Pantone Reveals 2010 Color of the Year

You know when you go into a paint store and try to pick a shade of, say, blue paint, and next thing you know you're staring at 250 shades of blue you never even knew existed? There are people whose job it is to know all of those shades, and thousands more, and guide industry, designers and retailers on color trends. The Pantone Institute recently announced the color of the year for 2010: a serene, tropical turquoise.

In the coming months, you'll be seeing this color pop up anywhere from home decor magazines to small appliances to fashion runways, and for good reason. Combining aspects of both blue and green, turquoise evokes thoughts of tropical waters and a relaxing escape from everyday life. Equally appealing to men and women, it is a natural choice for decorating when you're trying to design a room that is neither too feminine nor too masculine.

What's wonderful about this shade of turquoise is how easy it is combine with other colors. Pairing it with other shades of blue creates a calm, monochromatic feel, while adding it to neutral browns punches up an otherwise staid color. It's vibrant when mixed with red and/or orange. Combined with green, it is particularly trendy and evocative of the shades found on a tropical island: sky, sea and foliage.

The designers at Uppercase Living pay very careful attention to home decor, fashion and other trends to help them choose colors and create expressions that will look great in our customers' homes. The turquoise chosen by the Pantone Institute as the Color of the Year is very similar to our Caribbean Blue. There are so many colors in our palette that create a gorgeous complement to Caribbean Blue; from vivid and energetic to peaceful and serene, it's all about the color combinations. Here are a few suggestions from our design team:
As I look at each of these color combinations, each one makes me think of enjoying warm breezes on a sunny beach somewhere with an umbrella in my drink. How nice would it be to have that feeling in my home every day? To be honest, I've never been an avid fan of blue, but my daughter LOVES this particular shade of teal, right down to her glasses. I think I need to take a look around my home and reconsider how Caribbean Blue and the gorgeous colors that complement it so well can give me that same peaceful feeling every day.

Note: The colors in the graphic above are not exactly representative of the actual vinyl colors they depict. If you'd like a swatch of any of our colors, please let me know and I'll get it right out to you.