Behr Experts Debut Top Paint Trends for 2015

Frosted Pastels. Nuanced Neutrals. Deep Dreams. Social Brights. Behr’s 2015 themes feature 20 all-new paint colours

Twenty all-new paint colours for 2015 shown in four inspirational looks

“Colour is really a reflection of who you are,” explains Behr Paints marketing manager Nancy Bollefer.

“If you don’t have the right colour on your walls, in your home… you’ll never feel like your home is right – so it’s about selecting a colour that resonates with you.”

Every year, the paint experts at Behr research top global trends and create an entirely new palette to properly represent the trends they’re seeing around the world.

This year, Bollefer reveals Behr’s trends are coming with a little something extra – tips on how to balance colour.

“Consumers don’t always know how to use colour, so what we’re doing is we’re showing the images in context and showing them how to use pops of colour to make their space look interesting.”

Without further ado, click through for Behr’s four on-trend themes featuring 20 all-new paint colour collections: Frosted Pastels, Nuanced Neutrals, Deep Dreams and Social Brights.

Credit: Behr

Frosted Pastels

A delicate opening number, the Frosted Pastels are a collection of soft pink, blue and yellow, and admittedly Bollefer’s favourite.

“What’s interesting about the Frosted Pastels is they feel very sophisticated,” says Bollefer.

“They feel very hushed, they’re more refined, they’re greyer, they’re desaturated and they’re subtle.”

To punch up a soft palette, the Frosted Pastels are paired with one colour from the 2015 colour trend Social Brights, Plastic Lime.

Social Brights is a trend in itself, explains Bollefer, but Behr took the Social Brights colours and integrated them into the other three trends to add zest.

“It’s the zesty accents that you can throw at any space to keep it from feeling sleepy – especially in this Frosted Pastels – or feeling overly sweet.”

In this themed room, the pastel paints are balanced by the mauve and black found on floor stencils, fireplace tiles and window treatments.

Corresponding BEHR paint colours include (left to right):

Dreamscape Gray T15-6

Elusive Blue T15-8

Secret Blush T15-7

(Social Brights Plastic Lime T15-15)

Dandelion Tea T15-9

Credit: Behr

Deep Dreams

“Even though the colour here that you’re seeing is extremely saturated on the wall, it’s balanced again by the lighter tones in the furniture, in the mirrors on the wall, in the table lamps,” says Bollefer. 

A lot of the colours in this palette, which range from deep teal to burgundy, are actually more “supporting colours,” she explains.

These are very rich, and so prospective painters are recommended to give it some levity and some life by adding lighter hues to go with it – “to keep it balanced without feeling to weighty overall,” says Bollefer.

Accompanying furniture and accessories in this more eclectic and exotic global collection are going to be very dark and burnt whiskey stained woods, which are very much on trend says Bollefer. “If you go to the lighter, cooler-toned woods, they’re on trend as well, but they still have that sort of black undertone, that burnt finish to them, and pewter and nickel are popular finishes that work with that particular trend.”

Corresponding BEHR paint colours include (left to right):

Your Majesty T15-4

Heritage Oak T15-5

Liaison T15-1

Seared Gray T15-2

Essential Teal T15-3
 

Credit: Behr

Nuanced Neutrals

The Nuanced Neutrals trend comes from the “makers movement” says Bollefer, where people are making their own bread, doing their own drying, canning, etc.

These very livable, mid-range, mid-toned colours are often mixed with copper finishes – copper being something Behr’s seeing a lot of at the moment – as well as some very modern industrial pieces.

In the spirit of the makers movement, Behr even DIYed a herringbone feature wall in the themed room for Nuanced Neutrals.

“We used a dark blue as the base, from one of our other colour palettes (Seared Grey) and then we painted this Blue Clay overtop. And before it had dried, we wiped some of it off and then we sanded down the surface a little bit to get this weathered look.”

Corresponding BEHR paint colours include (left to right):

Mocha Foam T15-17

Mulberry Wine T15-19

Blue Clay T15-16

Snap Pea Green T15-18

Peach Preserve T15-20
 

Credit: Behr

Social Brights

“The key here is to use these sparingly,” imparts Bollefer.

In the themed room the brights are used for a blue accent wall, as opposed to the entire apartment, says Bollefer.

“You want to balance them with lighter or darker colours, going one way or another.

“The window trim here is that seared grey blue, so that kind of grounds it, and then you’ll see even on the floors we have the honey gold flooring here — and that’s coming back — and it works very much with that mid-century modern trend.”

In Social Brights Behr demonstrates how to play with and experiment with colour, but without over-using it, she says. “Again, keeping a balance.”

Corresponding BEHR paint colours include (left to right):

Graphic Grape T15-12

Prime Purple T15-13

Sonic Blue T15-11

Clarified Orange T15-10

Super Hero T15-14

The Behr 2015 Color Trends brochure can be found in stores and includes detailed décor themes plus design and decorating tips to help consumers visualize each space.