Move over, beige, there's a new go-to hue for the home.
Purple's reign started on the fashion runway a few seasons back, then in small doses on the homefront. Now it's front and center -- on pieces big and small.
"It started as an accent color," said Penny Eudy, project manager, upholstery, for La-Z-Boy. "Neutrals used to be beige, brown and black, but that purple sure has jumped in there."
"That purple," for the record is "not Barney purple or '80s purple," Eudy said. "It's more of a neutral" -- a warm gray, or a plum with a gray undertone. "It's a livable, easy-to-take hue."
But brighter, bolder purples also are gaining ground, according to home furnishings forecaster Michelle Lamb of the Eden Prairie-based Trend Curve.
"Consumers have gotten used to purple," she said. "It started in 2009; now it's no-holds-barred. You can find it in tableware, upholstery, wall coverings. It's absolutely everywhere. We're going to have purple through 2011, primarily on the red side."
The color is appearing from light to dark, from palest lavender to deepest plum, Eudy said.
Purple's popularity is strong in contemporary-style pieces, but variations of it, such as amethyst, also work well in traditional or transitional interiors, Lamb said. "It's well accepted now. It's definitely more mainstream."
