Tongues Are Wagging About The Color Of The Year 2019

Yes, that’s right; tongues are wagging about the color of the year 2019. To be specific, Sherwin Williams Color of the Year 2019.

I’ve sort of given up on these proclamations of the “it” color or color palette.

To me, it all seems completely arbitrary.

I’m pretty sure this is the method they use to select their colors, each year.

 

This has to be the way they do it. It has to be.

 

And that’s because 3/4 of the time, I am sitting scratching the ol’ noggin wondering…

 

However, in their defense.

 

A color in isolation is meaningless.

Still.

When we are talking about house paint, we are talking about either the interior walls/trim or the exterior.

 

Uhh… Laurel?

 

Yes. How can I help you?

 

Will you stop yammering already? What IS the freaking color???

 

Oh, sorry. I thought you knew by now. Perhaps you were dodging the hurricane. However, I hope not and I hope that everyone is safe as well as your home.

 

This is the Sherwin Williams Color of the Year 2019– Cavern Clay SW 7701 – (it’s in their Concepts in Color fan deck.)

 

This image is directly from their website.

However, I find images on their site claiming to be the same color. And, they aren’t.

 

This one is too orange.

Although I like this shade better, I can’t look at this because it’s making me want to heave used as they have. That orange is just way too much! That is– with the big blue chairs. And, who paints their wainscoting orange and the walls above it white? Fine. Maybe, if there was a bold orange and white damask print for draperies. But like this? No.

 

And it’s not that I don’t like blue and orange together. I DO. Actually, I love it.

 

However, we need a lighter hand! Below are a couple of examples.

 

 

Mary McDonald in House Beautiful via Quadrille Fabrics

One Kings Lane

In fact, I have written a number of posts that feature shades of orange, terracotta, and/or blue and orange.

 

These include:

20 Great Shades of Orange Paint

Poor Orange, The Most Misunderstood Color

The Problem with Halloween Decor

Love Me a Warm Color Scheme, But Is It Going To Look Dated?

My North Facing Room is Making Me Depressed

The Hottest Color Palette 2014

Ten Colorful Paint Colors That Act As Neutral Colors

Please note that in the links above, are some of the colors in this color-family of corals and warm reds that I love that are in the Laurel Home Paint/Palette Collection.

 

There are a few problems with Sherwin-Williams choice for color of the year 2019.

 

• It is not really orange.
• It’s more of a rusty-brown or a terracotta which has more pink and brown in it than orange.
• The way they’ve used it is either cloying or boring.

 

• Usually, it doesn’t work to have equal concentrations of colors that are opposite on the color wheel. I think that it looks best if one is the dominant color and one is an accent color. And there always need to be other colors

 

My biggest issue is that they did not use the color in any kind of classical way.

 

No. Instead, they did the predictable southwest theme and are marketing it as such. Is that a good idea? I don’t think so. I can recall clients who nearly had a nervous breakdown because they were desperately trying to understand how they got taken in by the whole southwest theme thing a couple of decades ago.

This is nothing against southwestern decorating, or Tuscan decor. But, a lot of it is done wrong. Or over-done.

 

This is not very interesting, IMO.

I mean, if they want to sell this color, it would seem that they should hire some designers who can make it sing.

 

In addition, I think that Sherwin Williams has far better shades of terracotta

 

 

Reynard SW6348 is one that I prefer. It has more life and I think makes a better backdrop.

But, of course, nobody asked me, so it doesn’t really matter what I prefer. :]

 

What I’d really like to see is more imaginative decor.

 

I mean, color inspiration can come from anywhere. You guys know that I love fine art. And in fine art, there are always numerous colors and shades from the same color family.

 

 

Poussin Abduction of the Sabine Women

 

I’m not sure what’s going on here, but oh, just look at those colors!!!

 

hubba hubba… I have such a crush on this dude. haha! Isn’t it amazing? This was painted nearly 400 years ago! I have a feeling that humans haven’t changed very much in all of these years. Not really.

Oh sorry to be so distracted tonight.

 

I’ll try to stop focusing on paintings of hot guys who’ve been dead for 350 years. ;]

 

Below is a beautiful example of a similar color in a Greek Revival Home.

