Contrasting Colors, Natural Hues to Define 2019 Design

REPORT FROM THE U.S.—In 2019, hotel design will be moving away from the popular neutral color trend of the last several years and going toward bold and unique color pairings with inspiration from nature to make hotels feel more like home.

PPG recently released its color of the year for 2019, called “Night Watch,” which is a deep green color.

Lela Richardson, senior project designer at Wilson Associates, said using deep, dramatic colors in hotel design has already been seen in the industry, and next year, this trend is expected to continue while pulling in dark greens, like “Night Watch.”

“I actually really like dark green,” she said. “… There are a few ways I see it coming out: One is you have this really moody, dramatic opportunity to see it as an accent or throughout the whole space. As an accent, you see it gives a very powerful statement, but then throughout the space, especially in smaller spaces like restaurants or speakeasies, I can see it used holistically throughout the space—in the walls, in accents (and) in (furniture, fixtures and equipment.”

The second way deeper colors like “Night Watch” can be used is as a backdrop in hotels, Richardson said.

“You have this beautiful, dark color that really does help color in not just gray, and throwing a vibrant color on top of that in contrast,” she said. “That could be your surprise. As you walk into a space, that’s what draws you in.”

Christine Shanahan, director of design at HVS Design, said hotels are moving away from the knee-jerk reaction of neutralizing everything and are going toward color washing, which is where designers wash a room holistically in a color.

“What I think we’re enjoying is a renaissance of color again,” she said. “People not being afraid to be bold and be colorful, and we’re seeing the color washing is where we see very, very interesting pairings of off colors, unexpected colors or unusual color pairing, and they create such energy in the room.”

Shanahan said she sees the color-washing trend starting in the guestroom and being paired with softer or contrasting colors to enhance deeper colors. Eventually, it will move to public spaces where there is a feature or a focus, allowing color to come into furnishings and single walls, she said.

A guestroom at The Embassy Row Hotel in Washington, D.C., designed by HVS Design. (Photo: HVS Design)

Inspiration from nature
PPG’s choice of “Night Watch” as color of the year was inspired by the growing popularity of house plants, and designers said hotels can incorporate plants into public spaces like lobbies to liven them up a bit.

• Click here to read hoteliers explaining the benefits of incorporating plants in hotels

Shanahan said designers and hotels are reinventing in new ways, and this applies to colors and plants.
“I spent many years taking out planters; planters from the 1980s when there were big, big lobbies with massive planters,” she said.

When the massive planters were taken out, the lobbies felt less inviting, she said.

“If you’re anybody, you’re attempting to have a fiddley fig growing in your house or in your commercial space,” Shanahan said. “So I think people wanted greenery back, people want the warmth of something natural, something alive, but we didn’t want it in that mass quantity that we had it years and years ago. So we’re using the plants to kind of punctuate and accent (hotels).”

Richardson added that she doesn’t see the houseplant trend coming into hotels, but she does see more natural elements coming in, such as living walls and hanging plants. These elements help create an inviting living space, she said.

Gail McCleese, practice area leader of hospitality at design firm Gensler, said living plant walls allow hotels to bring in nature without having an outside element exposed, as some hotels do with atrium features.

She added that wellness is not going away, which is why there’s been a push toward natural colors in hotels. McCleese said PPG’s “Night Watch” could be used as a balancer throughout spaces in a hotel.

Gensler designed the Bloom & Bee restaurant at The Post Oak Hotel at Uptown Houston. The chairs in the photo have splashes of dark green on abstract floral upholstery. (Photo: Fertitta Entertainment)

Other colors on trend
Dark greens might be seen on walls, in furnishings and in other parts of the hotel, but designers said other colors will be popular, but it depends on the location of the hotel. And while neutrals aren’t as predominant as they have been in recent years, they’ll still pop up in hotels.

“In (the U.S.,) you might see gorgeous neutrals, really pretty warm or cool neutrals,” Richardson said. “Not always gray, not always brown, but really (soothing) colors in certain areas.”

Neutrals will make their appearance, but Richardson said hotels might also take a cue from the recent Milan Fashion Week, where “multicolored everything” was seen in clothing.

“(Multicolored is) done in a tailored way,” she said. “I think that’s where it’s going. It’s specific to the location of the hotel and it’s really opening up for designers to really use their imagination with color.”

Richardson added that there’s really not one specific color her firm would name as a predominant color for next year.

“It’s about balance, but I don’t think there’s one specific color that we can name for the next year just because I see everything coming into play,” she said.