Colour trends for 2020

Blue is the colour: Instagram's house renovator and bridal boutique owner Becks Doyle was ahead of the trend when choosing her blue kitchen island.

If you’re planning to redecorate this year or you simply want to update your living space to reflect what’s in vogue right now, which colours should you be looking to introduce into your home?

The colour everyone’s talking about at the start of 2020 is blue, in part because Pantone, creator of the internationally recognised colour matching system, has chosen Classic Blue as its Colour of the Year 2020.

Although Pantone is an American company, it wields a powerful influence here in the UK and worldwide. Big brands and designers rely on its colour trend forecasting to create products and services that sell. Pantone itself describes its consulting service as partnering with global brands “to leverage the power, psychology and emotion of colour in their design strategy”.

Power, psychology and emotion… strong words indeed, and they indicate just how deeply we all react to and are influenced by colour in our everyday lives. The colours of our walls and furnishings – and of course, the clothes we wear – are hugely significant because they can affect how we feel day to day.

The grey takeover

While our choice of colour is intrinsically personal, as social beings we’re also very influenced by what we see as being popular with others. Fifty Shades of Grey may have been bestselling fiction but the hundreds of shades of grey painted in our homes over the previous decade are testament to the dominance (no innuendos intended!) of this hue.

It doesn’t look as though grey is set to fade away but moody blues are definitely coming to the fore. Navy or dark blue painted kitchen islands, feature walls, reading corners and more are regularly popping up on Instagram.

According to Pantone, 2020’s Classic Blue is evocative of the infinite evening sky and instils calm, confidence and connection. The beauty of such a blue is that it can easily be incorporated into grey schemes and combined with lighter blues to create a gentle, natural scheme.

Classic Blue is described as being evocative of the infinite evening sky. Picture: Joshua Sukoff/Unsplash

Other hues in Pantone’s Fashion Colour Trend Report for spring/summer 2020, which predict what might be seen at the New York fashion shows, include Chive (a herbal restorative green); Sunlight (a soft, subtle yellow) and Cinnamon Stick (an earthy, spicy, warm red-brown). Interiors, of course, are very influenced by fashion.

Here at LRI, our co-founder Sarah is always looking at the latest fashion and colour trends.  She’s always been very “colour-aware” and has her own personal colour chart as a guide to what suits her best, which she follows faithfully when shopping for clothes.

Colour coordination

“I had my colours done when I was younger and I’ve never looked back,” she explains. The consultation works out which colours complement your skin tones and colouring and which leave you looking washed out and pale. I now know what not to wear as well as which shades really work for me. It actually makes buying clothes and co-ordinating your wardrobe so much easier!”

In choosing colour schemes at LRI, both for upholstered furniture and the showroom, Sarah has opted for classic warm neutrals that won’t date and can be mixed and matched with ease. Pops of colour are added with home accessories such as cushions and throws.

However, this year, she has decided to introduce some new complementary colours to the LRI range to complement the current oatmeal, soft greys and dark greys.

“There’s a lovely shade of rust, which is warm and earthy, and a mustard tone which we’re seeing a lot of in interiors at the moment,” she says. “I wanted to give our customers more choice but at the same time keep to our classic and timeless look. Plus, these new colours will coordinate brilliantly with the oatmeals and greys.”

We’ll be announcing when these new colours will be available later this year, so watch this space!