Contemporary Colors Break Out

Good designers can make nearly any color work

Photo credit: Gretchen Schauffler

Many people believe that the color palette for a contemporary home consists solely of white, black, gray and red. Interior designers beg to differ. Today's designers employ every possible shade to enhance the beauty of the contemporary architectural style's clean, bold lines.

"Everyone's favorite colors are different. It has nothing to do with architectural style," says Ruth Mortensen, a designer with Chicago-based Susan Fredman & Associates. "You can have an all-white very contemporary home and an all-white very traditional home. You can also take every palette and put it in a contemporary home."

Leatrice Eiseman, executive director of the Pantone Color Institute and author of Color Messages and Meanings, couldn't agree more. Contemporary colors can run the gamut of the color wheel, she says. It's all a matter of context. "Just as contemporary art utilizes all manners of vibrant colors - and we are all accustomed to seeing those colorful works - so can all the other elements of interiors, including painted surfaces, laminates, fabrics and anything else in the home," she says.

As is true with other design features and trends, the most popular colors are moving targets. According to Andrea Piontek, senior color stylist for Olympic Paints, one hot color for 2008 is purple. The paint company's newest color palette, Luxurious Contemporary, has a trio of three quiet, soothing colors - Lilac Gray, Pale Purple and Silver Service - all with a purple base.

Not surprisingly, contemporary colors also draw inspiration from current events. According to Eiseman, Asian themes will guide many of this year's color schemes because of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing. The primary color of Olympic Paints' new Asian Fusion palette is a strong, rich red called Rum Runner. Additional colors include a soft taupe called Bristlecone and a sophisticated silvery gray called Pearl Ash.

Gretchen Schauffler, artist and founder of Devine Color in Lake Oswego, Ore., believes people have "strong feelings about contemporary color." In her experience, those who are drawn to the minimalism of contemporary architecture and furnishings treat color as either a huge focus or something to avoid.

The trick to using color in contemporary design, she says, is to make it emotional. In her own contemporary home, she created a "strong feeling" by contrasting gray walls and black living-room furniture with a bold orange carpet and a striped pattern on the stairs.

Schauffler's views debunk yet another misconception about color in contemporary homes: It doesn't have to be monochrome. She says that younger buyers, in particular, appreciate the simplicity of contemporary design but want a wider array of color. They may use it in dramatic and distinctly different manners from room to room.

Brooke Ziccardi, principal of Ziccardi Designs in Costa Mesa, Calif., says her young customers are drawn to wallpapers with big, bold prints in all rooms. One room might feature massive orange birds and the next, black and white stripes. "Color is a big thing," she says. "We're bringing back the sunset colors of the '70s."

That's because buyers today want the temperature of contemporary to change, says Schauffler. "People crave the warmth of yellows, reds, oranges and the warmer blues," she says. "We're seeing warm chocolates and coffee colors taking over the neutrals … for a feeling that black, white and gray don't offer."


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