The hot color for 2011

Here we are: It’s 2011.

What do the next 12 months hold for interior design?

The answer is, in a word, pink.

That’s according to Pantone’s color institute, an international authority in color forecasting that crosses

all genres of design, including the fashion runways of New York and your local discount retailer’s pillow aisle.

Pantone recently pronounced honeysuckle pink as the color of the year for 2011.

It is a rich, warm hue with just a touch of cherry red: not quite as bright as fuchsia, nowhere near as soft as baby girl pink and not murky like the drab mauves of the 1980s.

Leatrice Eiseman, executive director of the Pantone Color Institute and a Bainbridge Island resident, describes the color as encouraging and uplifting, perfect for these uncertain times.

According to Pantone, honeysuckle pink “elevates our psyche beyond escape, instilling the confidence, courage and spirit to meet the exhaustive challenges that have become part of everyday life.”

In 2010, Pantone’s color of the year was a turquoise blue. That hue, according to Eiseman, was more about escape.

Pink is intense and focused on the now. It’s young, but not too young.

Some designers have described the color as “Mad Men” pink, citing the AMC hit show about life at an ad agency in the 1960s.

Pink is a key element in creating a Tokyo pop look. That’s one of the top design schemes Behr, a popular line of paints, is forecasting for 2011.

“Flirtatious, light-hearted and girly cute,” Tokyo pop is all about optimistic bright colors that cheer, including Pinkelicious, a Behr color similar to honeysuckle pink.

If painting an entire wall any type of pink sounds too bold for you, do what most people will do in 2011: Simply accessorize with pink.

Pillows, bedspreads and tabletop accessories should all be available in honeysuckle pink — or something like it — in just about every price range this year.

Crate & Barrel’s not-yet-released spring collection, for example, will include a hot pink surf chair as well as bedding with bold hot pink patterns.

Jonathan Adler’s line of silk-screened linen kaleidoscope pillows, out now, features a mix of warm yellows, oranges and reds, plus that playful honeysuckle pink.

Pink, unlike the many blues recommended by Pantone over the past decade, seems like the perfect choice for Northwest homes, the ideal foil to our winter grays and, perhaps, the perfect color for kicking off spring.

Sarah Jackson: 425-339-3037, sjackson@heraldnet.com.

Past hot colors

Pantone’s colors of the year over the past decade have been dominated by blues and reds. Until honeysuckle pink was named color of the year for 2011, the only pink hue chosen by the color group in the past 10 years was a hot fuchsia pink in 2001.

Honeysuckle, a bright, warm pink (2011)

Turquoise, an aqua-marine blue (2010)

Mimosa, a vibrant yellow (2009)

Blue iris, a periwinkle purple (2008)

Chili pepper, a deep, hot red (2007)

Sand dollar, a beige (2006)

Blue turquoise, a muted blue (2005)

Tigerlily, a red-orange (2004)

Aqua sky, a blue (2003)

True red, a lipstick red (2002)

Fuchsia rose, a hot pink (2001)

Cerulean, a periwinkle blue (2000)