Styled, Staged & Sold

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2020's Hottest Paint Colors: Which Is Your Favorite?

Paint firms have chimed in with their choices for 2020 Color of the Year, and blues, greens, and pinks dominate the field. Here's an overview of the color picks of leading paint companies. 


1. Sherwin Williams: Naval

Sherwin Blue kitchen

Photo credit: Sherwin Williams

Sherwin Williams chose a rich navy color called "Naval" in a nod to the Art Deco era. The paint firm says Naval is a timeless color that can easily pair with a mix of natural materials, such as brass tones, and a wide range of textures. 

2. PPG: Chinese Porcelain

PPG Chinese Porcelain paint color

Photo credit: PPG

Paint firm PPG chose "Chinese Porcelain," a blend of cobalt and muted navy tones, as its 2020 Color of the Year. "Consumers are tiring of stark grays and are looking to infuse colors that delight the senses," says Dee Schlotter, senior color manager at PPG. "Blue is the easiest possible entry point from the world of neutrals to the world of color."

3. Pantone: Classic Blue

Pantone color of the year

Photo credit: Pantone

Pantone blue pillow

Photo credit: Simplicity of Life 

Pantone made a simple choice with "Classic Blue" as its 2020 Color of the Year. The paint company describes the color—which is remarkably close to REALTOR® Blue—as the "sky at dusk," "timeless," "easily relatable," and "restful." The color is being shown prominently on walls, rugs, decorative pillow accents, and kitchen cabinets. 

4. Behr: Back to Nature

Behr "Back to Nature"

Photo credit: Behr

Behr's top color pick for 2020 is a meadow-inspired green called "Back to Nature." The yellow-based, greenish hue aims to give the illusion of bringing the outdoors inside, whether splashed on a living room wall or bedroom throw pillow.

5. Benjamin Moore: First Light

Benjamin Moore First Light paint

Photo credit: Benjamin Moore

Benjamin Moore chose "First Light," a soft, rosy color that follows the rising popularity of pinks and blushes. "First Light reflects a new definition of the home—a shift in mindset from the material to satisfying the core needs in life: community, comfort, security, self-expression, authenticity," says Andrea Magno, Benjamin Moore's director of color marketing and development. 

6. HGTV Home by Sherwin Williams: Romance

Sherwin Williams: Romance

Photo credit: HGTV Home by Sherwin Williams

HGTV Home also jumped on the pink trend with "Romance," a soft, dusty shade. It has been shown as an accent against blues or as a dominant color on walls or furniture. The pale pink is a versatile color reminiscent of rose gold and rose copper, the company says.  

7. Graham & Brown: Adeline

Graham & Brown: Adeline paint

Photo credit: Graham & Brown

The British wallpaper company Graham & Brown offered a deep green hue called "Adeline" as its pick for 2020 Color of the Year. It's a hunter green shade and yet another nod to the natural world.  

8. Dunn-Edwards: Minty Fresh

Dunn-Edwards: Minty Fresh paint

Photo Credit: Dunn-Edwards

Pastels are trending, and that's why Dunn-Edwards chose "Minty Fresh," a soft green that is meant to have a nostalgic 1950s feel. The company says the relaxing pastel evokes "calm" and "clean."

9. Pratt & Lambert: Songbird

Pratt & Lambert: Songbird paint

Photo credit: Pratt & Lambert

Pratt & Lambert also went with a mint shade called "Songbird," a color it refers to as "youthful" and "optimistic." They predict a growth in botanical hues and chalky pastels in 2020. "Luxury and design are being looked at in a new light, with the influence of Hygge and pairing back movement. Our 2020 trending colors are a perfect example of this balance—a blend of glamorous jewel hues grounded by neutral tones," says Ashley Banbury, senior color designer for Pratt & Lambert Paints. 

10. Kelly Moore: Sun God

Kelly Moore: "Sun God" paint

Photo credit: Kelly Moore

The paint brand Kelly Moore went bright and sunny with its choice of "Sun God." Kelly Moore describes the color as "a brash, brassy yellow" that sets out to disrupt "white rooms and monochromatic schemes" with a powerful color punch. The firm predicts bright yellow to show up on everything from faucets and cabinets to upholstery and accent walls. "It's a fresh accent color that pairs with neutrals just as well as pink has over the past few years, but the look is more bold and grown-up," the company says. 

11. Valspar: 12 Nature-Inspired Colors

Valspar paint color earthy tone

Photo credit: Valspar

Valspar neutral sky color

Photo credit: Valspar

Valspar light green paint color

Photo credit: Valspar

Valspar rose-pink paint color

Photo credit: Valspar

Valspar light soft blue paint color

Photo credit: Valspar

Instead of choosing just one color this year, Valspar chose 12 that it expects to be popular in 2020. The hues range from pale earthy neutrals (Winter Calm, Canyon Earth, Desert Fortress, Pale Powder) to cooler tones (Secret Moss, Secluded Garden, Tempered Sage, Grey Brook, Mint Whisper, Utterly Blue) and pinks (Bombay Pink, Crushed Out). "The palette of colors accepted as neutrals in the home has expanded," says Sue Kim, Valspar's color marketing manager. Valspar said that the landscape and outdoors served as a major inspiration behind its 2020 color palette.

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