Pantone’s Color of the Year 2024 hits a sweet spot between the coziest shades of pink and orange and marks the 25th anniversary of the company’s program. Quietly sophisticated, this soft, velvety hue evokes modernity, comfort, warmth, and a gentle depth wherever it’s applied. We’ll show you how to incorporate Pantone’s Color of the Year, Peach Fuzz, in your home to create a flawless contemporary ambiance.
What is Pantone Color of the Year All About?
Pantone is a color company known best for its color-matching system. It provides a universal language of color for color-critical decisions throughout the world. The company operates the Pantone Color Institute, which performs color trend forecasting research and picks the color of the year.
Pantone Color of the Year is an educational program that commenced in 1999. In a 2023 interview, Pantone Vice President Laurie Pressman stated that the program was created “to engage the design community and color enthusiasts around the world in a conversation around color.”
So every year, the design world awaits Pantone’s big reveal, their Color of The Year, which determines a color spectrum and sets the tone for the year ahead. The color selection involves thoughtful trend analysis and consideration of macro-level color trend forecasting and research.
As the Color of the Year program gained popularity, its impact was felt across color cosmetics, fashion, interior design, home furnishings, automotive and industrial design, as well as product, multimedia, and packaging design. This program now influences purchasing decisions, design trends, and product development in almost every country and industry globally.
How is the Color of the Year Selected?
Every year, a team of global color experts at Pantone Color Institute tracks art, the entertainment industry, technologies, travel, and more to figure out one color influencing the world. Their research is not limited to just that; color psychology and forecasting tools are used to predict upcoming trends and a single tone for the year ahead.
They consider color trends from all aspects of society: marketing, fashion, social media, and even politics. Anything going on in the cultures, economics, and general interests of the world influences the Pantone Color of the Year selections.
This process continues year-round and entails daily conversations among color-attuned Pantone Color Institute team members from a wide range of cultural, design, and geographical backgrounds. So for Color of the Year 2024, the teams started their homework at the beginning of 2023.
Simply put, intellectual and intuitive groups of people worldwide observe, connect, and translate all that’s happening around the globe into the language of color.
Why is Pantone Color Institute a Big Deal?
Wondering what makes the Pantone Color Institute the global authority in selecting a Color of the Year? Here’s what:
Pantone has been providing color solutions since 1963 and works on education, inspiration, and promotion of the language of color. The fluency in Pantone’s language of color is adopted by designers worldwide to communicate color choices, access color trends, and control the consistency of color across all sorts of surfaces, textures, and finishes.
Leatrice Eiseman, the executive director who helped start the Pantone Color Institute, has an extensive background in design, color, and psychology. She and the teams of equally or exceedingly talented individuals are worth our trust when it comes to color preference study.
What Color is Peach Fuzz, Anyway?
The official name for Peach Fuzz is the “Pantone 13-1023 Peach Fuzz” and is perfectly described by the design authority as a gentle, velvety, and subtly sensual color. Peach fuzz is a pinkish-orange or soft peach hue and blends the warmth, friendliness, and energy of pastel orange with the tenderness and playfulness of pink.
As Eiseman stated in Pantone’s Peach Fuzz article, it’s a comforting color: this hue “echoes our innate yearning for closeness and connection”. She added it’s a “shade that resonates with compassion, offers a tactile embrace, and effortlessly bridges the youthful with the timeless.”
The soft, nurturing presence of peach fuzz creates a delicate, cozy, and welcoming atmosphere to calm us at times of global turmoil. Don’t miss the freshness and inviting energy of pastel orange that can amp up any area of your house.
How to Use Pantone Peach Fuzz in Your Home
With its distinctive soothing vibe, Peach Fuzz is a pretty versatile color when you use it right. A few applications around the house include:
Give Your Furniture a Soothing Glow
Peach Fuzz is a sophisticated yet contemporary color that injects a touch of personality into your decor. Fresh peachy hue looks stunning when used on statement furniture pieces, be it a sofa, coffee table, or armchair.
Its gentle and inviting vibe radiates a sense of peace and subtle warmth, adding depth to these furniture pieces. Pair it with muted tones or contrasting accents, your Peach Fuzz furniture won’t overpower the room and serve as a glorious focal point.
Whether you’re going for a velvet peachy chair that exudes comfort, a dresser that oozes charisma, or a peach-painted sideboard that shuns the conformity of natural wood furniture, this tone is perfect for adding character without making the space feel overwhelming.
Color the Walls
Peach fuzz is a beautiful color, but too much of it can easily flood your space with a fruity aura. So don’t go for a full room overhaul; give a single wall in the room a delicious dose of peach to create a focal point.
