As some of you may know, Pantone, the world's leading authority on color, announces a "color of the year" every December. After consulting trendsetters in the home, fashion, and consumer goods markets, they boldly marked 2011 the year of Honeysuckle.
Leatrice Eiseman, executive director of the Pantone Color Institute® explains "While the 2010 color of the year, PANTONE 15-5519 Turquoise, served as an escape for many, Honeysuckle emboldens us to face everyday troubles with verve and vigor. A dynamic reddish pink, Honeysuckle is encouraging and uplifting. It elevates our psyche beyond escape, instilling the confidence, courage and spirit to meet the exhaustive challenges that have become part of everyday life.
“In times of stress, we need something to lift our spirits. Honeysuckle is a captivating, stimulating color that gets the adrenaline going – perfect to ward off the blues,” explains Leatrice Eiseman, executive director of the Pantone Color Institute®. “Honeysuckle derives its positive qualities from a powerful bond to its mother color red, the most physical, viscerally alive hue in the spectrum.”
Eiseman continues, “The intensity of this festive reddish pink allures and engages. In fact, this color, not the sweet fragrance of the flower blossoms for which it was named, is what attracts hummingbirds to nectar. Honeysuckle may also bring a wave of nostalgia for its associated delicious scent reminiscent of the carefree days of spring and summer.”
I had to dig deep, but do indeed recall fond memories of the sweetly aromatic bushes that lined the driveway of one of my childhood homes. Most of the blossoms were white, so that is my most prominent association with the flower, but there were brightly hued fuchsia bushes as well. Last year's color Turquoise was more befitting of my personal decorating tastes, but a few months into the year and with the color heavy on my design radar in magazines and the vast blogosphere, I am starting to appreciate Honeysuckle's vibrancy and uplifting powers, although I haven't been bold enough to try it on anything more than my toe nails just yet!!
Images above:
1. I love the simple pop of this pink chair, found on Style Estate.
2. Insight on this daring designer's living room, as quoted from www.bhoome.com: "In her own 1940s bungalow, interior designer Natalie Umbert opted for an eye-popping fuchsia—Benjamin Moore Royal Fuchsia 2078-30—after trying several neutral wall colors that she deemed 'forlorn'.”
3. Honeysuckle stands up surprisingly well in ethnic room schemes, especially when paired with an equally spicy orange as seen in this image from www.idesignarch.com.
4. A teen's room I designed using bold pink, punches of orange and crisp white in 2010.....before the trend hit!!
5. A pink-themed feast from Traditional Home.
6. A hot pink lacquered bureau from Chelsea Textiles featured in a recent Elle Decor piece, both in the magazine and online.
7. A hand-painted Balinese basket from The Loaded Trunk.
8. Hi-Light Task Lamp from PB Teen.
9. Hot Pink Brooke Rug from Madeline Weinrib.