Trend Forecast: 2021 Colors and Palettes of the Year

Cocoon yourself in deep, rich tones, practice mindfulness with new and optimistic neutrals, and reimagine what home really means to you. Industry experts predict that 2021 will be all about using color to reconnect to the places and themes that matter most.

By: Lauren Oster

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Sherwin-Williams’ Urbane Bronze

In 2020, the buttoned-up, Gilded-Age drama of Navy (SW 6244) splashed across interiors like star-studded tracts of the night sky. That celestial celebration gives way to something more grounded in 2021: Urbane Bronze (SW 7048), which draws on the comforts of home by cultivating a familiar contemporary retreat from the outside world. “Urbane Bronze encourages you to create a sanctuary space for mindful reflection and renewal,” says Sue Wadden, director of color marketing at Sherwin-Williams. “There’s also reassurance in its sentimentality, with nostalgic ties to the design of the ‘70s and ‘90s, but with gray undertones that give it a distinctly modern twist.”

Sherwin-Williams’ Urbane Bronze

“Complement the simplicity of Urbane Bronze with natural materials — like wood finishes, organic stone accents or woven textiles — and a variety of mixed metals to create a serene space grounded in nature,” Sue recommends. The color’s anchoring quality makes it a new-neutral powerhouse that serves well in spaces like living rooms and dens, as well as sanctuaries like bedrooms and home offices. To find complementary tones and inspiration, explore the Sanctuary palette from Sherwin-Williams’ 2021 Colormix Forecast: “The ‘stay at home’ mantra has directed where we go and what we do in 2020, but it will also influence interior design trends for 2021 and beyond,” Sue predicts.

HGTV Home by Sherwin-Williams’ Passionate

Developing a new relationship with one’s home, as so many of us have done this year, involves reimagining what comfort and tradition really mean. Passionate (HGSW 2032) — the anchoring hue of HGTV by Sherwin-Williams’s 2021 Delightfully Daring Color Collection — is a bold take on an old favorite, evoking the simple, classic pleasures of watching the seasons change and sipping a glass of red wine. This rich color can headline a space all by itself or background a collection of beloved artwork and objects — and as one would expect, it brings out the best in the other nine emotional, elemental tones it introduces.

HGTV Home by Sherwin-Williams’ Pale Apricot

Get ready for the next generation of blush in the Delightfully Daring Color Collection: Pale Apricot (HGSW 1126) takes the delicate warmth that makes barely-there pink so appealing and gives it a toasty orange undertone. This color echoes organic tones like minimally finished hardwood, buttery leather and even unbleached cotton, and it just loves to be swathed in natural light in nurseries and bedrooms. Like a few dashes of bitters in an Old Fashioned, it balances sweetness with just a tad of sophistication. See the full HGTV Home by Sherwin-Williams 2021 collection below.

See More Photos: HGTV HOME by Sherwin-Williams' 2021 Color Palette Dares to Delight Us All

Behr's Jojoba and Broadway

Behr celebrated the rejuvenation associated with wide-open spaces and the natural world with Back to Nature (S340-4). That garden-inspired hue that dissolved the boundaries between our outdoor and indoor lives gives way to a Color Trends 2021 Palette that explores “Elevated Comfort” through six color themes: Casual Comfort, Optimistic View, Subtle Focus, Calm Zone, Quiet Haven and Outdoor Escape. Calm, restorative Jojoba (N390-3) offers a misty-morning alternative to the golden-hour note supporting last year’s pick; by contrast, it evokes the feel of gazing through a bedroom window at a coastline shrouded in fog. It comes alive with darker and bolder tones like Broadway (PPU18-20), a deep and dusty hint of aubergine that complements shades of green and maximalist design choices. (It’s also a rather spectacular choice on a ceiling, no?)

Behr’s Kalahari Sunset and Almond Wisp

The Casual Comfort color theme offers crowd-pleasers like Almond Wisp (PPU5-12), a warm-toned and unpretentious neutral that softens textured surfaces like exposed brick and offers dimensionality to pale, contemporary farmhouse-inspired spaces. Eclectic tones in the Optimistic View theme — like Kalahari Sunset (MQ1-25), a ferrous orange that evokes the majesty of day’s end on a sandy savannah — put a sophisticated and even luxurious spin on primary tones. There’s that ‘elevated’ comfort: “This has been a year of unpredictability and 2020 has significantly changed out relationship with our home,” says Erika Woelfel, vice president of color at Behr. “A new, ‘elevated’ articulation of ‘comfort’ goes beyond traditional beige, gray and green hues, and embraces color in a way that can redefine and enhance any type of space inside or outside the home.”

Valspar's Granite Dust

In a year when it can feel like every space must accommodate everything, Valspar selected a dozen 2021 Colors of the Year to create ideal backdrops for stillness in that noise. “Our homes have become offices, entertainment centers and classrooms — which means the colors, sights and sounds in our rooms have an even bigger impact on our daily lives,” says Sue Kim, Valspar Color Marketing Manager. “These lifestyle changes coupled with a surge in DIY home activity helped guide our selection of a range of colors for Valspar’s 2021 Colors of the Year that can not only transform your space but also elevate your mood.” Granite Dust (5006-1C) is a neutral undergirded by the solid strength that gives it its name; it can read either warm or cool and provides supportive space for creativity (making it an ideal choice for a reimagined kitchen and a new, robust baking habit, for example).

Valspar's Maple Leaf

Serene, seasonal Maple Leaf (2008-8B) both signals the change of the seasons at year’s end and loves greenery; accent it with those bits of the garden and indoor house plants you’re able to overwinter in interior neutral spaces, or use it to add vitality and a sense of welcome to your home’s exterior. If you’re looking to create an accent wall that subtly impacts a space’s mood rather than making a strident statement, Maple Leaf provides that gentle contrast like a dash of spice in a latte.

