For decades fashion and interior designers have relied on the color black as a safe, if not essential, addition to an outfit or a room. Black shoes, belts, purses, jackets, and slacks were as popular for dressing as black fixtures, fireplace screens, lamps, drapery background color, and accent woods were in our interiors. Now for the first time in my decorating and design work, this reliable fashion element has changed. Suddenly, GRAY is the new black. In interior fashion, the trend has switched nearly 180 degrees. It might take a little longer in the fashion industry due to the visually slimming effect of black, and I don’t suppose all gray tuxedos at the Oscars will be the standard anytime soon, but the trend is noticeable in men’s and women’s clothing.
Color Changes
As we have discussed previously in this column, there is a guiding industry to all these color changes. Corporate designers in clothing, housewares, automobiles, furniture, appliances, and electronics need to know 3–4 years in advance what colors will be trending when the designs they are carefully finalizing will actually appear on showroom floors. Thus the professional prognosticators of color spend huge resources toward researching consumer trends and then sell the information to designers. And guess what? By the time the designs come to the retail location near you, we suddenly see a similarity of color shade and intensity in all the above-mentioned industries. The new blue on the automobile showroom floor will amazingly be very similar in color to the new blue in newspaper sale circulars and store aisle signage. That watermelon red you see in the latest khaki shirts will also show up on candy, blouses, upholstered chairs, and popular wall art. The kiwi lime green that has been popular the last few years is evidenced in autos, furniture, kitchen tools, outdoor furniture as well as on decorated cakes in the local bakeshop. Retailers soon learn that the new color catches the consumer's eye, and yes, that once seen, the consumer often needs to “dump” the dowdy green lamps that were a popular shade twenty years ago (when the shades were also un-dented and unstained.”
However, along with the rise of the color gray in interior designs are two additional factors. Along with the increased use of the color gray, there is also an increased use in grayed-out images, as in more impressionistic, and gray tones of all other colors. The rug pictured here from our Palermo collection is a good example.
Not only are the stylized flowers muted and feathered in their design, but all of the color tones are grayed-out. Here you see a gray orange, a gray red, a gray blue, and a gray taupe. We love this entire collection of rugs and find that the blurred lines and colors can do wonders in bringing a room together and settling down the colors” without distracting the eye in a “look at me” fashion. In addition, without obvious distressing and tea-staining as we have witnessed in rug designs of the past ten year, this rug also has that feeling of not looking so “shiny new” that it makes everything else in the room look dreary. The muted quality of color and design lend an aspect of comfort and coziness to the rug. We invite you to stop by soon to see these rugs in person.
Flexsteel Chateau Collection
Finally, one of our most popular furniture suppliers has added a new collection that exemplifies the gray color tones. Although Flexsteel has a wonderful reputation for building well-made upholstered sofas, chairs, and recliners, over the past 10 years, they have slowly been adding dining and bedroom furniture to their collection. Often we did not carry the pieces in our store since they were manufactured from solids and veneers. However, this year at the International Home Furniture market in High Point, North Carolina, Flexsteel introduced the solid wood Chateau Collection, an entire line of family room furniture featuring the most delicate gray-blue paint combined with warm comforting wood tones.
Of course, we ordered the entire collection for our floor and the tables and china cupboards will be arriving soon. Although the collection did not include a table and chairs, we will be able to match the set with our Amish-crafted dining collection.
That’s what's new in our colorful world at House of Oak & Sofas. Please do stop by soon to see our collection.
