Looking to add a warm, vibrant yet dependable touch to your home? Consider the 2021 Pantone colors of the year: Ultimate Gray and Illuminating.
Introducing the 2021 Pantone Colors of the Year
What's inspiring about these two colors is how they seamlessly combine happiness and hopefulness with stability and strength.
As Announcing the Pantone Color of the Year 2021: PANTONE 17-5104 Ultimate Gray + PANTONE 13-0647 Illuminating describes:
"Ultimate Gray + PANTONE 13-0647 Illuminating, two independent colors that highlight how different elements come together to support one another, best express the mood for Pantone Color of the Year 2021.
Practical and rock solid but at the same time warming and optimistic, the union of PANTONE 17-5104 Ultimate Gray + PANTONE 13-0647 Illuminating is one of strength and positivity.
It is a story of color that encapsulates deeper feelings of thoughtfulness with the promise of something sunny and friendly."
Aspirational, hopeful, and intensely bright, these colors lift the human spirit.
Pantone further explains:
"As people look for ways to fortify themselves with energy, clarity, and hope to overcome the continuing uncertainty, spirited and emboldening shades satisfy our quest for vitality.
PANTONE 13-0647 Illuminating is a bright and cheerful yellow sparkling with vivacity, a warming yellow shade imbued with solar power.
PANTONE 17-5104 Ultimate Gray is emblematic of solid and dependable elements which are everlasting and provide a firm foundation. The colors of pebbles on the beach and natural elements whose weathered appearance highlights an ability to stand the test of time, Ultimate Gray quietly assures, encouraging feelings of composure, steadiness and resilience."
Leatrice Eiseman, executive director of the Pantone Color Institute states:
"The union of an enduring Ultimate Gray with the vibrant yellow Illuminating expresses a message of positivity supported by fortitude. Practical and rock solid but at the same time warming and optimistic, this is a color combination that gives us resilience and hope. We need to feel encouraged and uplifted; this is essential to the human spirit."
Perhaps even more inspiring is how both colors connect with wisdom and knowledge (think yellow writing pads), and a desire to sing from the tree tops:
"Emboldening the spirit, the pairing of PANTONE 17-5104 Ultimate Gray + PANTONE 13-0647 highlights our innate need to be seen, to be visible, to be recognized, to have our voices heard.
A combination of color whose ties to insight, innovation and intuition, and respect for wisdom, experience, and intelligence inspires regeneration, pressing us forward toward new ways of thinking and concepts."
More Perspective on Vibrant Yellow + Ultimate Gray
ARTnews offers another take on Pantone’s Pandemic Colors for 2021. In addition to providing artistic perspective (including about a banana stuck to a wall with grey duct tape), the article offers a cultural viewpoint:
"The gray of cloudy skies, sidewalk cement, comfortable bed linens, gravity blankets, or low-light screens—the color evokes our collective experiences over the past year.
It’s a depressing summation: During nine months of quarantine, we’ve certainly arrived at the “ultimate gray,” a state of mind—mush—as much as the color of a product. Grayness means ambiguity and irresolution. Neither black nor white, it doesn’t point toward an ending, just the continuation of an indefinite period. With coronavirus cases still mounting in the United States, that’s certainly where we’re at."
Add to that the vibrant sunshine-intensity of yellow and you now have,
"... light at the end of the tunnel, the sun rising over a dark landscape, the dawning of hope that comes with the possibility of a vaccine."
Remember, a Little Vibrant Yellow Can Go a Long Way
The San Diego Union-Tribune explains in The Pantone Colors of the Year for 2021 are Ultimate Gray and Illuminating that they were chosen "for their warmth and dependability" and how they express hope, joy, and stability, and that there is life ahead.
At the same time, the article encourages moderation given the brightness of the yellow:
"Houzz senior editor Mitchell Parker said the home remodeling and design platform has long embraced the color pairing. “Because a bright yellow color can sometimes be overwhelming in large doses, we typically see homeowners use just a small splash of it with larger swaths of gray to make a strong visual statement,” he said. “An example might be a gray exterior paint color paired with a pop of yellow at the front door. Or yellow furniture pieces or decor that offer a bit of flair to gray cabinets in a bathroom or kitchen. This palette also plays nicely with most wood tones.”
Furthermore, according to Using Pantone's Colors of the Year - Pantone's 2021 Colors of the Year & Natural Stone, it's important to be thoughtful about where, when and how you use yellow as it is such a powerful color:
"A sunny yellow like the one chosen can be bright and cheerful for kitchens and playrooms, for example, but they can also overheat a room that gets tremendous afternoon light and they can promote unease in some people, according to color scientists.”
How to Add Vibrant Yellow and Ultimate Gray Touches to Your Home
That said, touches of yellow can be just right for mood enhancing freshness to go with shades ranging from gray to many wood tones. Let's explore how you might do so.
When you visit the Floor Décor Design Center showroom in Orange, Connecticut, you'll find at the entrance an inspirational vignette that offers ideas for interpreting Vibrant Yellow and Ultimate Gray into your home design.
You can be very bold, or super subtle.
For example, you might start with grey-toned hardwood flooring, and add grey and yellow touches to a backsplash.
From a carpet perspective, Nautilus by Stanton offers a very subtle grey and yellow pattern as you see below.
Yellow can easily tone down into gold and copper tones as you see in the UNA LUX SERIES BY UNA in color Grigio.
For a more rustic interpretation, consider the LEDGERSTONE & PANEL COLLECTIONS BY ANATOLIA here in color Beachwalk where the gray tones are warm and the yellow tones muted.
Or, for a bolder yellow/orange statement and greater contrast with the gray, consider ledgerstone in color Sierra.
Either of these options would look fantastic with a thick wool patterned carpet.
And, for another dose of inspiration, here is one of the tiled doghouses from a recent Coverings event where yellow and gray combine beautifully with other touches of color.
Ultimately, you get to choose which colors make the most sense for your space and design sensibility. Here are articles describing other Pantone Colors of the Year:
>> See ADD CALM AND STABILITY TO YOUR FLOORS AND WALLS WITH CLASSIC BLUE
>> See BRING YOUR FLOORING TO LIFE WITH LIVING CORAL
Interested in Interpreting Vibrant Yellow and Ultimate Gray For Your Home?
Whether it's yellow and gray or another other color scheme, we invite you to explore one of our two showroom locations in Middletown or Orange so we can help you find what's right for your home.
Let us know of any questions in the comments or contact us.
We look forward to helping you.
Thanks for reading,
Janine & Michael
