HOME DECORATION : Yoo Hue! ’93 Colors Are Here

What’s the latest news in hues?

Window & Wall Ideas magazine says the 1993 home-furnishings palette has color groupings that range from tropical brights to mellow white whispers. They are:

* Tropical punch: When the going gets tough, the tough turn to uplifting colors. Banishing the recessionary blues will be easier if you build a room around what color guru Virginia Jackson calls “the brilliant brights.”

In 1993, it’ll be high tide for hues that conjure up images of tropical paradise: parrot green, fuchsia, deep-sea and sky blues, chili-pepper red, mango, parakeet yellow and sunset purple.

Whether you stick to solids on solids or mix solids with a riveting pattern, a sunny island palette will stir up good cheer throughout the house. Bright hues can be especially charming for children’s rooms, sun porches and family rooms. Even splashing some of these brilliants atop cooler, calmer hues can give a tired room a breezy new feel.

* Bountiful harvest. Picture grapes ripening on the vine next to a Victorian farmhouse. On a nearby porch, baskets laden with just-picked fruits and vegetables are waiting to be washed and eaten.

A garden-fresh palette--of eggplant, carrot, raspberry, grape, sunshine yellow and bright rose along with mellow hues such as artichoke, rhubarb and pumpkin--is shaping up to be next year’s most romantic color story.

Whether you live in the country, all things associated with gracious rural living--the varied textures, the glorious natural hues, a no-fuss attitude--are essential to this new country style. It’s dramatic, livable and sophisticated, and the shades associated with it may well turn out to be one of the decade’s most delightful color crops.

* Barely there. The cool, spare chic of white has become a classic, but even classics are bound to evolve.

For 1993, white is more textural, intricate and inviting than ever. You might say there’s a white thaw occurring, thanks to patterns, quilting and weaves.

Two fabrics to watch for are velvets and the new chenilles. Look for the addition of barely there colors including Arctic blue, pink blush, custard yellow, sand, nectar and jade ice to lend a new depth, spirit and glamour to white without sacrificing the ambience of simplicity and calm.

* The good Earth. The backlash against the ostentatious 1980s, along with a new concern for the environment, has contributed to a palette that pays homage to colors of the Earth.

Although this color story may have a familiar feel, it’s not Southwest, tribal or American frontier. Rather, it’s a curious mix of all three, accented by a new subtlety and individualism.

In 1993, burnished metals, including iron, golden bronze and copper--along with ebony, bone, pine needle, clay, cinnabar and indigo--will blend to create understatedly rich interiors distinguished by an elegant layering of intriguing texture.