Pantone Fashion Color Series: Placid Blue
Author:Vicky LawPantone Fashion Color Series: Looking for a way to update your abode for spring? Incorporate Pantone’s Spring 2014 picks to prep your home for warmer days ahead. We’ve already met Radiant Orchid, Pantone Color of the Year; so let’s take a closer look at the rest of the chosen shades. Whether you add just a touch here and there, or makeover your space entirely in these colors, these hues usher in spring dreams while chasing away winter doldrums. First up: The cool, relaxing Placid Blue.
A soft pastel invoking the sky, this hue of blue brings a sense of openness and peacefulness to any room. A hint of gray softens the blue and ushers in a serene coolness without evoking an icy chill. This color is an excellent counterpoint to another one of Pantone’s Spring picks—the assertive, vivid Dazzling Blue.
The restrained blue is quiet enough to serve as an all-over color to a room, but has enough verve to brighten—through well-placed accents—an otherwise one-note space.
In certain lighting (and in some fabric swatches), Placid Blue skews a smidge periwinkle. For some, the color would be described as an ice blue; for others, it’s a dusky azure. Designers (and other compulsive individuals who have to have the Placid Blue), take note of the CMYK, RGB and Pantone numbers here to ensure you get the right shade—Hex#: 83b5dd; RGB: 131.181.221; CMYK: 47.17.2.0; Pantone: 15-3920.
Just Looking.
Not ready to commit to the color? Just a touch will bring in a breath of fresh air. Add a pillow here, a throw there, or hang curtains in Placid Blue. Look for interesting textures and prints that pairs the hue with other colors for just a hint of the cool blue.
Fleur-de-lis patterned melamine plates are a great way to introduce Placid Blue into your home, without overhauling your existing design and color schemes.
Just Friends.
Looking for something a little more substantial than a few small accent pieces? Painting a wall, a room, or even a door is an easy way to emphatically bring in the blue—without committing to a major purchase or new color scheme. Soft and pliable, the blue can function as neutral, pairing well other soft shades like pastels, grays, creams, and beiges. However, pops of yellow or graphic black-and-white can enliven the retiring color.
If you already have the blue accents and want to turn it up a notch, paint the walls the easy-going shade to really draw out those details.
Make a statement with the soft color by painting your door in this shade of blue—the grayish undertones pair beautifully with distressed or whitewashed wood.
Placid Blue is an obvious choice for a baby boy’s bedroom—but this easy DIY wall design would make a graphic impact in any room in the house. All you need is painter’s tape and a ruler (and a steady hand).
Even the soothing tones of the blue are a natural match for the bedroom, you can still bring Placid Blue into other rooms as an accent color. Perfect for a sophisticated country cottage or a beach house, Placid Blue chairs are an unexpected touch in a neutral palette.
Just Can’t Get Enough.
Head-over-heels for the shade? The soothing nature of the blue makes it possible to bedeck an entire room in Placid Blue. Mix up textures and prints in the color so that the room doesn’t look washed out. We love what the Four Seasons Hotel Des Bergues in Switzerland did in their dining room:
Just For Fun.
For the Placid-Blue-obsessed: Paint your house to match the sky.
Check out the rest of Pantone’s Spring 2014 colors here!
