Learn the skills and concepts you will need to become a Kitchen and Bath Designer. The page below lists schools and colleges that offer excellent programs and degrees in Kitchen and Bath Design. Study basic design, drawing, plumbing and lighting designs that will train you to be a success in the Kitchen and Bath Design Industry.

by Wendy Croix
SchoolSmart by Design Columnist

The use of color in interior design and home decorating sets a feeling tone that must work for designer and client alike. Ultimately, color choice is both intensely emotional and highly personal, since colors and their combinations "have a profound effect on our mood and well-being," according to painter Annie Sloan and designer Kate Gwynne. Though response to color is personal, the colors themselves can be surprisingly market-driven.

The Color Marketing Group

The CMG is an international nonprofit association of color design professionals. These color experts identify color trends and offer marketing advice to merchandising and design industries. Twice yearly, the group's conferences offer a marketing forum on color.

Forecasting home decorating colors

How does the CMG predict which colors will attract the consumers of design? The group identifies current color "best sellers" and forthcoming colors expected to sell well in the next 12-18 months. CMG's forecast workshops then explore economic, environmental, social, cultural and technological issues worldwide. The results are consolidated, and published as four color palettes.

The interior design colors of the future

Forget about 2005's Sea Coral (pink with a healthy glow), Latin Rose (baked by the equatorial sun), or serene Twilight Shadow. The Color Marketing Group foresees the color trends in interior design through 2007:

• For 2006 the trend will be warm, clear, and bright colors with a touch of sophistication and luxury. On next year's palette: Asian Rose, Decoesque (a reinterpretation of both green an blue), dark neutral Elemental Gray, and luxurious Flemish Gold.
• In 2007, CMG's futurists expect a rich, clean, deep palette driven by strong polarities and a return to nature. Expect to see Moroccan Sky (the color of "an exotic desert morning"), nature's Root (a blend of red, brown, purple), and the conifer-esque Spruced Up.

Now that you're ahead of the color game, your clients will think you picked their home decorating colors and interior design hues right out of your crystal ball.

Sources

Color Marketing Group
Sloan, Annie and Kate Gwynn. Color in Decoration. Boston: Little, Brown, 1990.

About the Author

Wendy Croix, Ph.D. is a freelance writer, cultural critic and university professor. In her twenty years as a professional educator, Wendy has guided hundreds of students toward the careers of their dreams.

Posted on September 7, 2005 at 11:08 AM