 

The home of photographer Pieter Estersohn with a similar shade on the wall. It’s a plaster finish and the color is a little less brown, however, I think it looks fabulous here.

 

Remember Gerald Bland’s Greek Revival home?

Oh, man, he recently painted it white and it’s just beyond the beyond.

 

Axel Vervoordt

 

Jake Curtis – House and Garden

 

I realize that this is a deeper, more saturated color. But I think that this dining room looks so fresh.

LOVE the white floor!

 

Michael Maher living room – photo: Luke White

And this color is an even further departure; I love this scheme. And, it’s the small amounts of khaki, beige and green that keep it from looking like a flag. But, this is a gorgeous, beautifully decorated home. You can check out the rest in the link under the photo.

Well, believe it or not, I was not going to do a review of the Sherwin Williams Color of the Year. haha. However, I was reading about it this morning, so here we are.

 

What were you going to write about, Laurel?

 

Well… actually, I was going to write a little uhhh… “newsletter.”

It’s in quotes, because anyone who’s heard me speak or read my blogging guide, knows about my aversion to the ubiquitous blogging query to SIGN UP TO OUR NEWSLETTER– BE THE FIRST TO KNOW.

Know what?

And that’s because people landing on your site for the first time are not interested in your news.

Happily, some of you have been with me for YEARS now! And every once in a while, I like to share what’s going on behind the scenes.

First of all…

Remember, last year, I was getting ready to take a trip to England?

 

Well, this year– in one week, I’m taking another trip. This time to Denmark. Copenhagen.

 

True to form, I know very little about it except approximately where it’s located and that Danny Kaye sang a song about it in Hans Christian Andersen.

Oh, and I understand that the Danish pronounce it COPEN HAY GEN; not HAH GEN.

If anyone has any words of advice for something I don’t know, but should know, please let me know in the comments.

I am going with the fabulous group of interior designers led by Veronika Eagleson, owner of Modenus, a fabulous design library, focusing on kitchens and baths and Design Hounds.

This is not a blog tour, like I’ve been on for KBIS and there are no sponsors.

 

Wait. Why are you just telling us now?

 

Sorry, yet again. Much going on and I only decided about five weeks ago.

And YES, I am reminding myself right now, to take photos. Although, I had no problem remembering last year when I was in England.

Speaking of which…

 

The Amara Design Blogging Awards.

 

Thank you so much to all who have voted for me already. The voting process is still going on. However, the deadline is the 19th. And, to make it to the short list, I need your votes if you have not done so.  You can vote for me here.

 

The last bit of news is that we are coming up to the third anniversary of the launch of Laurel’s Rolodex.

 

 

I can’t believe it! I just checked and to date, have sold 1,854 of them! The next update of Laurel’s Rolodex is coming out on November 7th.

Anyone can purchase one.

Lots of design enthusiasts have gotten a rolodex and love it.

 

But if you’re in the profession and/or know someone who is, this guide is a must-have.

 

There are some 180 vendor/manufacturers (out of over 500 in the guide) who work directly with designers. All you need to do is sell a couple of lamps and you will have more than made your money back.

You can make more money AND save your clients money too. It’s a win-win-win. There isn’t another list like this one. At least not one that I know of. That’s because nobody else is as crazy as I am. lol These are the companies that I worked with and some of them are not well-known because it is by word-of-mouth. No, they are not NY area vendors.

To find out more, click here.

 

*And yes, if you’ve purchased a rolodex, you are entitled to free lifetime updates.

 

This time, in addition to more vendors, I’m including a free Top 100 Best of Etsy, Chairish and One King’s Lane for vintage and antiques. Etsy will have hand-crafted items as well.

If you do not have a rolodex, you can lock in all of the additions for the current price. If not, that’s fine, but the price will be going up on November 19th at 11:59PM (eastern time)

Now, whenever I mention Rolodex update, I always get a slew of emails stating that they didn’t receive their last update. Or, they can’t find it. Or their hard drive died.

*I fully understand, but it would help me a lot if before you email me, if you could first do a search of your email (unless you used your husband’s paypal account and then it would be his email). You can search for Rolodex, or Sendowl. That is the shopping cart service.

Well, that’s all for now. It’s quite a bit!

xo,