This Old House chooses hues with staying power.

It’s relatively easy to pick a hue that’s “on trend”; much harder to create a palette that looks fresh today yet is still appealing a few years down the road. This Old House magazine, the bible for revitalizing vintage residences, recently took up the challenge, devoting its May 2012 cover story to color. A team reviewed hundreds of paint chips from many manufacturers to select “15 Favorite Hues” with timeless appeal. Three of the final 15 were from Sherwin-Williams — more than any other paint company. We checked in with This Old House articles editor Deborah Baldwin to get the inside story.

STIR: How were the "15 Favorite Hues" selected?

Deborah Baldwin (DB):

I handle a lot of remodeling stories and noticed certain trends, including a move toward warm colors and ones that can add a bit of drama to a space, even if it’s just an accent wall or a painted armoire. Our readers are active remodelers, and as much as they value the craftsmanship of older homes, they want rooms that are livable and reflect their 21st-century lifestyles. So we strove for a palette that would help guide readers toward choices that are fresh and new, yet would work in vintage spaces. Luckily, we have two valuable resources here at This Old House, our art director and our design editor. After studying trend reports and forecasts from experts in the field, they gathered fan decks from a wide range of paint companies, large and small, and used their knowledge of color — and our readers’ tastes — to winnow hundreds and hundreds of great choices down to 15.

STIR: How did you arrive at the five color categories: Orange, Blue, Green, Gray and Yellow?

DB:

Blues, greens and yellows have long been favorites among our readers, so these were logical places to begin. We were drawn to orange because it’s contemporary and fun and a great alternative for readers who might normally default to Colonial red. As for gray, color experts like to say it’s the new beige, and for our readers that’s certainly the case. Gray goes well in kitchens with white cabinets, subway tile and nickel finishes, and it’s also a natural in baths finished with Carrara marble, chrome fittings and snow-white sinks. Within each of the five color categories, we chose shades that would complement the warm wood floors and furniture we see in so many of our readers’ homes. They include a gray with blue undertones, a yellow with hints of ocher and a mid-tone green with a bright, clean edge.

STIR: How did you select colors that “go beyond trends”?

DB:

Because paint is such an easy, inexpensive way to change a room’s look and feel, homeowners are increasingly comfortable experimenting with color. But I don’t think of our readers as being driven by trends. Instead, they’re looking for colors that can inject interest and individuality in Colonial Revival and Craftsman houses, to name two architectural styles that come up often in our pages. We looked for a mix of strong, saturated colors that could give a space, or even a portion of a space, its own identity, and softer shades that could easily flow in an open plan. Orange is a good example of an “on trend” color, but our choices go beyond the one shade you tend to see everywhere. They include a warm copper that looks great with lots of white and could substitute for the red you often see in traditional, white-wainscoted dining rooms. Our version of tangerine would be fun for kid or guest rooms, or in a bath or a mudroom. Our third orange, a bold terra-cotta, works as an accent that could wake up a staid interior and give it a lift, especially when tied to other orange and blue elements in the room.

STIR: What’s an example of a color that looks trendy now but is likely to look very dated in a decade or two?

DB:

I would hesitate to paint my living room purple, even though it is appearing right now in some trend reports.

STIR: What's influencing our desire for bolder hues?

DB:

You’ll see the same phenomenon in fashion and home furnishings and even appliances and electronics — it’s almost as if we’re looking for colors that will wake us up and get our blood moving. Once people see the effect of color — whether it’s their best friend’s new outfit or their neighbor’s garage door — they are primed to try it out, too. And as more and more people experiment, there’s a comfort factor in doing the same. I love seeing all these bold colors. Maybe that’s because I live in a city dominated by cement gray and basic black. A shot of intense blue-green can literally make me smile.

STIR: The “15 Favorite Hues” included three Sherwin-Williams colors — Tidewater (SW 6477), Lucky Green (SW 6926) and Midday (SW 6695). Tell us about how you chose to use them and why.

DB:

One thing you’ll notice is the way these colors can turn mundane elements into focal points. Lucky Green is a perfect example of a “trendy” color — it's everywhere! But rather than drench a room in it, we chose to show it on a vintage hutch, and readers have really responded to the way it makes both the hutch and the room come alive. Midday was an obvious choice for cabinets because so many of our readers love yellow kitchens and are looking for ways to upgrade their cabinets rather than replace them. Blue is another important color for our readers: We see a lot of blue baths and bedrooms. It just feels like a restful color, partly because of the way it evokes clean water and cloudless skies. Our experts like Tidewater on an airy stairwell because it emphasizes the feeling of lightness.

STIR: What did you learn about color as a result of selecting the “15 Favorite Hues"?

DB:

For me the biggest revelation was the way a simple change in the color scheme can give a space more personality. If you look at the 15 choices on our palette, you’ll find colors that convey warmth, liveliness, optimism and serenity — color really is a way to express yourself!