Do any of you remember when pink and charcoal kitchens were in style? My Mom’s kitchen built in 1956 had light pink walls and charcoal Formica counter tops. The floor was a linoleum tile that was charcoal with pink splotches. It sounds bad – and the floor was ghastly to take care of (not that I had to do anything more than sweep it) – but the house had enough windows that it wasn’t too dark and the wood was a light brown color.
My Gene Florence book on glass from the 1940s, 50s and 60s, Collectible Glassware from the 40s, 50s & 60s, reproduced a print ad describing the color combination for 1956 – pink and charcoal. My Mom was right on trend! (Dave’s Mom’s kitchen was painted pink with pink and charcoal counter tops.)
This weekend we heard a talk from Lee Eiseman from the Pantone Institute on color trends for this year and next. I was intrigued by several of her forecasted color combinations, especially when she got to the grays. We’ve noticed that gray seems a popular choice for nurseries and children’s accessories, yet she had not tagged gray as a particularly trending color. She said instead that she recommended adding a touch of contrast if one was merchandising gray colored products.
Her first suggestion for a contrast color was – yes indeed – pink. At the trade show we saw a lot of retro-influenced designs, rounded corners, 1930s-style fonts, a bit of chrome along with soft pastel colors in home goods like toasters.
I don’t recall pink and charcoal combinations in linens but there were a few kitchen / living accessories (think big bowls, pitchers) that used the combination albeit as accents. She showed several shades of pinks, in combinations with other colors, ranging from a very pale blush pink up to a medium bright pink with a rose touch. One of the pinks was just about the color of our pink depression glass!
Do you like this combination? And did you save that pink shaker or the gray bowl from your Mom?