Four Design Trends to Borrow for 2020

What better time to freshen a home’s look than at the beginning of a new year and a new decade to boot? We published our 2020 color and design trend report last year, and now it’s time to see if those colors and trends suit you. So whether you’re working on a client’s home or your own … dust off the furniture, wipe down the walls, and get those paint samples ready to change your space and with it, perhaps gain a new perspective.

Mint For The Win!

Photo Credit: BETHANY NAUERT PHOTOGRAPHY

Of all our colors, we named Minty Fresh (DE5687) the 2020 Color of the Year, and we’re not the only ones touting this light cool hue as a major deal this year. Domino magazine is also calling mint one of their top 5 colors of the new year year. We’re seeing hues of mint and light greens being used creatively from gourmet cookie shops to the idyllic bedrooms. The overarching theme we see in the decade ahead is a sense of optimism and opportunity, and few colors can give us an instant bounce in our step like Minty Fresh. Use it as a trim color or go big with it, using it as the new white neutral in your space.

Go Green on Kitchen Cabinets

Photo Credit: STUDIO MCGEE

For years countertops, appliances and backsplash tiles were the focus of beautiful kitchens, but no longer! Painted cabinets have been in the spotlight over the last few years and continue to be a place to play with color and color combinations. We’ve said it before and we’ll say it again: Domino recently named rich green a luxe new look that adds personality while maintaining a sense neutrality.

If you are ready to dive into green on upper or lower cabinets, look to a shade like Black Spruce (DE6308) or Huntington Woods (DET538) a dark solid verdant hue. Or, paint just the lower cabinets a lush dark green and go with a lighter color up top for visual interest, such as Shadow White (DE6281) or Antique Paper (DE6218) for a stunning tone-on-tone look.

High Contrast & Bold Colors

Photo Credit: MARNI EPSTEIN-MERVIS

Both Elle Decor and Apartment Therapy list contrasting black & white as a design trend in 2020; and while that color palette might seem in direct conflict with choosing bold colors for your home the two ideas share a common theme: major visual impact. There’s a whole world of bright colors, jewel tones, even a mix of crisp, light-hearted pastels to use on walls, doors, trim and cabinets. Too afraid to use lots of color, or even just one saturated hue? No problem, black and white delivers high drama too. And now you can explore a whole new world of whites, introducing Dunn-Edwards 10 new shades of higher hide whites.

Photo Credit: BETHANY NAUERT PHOTOGRAPHY

Painted Shapes

Photo Credit: DANI NAGEL

The beauty of paint is its flexibility to enhance or radically transform a room, a door or even a piece of furniture. But that doesn’t mean you to have to commit to a color over an entire surface. We’ve noticed a trend among designers and stylists using painted shapes on walls using color almost like a graphic wallpaper. For instance, Create and Cultivate’s new office features a terrazzo-inspired mural of Dunn-Edwards’ shades of peach, pink and gray. Fashion designer Dani Nagel explored painting a large round dot as a focal point on her bedroom wall in the cheery Deserted Path (DE5367); and interior photographer Marni Epstein-Mervis painted a craggy geometric shape in Raging Tide (DE5809) in her Joshua Tree getaway Lekker House JT.

Photo Credit: MARNI EPSTEIN-MERVIS