Color of the Year for 2021 and Incorporating it in Your Upholstery

WITH a new year comes a new brightness – and that is true quite literally with the Color of the Year for 2021.

For more than two decades, the color company Pantone has unveiled an official Color of the Year – but given the turbulence of 2020 it kicked off 2021 by announcing two.

And for the next 12 months the colors everyone is looking to are a bright cheerful yellow shade, called Illuminating, paired with the company’s Ultimate Gray.

For those of us who like details, they are coded as Pantone 17-5104 for the Ultimate Gray and Pantone 13-0647 for the Illuminating.

Together, the color combination is ideal for home or work, with a cool and neutral backing shade of gray to make the yellow really pop with its joie de vivre, or cheerful enjoyment of life.

So if you are considering a change-up in your décor and furniture, these colors are a great place to start for a quick and bright fix and are ideally suited for working from home.

For your upholstery, the colors are ideal – office space lends itself to the calm of the gray, but a sitting room may be calling for the brighter yellow to really make a statement and keep work and home separate even when they are literally feet apart.

With window dressings, your room can be transformed into an optimistic and hopeful spot with a dash of Illuminating yellow brought into curtains or drapes, or some new cushions to bring a bold burst of color to your couch.

Pantone deliberately chose two colors that are not particularly linked to give people a broad canvas with which to work – the gray works well as a background for any bright color, but the yellow was chosen as it added hopefulness to the mix.

Take a stroll through your home and think about the areas that need brightening up or a calming influence. Maybe the bathroom could do with new Illuminating yellow towels? The home office a gray chair? Or throw rugs of either color to create a whole new look.

And gray as a base color for a new sofa gives you the perfect excuse to go wild with cushions and throw blankets to add character and warmth to your room.

Pantone uses industry trends to select its Color of the Year but the last time it had a duo was 2016.

"The union of an enduring Ultimate Gray with the vibrant yellow Illuminating expresses a message of positivity supported by fortitude," said Leatrice Eiseman, executive director of the Pantone Color Institute. "Practical and rock-solid but at the same time warming and optimistic, this is a color combination that gives us resilience and hope. We need to feel encouraged and uplifted. This is essential to the human spirit."