When he takes me in his arms, and speaks to me softly, I see the world through rose colored glasses.
Édith Piaf
PINK IS THE COLOR OF OPTIMISM
I started out on my color exploration by checking out the Benjamin Moore website for their list of colors for the year. I was caught off-guard that Benjamin Moore went all in and chose, First Light as their “Color of the Year for 2020” and even described the color by saying,“…the backdrop for a bright new decade.”
It felt too soft for me because we just crossed the threshold of 2020. This got me thinking. I guess we do need a little optimism for this next decade! After all, I was surfing the web and watching the news, and the topic was consistently about the upcoming presidential election. I directed my attention to a quick internet search about the color pink.
I remembered the phrase about “rose colored glasses” and thought Edith Piaf’s song, “La Vie en Rose” had a quote about seeing everything rosy and was fitting for this post. After all, I have found through my research that pink is also a highly optimistic color.
Pink is also known as a romantic color, let’s not forget the association with Valentine’s Day. It also has a gentleness and innocence about it, which is why we find it only natural to use in children’s rooms.
- For more pink color meanings, you can find it in my blog post, “15 Best Words to Describe Pink”.
- For books about pink, my series, “Colorful Bookcase: Books About Pink to Peruse” has a wealth of resources for pink color inspiration.
PINK BECOMES SOFTER THIS YEAR
Sunrise paints the sky with pinks and the sunset with peaches. Cool to warm. So is the progression from childhood to old age.
With my interest piqued, I decided to take a look at what the other major paint brands were doing. Surprisingly, I came across a distinct commonality! Every paint brand had their version of a pink paint color for 2020 that is softer, more mature, sophisticated and warm color compared to the more vibrant and youthful, millennial pink.
The shade hinging on sand or tan. It’s flesh-y if that’s a word and it’s definitely sophisticated and presented in a more luxe way. I’m referring to is as warm pink which encompasses a soft, rosy, dusty, mauve-y color.
Let’s not gloss over and forget about Millennial pink which monopolized Instagram over the last few years. I just typed #millennialpink into Instagram and over 75K images appeared. It became accepted as the new “it” color and now we’re starting to see it morph into a new shade that’s more subtle.
Behr’s Bubble Shell and Valspar’s Bombay Pink followed with adding warm pink to their color trend palettes for 2020. Sherwin Williams had two palettes with warm pink colors: Alive palette with Sandbank and Mantra palette with Breathless and Glamour.
HOW TO USE THE PINK PAINT COLOR PALETTES
The pink paint color palettes I created below have colors that are on trend. I’ve read several articles from major design resources and from interviews with interior designers that say to pair with yellows, ambers, camel, and ochre.
The other trend is to pair this warm pink with a bright blue. Red is nice bold move as well as a pop of moss green for a contrast. If you really love the new moss green trend, check out my post, ‘Shades of Green: Why Moss Green Is a Thing Lately”. I have more palettes for you there.
Of course, you don’t need to use all colors in these pink paint color palettes. For example, the color that is the brightest can remain as the accent color for decorative objects or finishing touches.
If a pink wall is not what you are looking for, then use pink paint color palettes to simply accent with the warm pink and use one of the colors in the palettes to use as a wall color.
Play with these pink paint color palettes for inspiration. Your furniture can be pink with darker walls, it’s up to you. For furniture and home decor in this shade, go to:
“15 Pink Home Decor Items Men Will Love To”.
15 PINK PAINT COLOR PALETTES TO INSPIRE YOU
I’ve converted the paint colors to HEX code. below. The colors I’ll be speaking to are the far left and marked with my watermark to make it easy for you to reference and compare. The palettes I’ve created can be uses as inspiration for your home project. I used htmlcsscolor.com to reference the color names.
SOFT PINK PAINT COLOR PALETTES
1. Dunn Edwards Marshmallow Rose, considered a “Pale” pink, containing the least amount of yellow compared to the rest of this post. This is still considered a warm pink and a neutral.
2. Benjamin Moore’s First Light, as their “Color of the Year 2020”, can be considered a “Bridesmaid” pink color. Delicate, but has a tad more yellow than the Marshmallow Rose. Described as, “soft rosy hue blooming with potential.” looks fabulous paired with saturated rich emerald green, dark teal, and accented by soft purple and maybe a hint of black.
3. Dunn Edwards’ Faded Light, also considered a “Bridesmaid” pink, contains a bit more yellow and I’m actually intrigued by the palette here. I love the various pinks but the contrast with dark slate gray and vicuna brown color.
DUSTY PINK PAINT COLOR PALETTES
4. Clare’s Baby Soft is considered a “Dawn pink” and is, “A classic pink. Soft, warm, and sweet.” It’s not so innocent when set with dark chocolate brown, peachy pink, and cabernet red.
5. Breathless, an “Alto pink”, by Sherwin Williams is a little darker than the above and looks stunning when accented with midnight blue and metallic gold. Very luxurious colors.
6. Kilz paint from Walmart in Cameo Coral, according to hex colors, is a “Bizarre pink”, and would look sophisticated paired with a “Muddy Waters” shade of orange-brown and the charcoal is a beautiful contrast with the pink.
7. Cherubic by Behr, considered a “Vanilla Ice pink” again pops against the contrast of the ochre “Hacienda” color and those chocolates are back in the interior trend.
MAUVE PINK PAINT COLOR PALETTES
8. Glidden’s Glamour, a “Martini pink” pairs well with the smoke and sage-y colors and that pop of bright yellow is kind of fun.
9. Ashes of Roses, also by Glidden, a “Cavern pink”, that is on trend with the moss green. I’ve seen a lot of designers using green accent furniture with pink. Nice contrast.
WARM PINK PAINT COLOR PALETTES
10. Angelico by Behr has a “Bizarre pink” lovely with the surprising denim and turquoise. You do this as an accent color for trim.
11. Another “Cavern pink” by Valspar named, Bombay Pink, with blues in lighter colors.
12. Sherwin Williams has Sandbank, a “Eunry pink” with unexpected greens and that terra-cotta is very sophisticated and seen more this year in interior decor. Remember, it’s warming up!
13. Persian Bazaar by Kelly-Moore is on the “Quicksand pink” color side and on their site is recommended to be used with warm ochre, yellow, soft gray and beige which you will see if you click on the link. I, however, played with darker greens, khaki, and very light gray.
14. Cinder Rose by Farrow & Ball has a beautiful “Quicksand pink” like the one above but with the salmon and brighter greens.
15. Last but not least, Bubble Shell by Behr is a stronger “Eunry pink” color that looks amazing with the ochre color and dark mauve. This one could be fun. Think more along using golds in the metal details in the room as well.