Graham & Brown's Epoch

2021 marks Graham & Brown’s 75th anniversary, and the brand is celebrating its design history with a year-long exploration of where it’s been and where it’s going. Its bold, geometric Timepiece (the Wallpaper of the Year) refracts its characteristically lush florals through a mica-highlighted prism; the richest purple tone in that exuberant pattern, in turn, is distilled into Epoch, a deep, directional plum that feels like a personal cocoon. It adores warm, traditional woods, rich metallic finishes and the sanguine tones of the holiday season.

Graham & Brown's Epoch

Epoch’s subtle optimism makes it an intuitive choice for exterior statements as well: we love how it adds unexpected richness and curb appeal to otherwise-neutral spaces. Consider splashing out with a tone like this one in a porch area; in 2021, perhaps we should let the warmth we reserve for the more intimate rooms of our homes carry into the faces we present to our neighbors.

PPG's Transcend

For its first-ever Palette of the Year, PPG is unveiling “Be Well,” a 2021 trio of colors that emphasize self-care. Like the restful, contemplative tones we’re seeing across the industry, these hues are all about reconsidering simplicity and our most basic priorities. “With the world sheltering in place for the better half of the year, we have begun to crave human connection and embrace simple activities, including walking, hiking, baking and gardening,” says Dee Schlotter, a PPG senior color marketing manager. “This organic and hopeful palette represents what we have been longing for after decades of overstimulation and overconsumption — simplicity and restfulness.” It’s no accident that the palette is grounded with Transcend (PPG1079-4), a mid-range, sugary brown that has an almost gingerbread undertone: this is a warm, soul-filling bowl of oatmeal on a chilly day. Big Cypress (PPG1062-5), the collection’s second tone, adds a dash of spice to that fortifying base and serves beautifully as an accent wall or trim.

PPG's Misty Aqua

Misty Aqua (PPG1147-3) completes the 2021 trio on a note of tropical high-spiritedness: this personable pastel is all about looking ahead to cloudless skies and imagining destinations. It counterbalances the earthier notes of its fellow trending tones with an aquatic elegance. Paired with cooler whites and grays, it’s a serene choice for sitting rooms and even kitchens.

Benjamin Moore's Aegean Teal

The team at Benjamin Moore, in turn, has transitioned from the dreamy, break-of-day wistfulness of 2020’s Color of the Year, First Light (2102-70) to a 2021 hue that anticipates a full and fruitful morning. “Aegean Teal (2136-40) is an intriguing blue-green that creates natural harmony and invites us to take a moment to reflect and reset,” says Hannah Yeo, Benjamin Moore Color Marketing and Development Manager. “Aside from the kitchen, Aegean Teal works great in bedrooms, cabinetry, living rooms, offices, entryways and mudrooms.”

Benjamin Moore's Chestertown Buff

“The Benjamin Moore Color Trends 2021 palette consists of 12 sunbaked hues that can be used alone or in combination,” Hannah says. “Paired with natural materials such as wood, stone and brick, these colors help to create a warm ambiance and play to the senses.” We love Chestertown Buff (HC-9), a muted maize that evokes autumn afternoons: pair it with crisp, dark tones and wintery whites in an entryway to celebrate the change of the seasons.

Glidden’s Aqua Fiesta

The color experts at Glidden have been forging their own path (and palette) in recent years: instead of naming a Color or Palette of the Year for 2020, they crowned Whirlwind (PPG1013-3) — a versatile pale grey with hints of lavender that's pictured on the wall both here and in the next slide — an all-time favorite to love for the year to come and beyond. There’s a curveball in their announcement for 2021 as well: Aqua Fiesta (PPG1147-4), a fresh and congenial marine tone, is the Accent Color of the Year. Their point is well taken: this festive hue enlivens neutral spaces and lifts spirits like a glimpse of crystal-clear tropical water after a long spell of being homebound. Consider how textiles alone can bring a space like this one wide awake — impressive, no?

Glidden's Aqua Fiesta

We’re not suggesting you limit yourself to accessories, of course. “[T]he anxiety of this year has only made people crave [Whirlwind’s] no-frills gray even more,” Glidden color expert Amy Donato says. She’s all about nesting in earnest: “We have gone one step further to help you stop procrastipainting by unveiling Aqua Fiesta as the go-to accent color. Now, it’s time to put down that homemade banana bread and pick up a paint brush." Who knew living room molding could impart a feeling of spa-like serenity? (Glidden did.)

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Photo By: Sherwin-Williams

Photo By: HGTV Home by Sherwin-Williams

Photo By: Behr

Photo By: Valspar

Photo By: Graham & Brown

Photo By: PPG

Photo By: Benjamin Moore

Photo By: Glidden

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Trend Forecast: 2021 Colors and Palettes of the Year

Related To:

Sherwin-Williams’ Urbane Bronze

Sherwin-Williams’ Urbane Bronze

HGTV Home by Sherwin-Williams’ Passionate

HGTV Home by Sherwin-Williams’ Pale Apricot

Behr's Jojoba and Broadway

Behr’s Kalahari Sunset and Almond Wisp

Valspar's Granite Dust

Valspar's Maple Leaf

Graham & Brown's Epoch

Graham & Brown's Epoch

PPG's Transcend

PPG's Misty Aqua

Benjamin Moore's Aegean Teal

Benjamin Moore's Chestertown Buff

Glidden’s Aqua Fiesta

Glidden's Aqua Fiesta

Shop This Look

Trend Forecast: 2020 Colors of the Year 14 Photos

Trend Forecast: 2019 Colors of the Year 11 Photos

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