Retailers have fingers on pulse of local paint trends
Local business owners have their own top picks.
While the paint industry may have committed to its favorite colors for 2019, local business owners with their fingers on the pulse of color trends have their own top picks. Big paint companies chose colors from one end of the spectrum to another as their best options for home and property owners looking to do remodels or updates in the new year. Chad Newcomer, assistant general manager and co-owner of Grauer’s Paint & Decorating with locations in Spring Township — including Lampeter Township and Lititz in Lancaster County — said it is no surprise that Benjamin Moore’s designers chose Metropolitan as their color of their year. According to a press release from Home Advisor, Metropolitan is a modern gray that works best in rooms with ample natural light, on furniture or as accents. Newcomer’s staff confirms their clients appreciate Metropolitan as a true gray they would use as an accent and enjoy that it blends well in multiple palettes. “Grays have been here for years,” Newcomer said. “People are more confident moving from beige to grays.” ‘I love this color’ Grauer’s customer, Rachel Vriend of Lancaster, said: “The design team at Grauer’s did an amazing job helping me choose the Benjamin Moore color Collingwood, which I chose to be painted on the walls throughout our new home. I love this color because it is the perfect neutral gray, it has rich warm gray tones and works great with today’s decor trends.” Popular for his area customers is a compromise between beige and gray known as greige, Newcomer explained, with Revere Pewter, a taupe-gray blend outselling any other paint colors at Grauer’s. He describes the shade as a light to medium tone and not too far out of the box. A little further out of the box for local design clients may be color choices deemed favorites for 2019 by Sherwin Williams, Behr and PPG Paints. To the opposite extreme of a neutral, Sherwin Williams chose Cavern Clay for 2019, a terra cotta shade in an earthy and energizing mix between orange and brown that blends well with rustic building materials and plants. According to a recent press release from Home Advisor, a bold color such as Cavern Clay can close in a small room and may be better used as an accent or in a kitchen backsplash. “I see a lot of trends with customers picking these colors in their shutters and front doors,” Newcomer said.A rich blue
Behr cooled off the trends with Blueprint, a rich blue that can blend in multiple color palettes, and easily incorporate into a home design using anything from pastels to earth tones. Nathan Koonce, owner of Nathan’s Exclusive Remodeling in Brecknock Township, said a cool blue is a hot choice for bedrooms. “We’re seeing more of the jewel tones,” he said of his clients’ color preferences. Home Advisor explains a deep shade such as Blueprint can be dark and is likely to make a room look cozy, echoing Koonce’s advice on it being a great pick for a bedroom, a move Koonce made himself with the dark gray he used in his own bedroom remodel. Newcomer said: “I see customers pull in an accent wall with a deep navy.” Night Watch from PPG Paints continues the cool trend with a deep, classic green that brings a further calm feeling to a home’s interior spaces or makes a classic statement as an exterior shade for a front door or shutters, says Home Advisor. Newcomer confirms that a popular range of shades for his clients are in the blueish-green shades of beach glass. “It changes in their lighting and offers a nice compliment to beige and taupe,” he said. “It’s a tranquil color.”Seafoam green
Continuing the green theme, during a recent remodel Koonce painted his own dining room a seafoam green, an easy transition from the cool, blueish gray he used in his foyer. Timeless colors are still key, according to Newcomer, with more established homeowners staying in the warm gray to beige range, and clients who enjoy a more modern design steering toward more contemporary grays. Koonce notes over half of his clients are choosing gray paint colors during their remodeling projects. “We chose the color Dune White for our home,” said a Grauer customer, John Bieber, Wyomissing. “It’s an off-white with warm, gray tones. The lighter color makes our space feel spacious and open.” No matter the color consumers choose to incorporate inside or outside their homes, Newcomer cautions clients to beware of picking shades from websites or magazines. “One of the biggest mistakes I see customers make is looking on a computer screen,” he said. “Print magazines and computers are very deceiving. You don’t see the true color if you’re not in person.” And even though the 2019 colors chosen by designers internationally for the big paint brands may seem unapproachable for consumers in the Berks County area, there are still ways for homeowners to incorporate the trendy colors. Terracotta, dark blue, dark green and sophisticated gray can still be at home in a comfortable décor when customers use them in backsplashes, area rugs or even throw pillows. “They’re trying to find areas to make these colors pop that aren’t necessarily their main living spaces,” Newcomer said. Written By Karen L. ChandlerCategorized in: interior design, paint
