Color of the Year: Did Pantone Get It RIght?

Hi friends! Over the better part of the last decade I have found a tremendous amount of enjoyment from home decorating and styling. I desire to further my knowledge and soak in as much as I can both from a creative standpoint as well as the business. A large part of this business is understanding the ebb and flow of trends. Trends have always fascinated me even well before I stepped into the interior decorating world. How does an idea take off and become trendy? Who gets the ball rolling? Is it every day people or the rich and famous?

Then you have trend predictions which further add to my curiosity. One of the first trend predictions I started following a number of years ago was the Pantone color of the year. Didn't know there was such a thing? Here, take a look at some of their recent selections:

How do they pick the color year after year? I understand it from a marketing standpoint. With every declaration of which color will be leading the way that year you see the ripple effect right down to the most accessible and popular shopping destinations, such as Target, HomeGoods, Pottery Barn, etc. And then the celebrity designers partnering with those stores, (think Emily Henderson and Target), start styling their projects with the newest goodies available, showing everyone just how to incorporate the declared color of the year in a tasteful, manageable way.

This year the color turned out to be a twofer! They picked not just one, but two colors for 2016: Rose Quartz and Serenity. Here, they created this image of a faceless woman wearing a flowing cape to make the announcement:

Since this is an honest place I'll admit, I wasn't terribly excited by this combo. It brought me back to the days of when we had new boy-girl twins under our roof and everything was baby pink and baby blue. And really, other than a blush crocheted throw pillow at target I've barely noticed these colors make any strong statement this year.

Then something strange happened. I started noticing a different color breaking through the color-of-the-year combo - dark green!

If you're a big Fixer Upper fan you may recognize the photo above and the one below. They're just two examples from Joanna Gaines' strong use of dark green in their latest season which finished earlier this year. I noticed this color in just about every episode and I absolutely adored it.

And with the Fixer Upper cult following, I wondered if anyone else noticed as well. So I picked up a can of dark green, (Behr's 'Secluded Woods'), to refinish a mid-century dresser last Spring and it got scooped up within days. I had so many inquiries on that piece that once it sold, I had an immediate request for a nearly identical custom piece, (below on left).

I took the Summer mostly off from refinishing to focus on my family and some design jobs, but as soon as the kids went back to school last week I painted this beauty below in Ralph Lauren's 'Scholar Green', and it was taken within two days.

 
 

Is there a new color trending? Will it carry over to 2017? I sure hope so as we've got a little surprise to show you in a design job we're working on right now! But until we're ready to reveal, here are some more stunning examples of this moody color casually staking its claim:

Thank you all for stopping by!

A Sweet Buffet with Boho Edge

Well how about that snow, Northeast peeps?! God is just a magnificent Creator, isn't He. The kids will probably be out of school until March so if you've got any favorite indoor activities to share, send them forward! :)

Right before the holidays this past Fall I came home with a piece that wasn't really my particular cup of tea. And it definitely wasn't what I was looking for. What I really had a hankering for was to refinish a credenza or a china cabinet, like this, or this. But everyone's got an Achilles heel of some sort and mine happens to be long and low pieces that are less than $100. These days that's a hard find to come by. But my budget is important and something I do my best not to bend too much because my intention is to produce beautiful, affordable furniture for those looking to fill their homes on a slim budget. With prices on used pieces rising significantly, I've realized I need to bend my expectations of what I'll find in my price range, rather than my price range. And if I'm going to take on pieces that aren't my style wheel house, well then I just need to work extra hard to bring them up to speed!

What really bothered me about this piece originally was this decorative ivy. I mean, why?? I just didn't understand why it was there or how it added anything to this piece that already seemed to have a lot going on, (fancy legs, chunky hardware, freckled wood). My first step was going to be sanding it down and getting the surface smooth and ready for paint. But then something strange happened.

Not only did I not even try to hide the ivy, I went to painstaking measures to carve it out during 3 sittings in freezing cold temperatures in my garage shop! Maybe it was brain freeze, but I suddenly wanted to see the ivy carved through white paint, accented with aged brass hardware.

I think it was the desire for a challenge that lead me to maintain the original look of this piece but in a really cool bohemian chic way. And I knew that to pull this plan off it would come down to the styling. Because a white piece of furniture with carved ivy and brass pulls is still just a white piece of furniture with carved ivy and brass pulls. Are you with me?

I styled the sweet thing two different ways; one more clean and edited, and one care free and over the top. Here's a looksie!

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I used my favorite earthy palette of rich browns and rust tones to bring out the sophistication of the piece. The hardware was a critical choice and I went through three different options before deciding on this set. I wanted the aged brass to stand out and the rich colors styled with the piece here do that well, I think.

A chunky woven tray from Target containing clay potted plants and wooden candle sticks still speaks that laid back boho language, but with subtle formality. Like with a British accent.

I didn't over-distress this piece as I've been doing more recently, but rather focused on the edges and corners to highlight the unique details and shape of the piece. Still, I love a well worn surface so I took a little extra off the top just for fun. I really should read Jane Eyre. I use it for styling enough.

Since pieces like this are sought out for their versatility I didn't do anything to alter the interior! The storage makes this a fantastic piece to be used as a dresser or dining room buffet, while the center compartments also add the option to place shelves where the drawers are and use the piece as a media center!

The second way I styled this piece was really for me. Hah! If I ever have a dining room buffet, whether in our current house or a future one, I'd use it just like this: An in-home greenhouse.

Man, watering would be SO much easier if I kept all these guys together regularly!

The carved ivy just fits right in with the real ivy cascading out of the drawer. :)

This piece was a really wonderful learning experience for me in taking something I wouldn't normally refinish and putting my style into it. It's a more feminine and sweet piece than I'm normally into, but feminine with a dash of daring is just smashing.

I absolutely adore this ivy. Who would ever consider covering it up?? ;)

Piece now available
$425
73.5"L x 30.5"H x 18"D
chelsea@stylemutthome.com

Thank you all so much for coming by!

Notice anything different?

StyleMutt Home has had a makeover!

Ain't our new Home page perty! We wanted to redirect the focus of StyleMutt Home from blog to business. When we first began this adventure we thought we wanted to put our time and energy into the blog and establishing it as another source of income in addition to design jobs and refinishing furniture. But the more we were clued in to what that entails, the more we discovered it wasn't a good fit for us. We want to spend more time working away from the computer, not in front of it. We will still maintain the blog as a page on our site because, well, we're women. We'll never run out of things to talk about. :) Plus, we genuinely enjoy writing and connecting to you guys in that way!

We hope you'll enjoy looking around our new and improved space! If you have any questions about this change feel free to contact us at admin@stylemutthome.com!

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