October Color of the Month: Purple Potion (DE5958)

Why Purple Potion is October’s Color of the Month

October is that fabulous month before the onslaught of the holidays, when it’s easiest to enjoy everything that’s unique and great about fall. Leaves are turning shades of yellow, ochre, and orange. Suddenly it’s cool enough to start up the oven again, bringing family and friends together over baked and roasted goods. There’s a chill in the air that invites layering up, or just choosing to wear more saturated hues, like October’s color of the month Purple Potion (DE5958).

The Impact of Purple Colors
According to Color Psychology, purple is a mixture of cool blues and energetic reds, balancing each other out to make a new color: purple. Through the ages, the color has been associated with royalty, power, and luxury; History explains that ancient merchants harvested purple dye from just one type of sea mollusk, so producing it was tremendously expensive, and therefore purple fabrics were accessible to only the most wealthy in society. Purple is also associated with spirituality. For example, the Crown or “spiritual awareness” chakra in yogic traditions is purple, and perhaps its association with magic is the reason it’s paired with orange as traditional Halloween colors.

Dunn-Edwards Purple Potion paint color is a stately and subdued shade that adds drama and depth to a room without going too dark and moody. Tired of navy, black and grey painted accent walls, doors, or trim on a house? Accomplish the same classic look with a twist, replacing common darker neutrals with our purple paint color of the month, Purple Potion.

Designing with Dramatic Purples

• Paint the wainscoting in a bedroom, study, or dining room with Purple Potion and offset the upper half of the wall with a shade of the lightest lavender in Tranquil Eve (DE5952) for a tone-on-tone look.
• Purple Potion can carry your design throughout the seasons, especially when combined with the youthful tones like Artificial Turf (DE5635) green and spring-hued Citrus Leaf (DE5558) (after all, purple flowers grow from bright green stems and leaves). For more examples of how paint colors like purple and green combine to urge us to live in the present and enjoy every moment. Explore our Playtime color story palette, a journey through Dunn-Edwards 2020 Color + Design Trends.
• Use Purple Potion in smaller doses, like painting the bottom kitchen cabinets or the trim on windows, while keeping other colors crisp and light with Whisper (DEW340) or White Picket Fence (DET648), to keep the look from going too heavy or autumnal.

Purple offers an array of possibilities in design; a bridge between cooler blues and warm reds. There’s a purple shade that appeals to masculine and feminine sensibilities, making it a great choice with which to experiment in your home or business. Looking for more inspiration with Dunn Edwards purple shades? Check out Dunn-Edwards color story The Silk Road here. Or how you can build a room around lighter hues of purple, like lavenders, here.