Or, if you don’t wish to paint, use wallpaper with peach patterns to add character and interest to the walls. Such pops of color create high opportunities for contrasting too, but be careful picking colors to meddle the peach with (more on that later).
Soften Textures and Furnishings
Because peach tones are rooted in organic, calm sensibilities, they work best as accents in textiles. The easiest places to blend this color in are the living room or bedroom. Add beautiful peachy prints on a large or small scale, pillows, cushions, or hang art in the room.
You can also hang light, airy curtains in the Pantone Peach Fuzz, fill your room with a cozy peachy hue, and enjoy the subtle glow all afternoon.
Fun Fact: This peach tone takes a different aspect based on how and where you use it.
Room too dark? Give it a subtle facelift in the form of Pantone peach cushions or blankets on sofas, beds, or chairs. Room too light? Create a vibrant accent with peach undertones on rugs, textured carpets, and upholstery. Your bathroom’s too boring? Add a cool peachy wallpaper to it!
Play with the Decor
Pantone’s color of the year communicates feelings of heartfelt caring, sharing, and tenderness. You can use it in your decor pieces to add a pop of color or create a laid-back, warming ambiance.
Here’s how:
- Place bowls or vases in peach tones on shelves and tables
- Add peach candles on the dining table, baths, bedrooms, and other places where you want to add warmth.
- Hang up a peachy artwork or print or paint the mirror corners with Peach Fuzz
- Use a peach-toned lampshade. It’ll soften the lighting and give a beautiful glow to the room.
- Peach fuzz is also a great hue for vintage, classic homes – rooms filled with mahogany furnishings and gold framed mirrors and art. Try this color for a farmhouse look, too.
- Complement peach walls with terracotta. The orangey hue gives a toasty feel to the room, even in the winter, and looks perfect with terracotta-tiled floors too.
- Tastefully complement any room with peach flowers or foliage or a bouquet of pale peach roses.
Colors That Pair Well with Pantone Peach Fuzz
Peach tones are pretty versatile, but a few color combinations can really pull together the overall look. Wherever you decide to incorporate this color in your home, here are some of our suggested pairs to keep in mind:
- Earthy Tones: Light or washed terracotta, soft sage green, ochre, teal, mauve, and dusky pink bring out the muted, natural look of Peach Fuzz. Use this combination in rooms that receive ample sunlight, or create a vintage look with lots of earthy tones and Peach Fuzz.
- Whites: Ivory or off-white creates a fresh, clean, and undisturbed backdrop. You can play with Peach Fuzz, and make it stand out, quite easily with whites.
- Pastels: Soft and cozy pastels including lavender, mint green, baby blue, and light pink compliment the nurturing and soothing feeling of Peach Fuzz. Together, they create a delicate palette for nurseries, kid’s rooms, or pantries.
- Pale Yellows: Soft hues of yellow are cheerful and inviting. They contrast well with peach and look especially uplifting in spring and summer.
- Monochromatic Color Schemes: Blending two or more different tones of peach in a space makes a cohesive and delightful monochromatic look.
- Light Grays: Grays don’t draw much attention, so they create a neutral backdrop for Peach Fuzz to subtly stand out.
- Metallics: Soft metallic colors such as rose gold, champagne, and light bronze bring out a vintage sophistication and glamor in space when paired with pink accents.
Check out our guide on color schemes for rooms for more tips and tricks.
Frequently Asked Questions
What does Pantone’s Color of the Year 2024 symbolize?
Peach Fuzz represents a collective desire for warmth, comfort, and a pinch of joy in our stressful lives. The color symbolizes connection, compassion, and strength and encourages creativity and personal expression.
How to use Pantone Peach Fuzz in a home with wooden floors?
Wooden floors come with different finishes, and not all pair well with a peachy interior. Maple wood, hickory, light oak, bamboo, and bleached wood options complement peach tones and enhance its warmth.
Does Peach Fuzz look good in small rooms?
Not only does it look good, Peach Fuzz adds a lot of character to a small space. Perk up small powder rooms, pantries, bedrooms, kids’ rooms, or other confined spaces with this nurturing shade.
Paint a single wall, add a peachy accent, contrast with a darker color, or treat it as neutral and drench the walls. Pantone’s Peach Fuzz can add coziness to a small space yet give a light and airy feel to it.
Ready for Peach Fuzz?
Your home is a visual depiction of who you are and incorporating a new color can sometimes get tricky. The key is to match the heartfelt kindness conveyed by the Color of the Year 2024 with complementing materials that uplift its compassionate nature.
If you’ve decided to put this beautiful color on your walls, furniture, or an accent piece but aren’t too sure about the decision and painting process, call in a painting pro to help!
Main Photo Credit: Peach Fuzz: YAROVA / Canva Pro / License, Peaches: LindasPhotography / Canva Pro / License, created using Canva Pro
