a mix of Victorian, empire and Gothic revival seating upholstered in a raspberry and yellow plaid and a bureau painted lime green.
And in the May issue of Romantic Homes, interior design director Carol Schalla created rooms that sing a sunny symphony of color.
“These bright colors are invigorating,” Schalla says. “People are hungry for color.”
Even in romantic settings.
“Romantic style is not just about soft pastels,” Schalla says. “It’s being passionate, too.”
The intensity of the passion, though, is tempered by how much manufacturers believe the market will bear. Some are more comfortable with a softer version of lime, for example, one more mellow, near celadon.
Some contemporary furniture makers, such as Urbana, are known for their bold color choices and shapes. So their zingy yellow sofas with lozenge-shaped cushions are no surprise. But in High Point, N.C., the nation’s furniture capital, such offerings would make most manufacturers skittish. When it comes to upholstery, most agree: “No to neon, yes to fresh.”
One executive told Furniture Today, a trade publication: “The lady from Paducah doesn’t know this season’s colors — maybe she’ll wear it, but will she sit on it?”
If you’re drawn to the brights, the kitchen is a good starting point. Try the simple addition of place mats and napkins in bright plaids, resin flatware in solids, stripes or polka dots, and colorful place settings that mix patterns. Toss in flame-red cookware that goes from oven to table, or a saffron yellow teapot.
A splash of color in the bathroom is another possibility. A change of towels can add instant punch. Schalla painted a claw-foot tub a bold persimmon, leaving the feet white. Next, she painted the walls purple and taped out a diamond pattern, sponging in violet in every other diamond.
The whole wall was then washed with a lighter violet (three parts water and one part paint). As a final, decisive touch, she hung a plaid shower curtain, bringing in yellow, and added coral and purple towels.
When choosing colors, it’s easy to pull them into the rest of the room. On a chrome yellow dining room wall, accented with purple and curlicues of fire coral stencils, for example, a white table and chairs become a stage for color: Buttery yellow and honeydew dishes, coral candlesticks and a basket with flowers fill in the entire spectrum.
Fabric can be a springboard. Take the individual colors from a pattern and sprinkle them into different areas — a wall, a curtain, a vase, flowers, fresh fruit.
Another Schalla-designed room features fire coral walls with a yellow border, a nice match to a striped pillow. She took the lime (an algae green), created a faux picture frame and matched fabric to it for curtains. Simple accessories, like a wire basket filled with lemons and oranges, add punch.
A single object or grouping can be equally strong. Add a trio of ice green vessels to a wood commode and they quickly change a sedate, buttoned-up mood.
“Bright colors add personality,” Schalla says. “They create dimension on a wall. They uplift. We’re looking for a refuge to come home to, to eliminate stress.”
Just how much color zing you want to bring to your home is up to you.
“The brights are a wonderful decorating tool,” Schalla says. “I think they’ve created a freedom that allows people to be a little more adventuresome.”
Sources
* Crate & Barrel: For store locations or catalog, call 800-451-8217.
* Chambers: For a catalog, call 800-334-9790.
* Designers Guild, care of Osborne & Little, 90 Commerce Road, Stamford, Conn. 06902; 203-359-1500
* Laure Japy, Suite 249, 145 Palisade St., Dobbs Ferry, N.Y. 10522; 212-683-4936
* Martin Senour Paints, 101 Prospect Ave. N.W., 1500 Midland Building, Cleveland, Ohio 44115; 800-542-8468
* Spiegel, to request a catalog: P.O. Box 182563, Columbus, Ohio 43218; 800-345-4500
* Smallbone, through SieMatic Corp., 800-765-5266
* Urbana, 2900 Mead Ave., Santa Clara, Calif. 95051; 408-988-3464
Pub Date: 7/20/97
