Trends for 2008

Balancing colour in the home

Read Judy Smith's Biography

Crown Paint today unveils the colour trends for 2008. Influenced by social and cultural behaviours around the world and developed by a panel of experts, including UK Crown colour consultant Judy Smith, Crown reveals the six dramatic themes that will inspire the way colours are used in the home next year.

For 2008, Crown's colour trends explore the beauty of balance and the curiosity of contrast in our modern way of life. Our lives consists of opposing, yet parallel choices - from eating organic vegetables one day to microwave ready meals the next, or pairing a Chloé handbag with a dress from Primark. Within the home, we try to recycle and buy fair trade sustainable products, but without compromising our desire to live in comfortable, luxurious surroundings.

In the same way that our life decisions are balanced with complimentary opposites, so each colour trend is paired with a corresponding counterpart:

  • Geometric & Informal
  • Adornment & Without Nostalgia
  • Awareness & Tales Of The Unexpected

So, here's more about each colour trend and how they can be used in the home:

1. GEOMETRIC

In marked contrast to large floral and free flowing designs that are popular at the moment, geometric pattern creates something that is both complex but easy to understand. Design by repetition - using graphic lines, contours and rhythmic patterns - can bring clarity to both furniture and textiles, or be used on walls or floors to add impact and interest.

In the home, a geometric small repeat stencil can be used on a part of a wall - for example, in a stripe from floor to ceiling or contained within a row of squares. Or take one strong colour like crimson or deep teal and use in a graphic linear way - something as simple as horizontal lines or a row of crosses - then keep the rest of the room black and white or white and grey.

2. INFORMAL

We live in a precise world, where we are pressured to make our wants and needs fit with the demands of our busy lifestyles, however the more structured our lives become, the more attracted we are to the informal and spontaneous. In marked contrast to Geometric, Informal is about a more relaxed way of living and putting your favourite things together to create an easy-going, eclectic, yet uniquely personal home environment.

To create an informal mood in the home, look at using soft tones from the same colour family, and then combine them with interesting materials and accessories. Put things together in a relaxed and natural way in the same way as you would create a collage, and avoid anything that looks too staged. Mellow pastel shades can be combined with pale grey and charcoal, then keep the furnishings simple for calm and quietly understated surroundings.

3. ADORNMENT

Adornment is about enhancing your home with decoration and richness - not in an ostentatious way but with a down-to-earth, honest approach. An extra layer of glitz and glamour, just because it pleases us to do so, or a luxurious sheen of richness and texture can add depth and character to an interior space and make your home a more enjoyable place to be.

So how does this translate into our homes? Rich and indulgent colours like dark dusky pinks and aubergine add strength and depth to a flat matt wall. Think textured surfaces, luxurious textiles and sparkle and shine. Areas of metallic emulsion in gold or silver work perfectly here.

4. WITHOUT NOSTALGIA

In contrast to Adornment's ornamental sensibilities, Without Nostalgia focuses on what is real and instantly familiar to us - proven colours that, when we see them, we instantly associate them with other objects. Take the orange of a 1950s Eames chair or Navy blue. These feel more modernist than retro because we understand their recognisable origins. This trend is about the use of flat matt colour and simplicity of texture and shape to create a simple, unpretentious home environment.

It's important to keep it simple in the home. Use colour in a clear but understated way and seek those quiet bright shades that have a timeless quality. These colours will provide a strong backdrop to furniture and furnishings and enable you to combine vintage finds with a modernist edge.

5. AWARENESS

Awareness of our surroundings, the world around us and our responsibility to be 'green' has created a desire within us to become more conscious of the origins of objects in our homes. This trend is all about taking a more responsible, forward-thinking approach to how we source items in order to create a comfortable environment. Influences from nature are still very strong, with sustainable wood, recycled objects and eco-friendly designs all becoming increasingly prevalent.

When bringing this trend into the home, work with a colour palette of greens and browns - soft and watery sea green, the deepest olive, and nut brown. These are tones that harmonize with natural materials, textures and shapes, so it's a case of simply letting the furnishings and accessories blend with the natural colours that surround them to give a restful, comforting room.

6. TALES OF THE UNEXPECTED

In contrast to the considered, conscientious Awareness trend, Tales Of The Unexpected is all about having fun with a room scheme and adding elements of humour and surprise. By incorporating an unexpected object in a room - even if it conflicts with the overall style - gives a completely different perspective creating an unpredictable, yet exciting edge to a design. More importantly, it's about using your instincts and mischievous nature to mix up styles and create interest. Whatever pleases you is the right thing to do!

In the home, this is a more unstructured and quirky use of colour - so go with the flow and do what you fancy and make a statement. Think about using some uncommon combinations of colours that you would normally steer clear of. Large stencils or murals, or even freehand painting and drawing will also add a bit of fun to the room while unusual, almost artificial accent colours such as canary yellow and raspberry red will make the right kind of impact.

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Judy Smith's Biography

Judy Smith is our Crown Colour Consultant – as one of the UK's leading colour and trend forecasters we love the way she can spot the up and coming home styling trends.

She's lent her expertise to many of your favourite lifestyle magazines and we rely on her to help us bring you the very latest colours and finishes for you home.

These striking trends for 2008 show just how passionate Crown is about colour - and with our top interior tips on how to translate them into colour schemes for your walls, now there's no excuse not to bring the 2008 trends to life in your home!