January is a great month for two related reasons: it’s a new start to a brand new year, and winter hibernation helps you focus on what you want to change.
For those beach lovers among us, nature offers inspiration to bring the outdoors in, to surround ourselves with the colors, textures, scents of the things we love. Sure, there are style and color guides for everything from paper to linens to paint to apparel. But where to start?
If you’re craving change and want to stay design-minded at the same time, you could begin with the Pantone Color(s) of the Year. Pantone is a global leader in forecasting color trends for every industry. If you need a color-critical decision, this is a great resource.
Pantone 2021 Colors of the Year
2021 is a special year because Pantone announced two colors of the year. Maybe we needed more than one after the year we had in 2020. Ultimate Gray and Illuminating (yellow). As Pantone says of these two colors,
“A marriage of color conveying a message of strength and hopefulness that is both enduring and uplifting.“
Great place to start, but what if yellow and gray aren’t your thing? Check out Pantone’s previous years’ colors and see what’s been trending over time. Maybe you’ll find a shade that speaks to you.
Color Matching
Here’s another great way to find colors you love: color match a photo. There are many websites that do color matching to photos, but I like Sherwin-Williams ColorSnap because I like to paint. Everything. You can either download the app for your phone or use the web version. Simple: Upload a photo. Bam. The photo is analyzed and the resulting paint colors are revealed.
It’ll be no surprise that I’m testing it with sea shell photos. If you find the ocean and beach calming, then having those colors around you may also be calming. How can you go wrong with nature’s color palette?
With so many choices in just this one photo, you’ve saved yourself a lot of time browsing 10,000 paint chips at the store. And it’s interesting to read the names of these paint colors. Caviar? Blueblood? Marigold is a great name for the color of both the baby Horse Conch and the Atlantic Calico Scallop.
Let’s try a more neutral sea shell, the Crown Conch (also called King’s Crown). I’m not sure my eyes would have picked ten different colors in this photo. And what a great way to see which color combinations go well together.
More examples. Warning: this site is addicting!
If change is in your 2021 forecast, start with changing the colors around you. It’s easy, it’s temporary, and it’s just paint (and towels, and dishes, and clothing…)