My experience designing a paint colour

On a beautiful sunny summer afternoon, a small group of us headed off to COAT Paints in Central London to create our very own Hub Insiders paint colour. A unique experience for which we had been waiting for months — we were all so excited!

Hub What?

To avoid confusion, here is a little background on the who and the what. Hub Insiders is a membership program for interior designers based in the UK. It is part of The Interior Designers Hub, which is run by the marvelous Kate (pictured to my right in the photo above). The Hub coordinated this event with COAT Paints. After a couple of date changes and personally fearing I was not going to be in the country for a settled date (had a safari holiday planned with my lovely hubby), I managed to make it by one day!

THE WHEEL OF FORTUNE

You may wonder, how did I get selected to be part of such a priviledged group of six? Well, the answer is simple: pure luck. The Hub had a brilliant idea to put all the participating names in a digital wheel of fortune, and spin. Luckily, on one of the six turns the needle landed on my name!

Before the big day

In preparation for our Central London excursion, we created a WhatsApp group to coordinate journeys, arrival times and where to meet. I am based in SW London, so my journey was one of the shortest. We all managed to meet at a coffee shop prior to our paint engagement and gleefully walk over to COAT headquarters in Clerkenwell, London.

WELCOME, please come in!

There was no way we could miss Coat Paints' offices — just take a look at the picture above, what a colourful façade! We were just outside taking pictures when someone was ready to let us in. They made us feel so welcome, even let us look around their premises before settleling in. One of the founders, Rob, was there during the whole time. He gave us the background on the company’s story, principles and eco consience. As it was lunch time, they even had a light lunch and drinks ready for us.

Prior to our meeting, COAT had also asked us to share any colour trends seen on our latest projects. The question was posted on the Hub Insiders Facebook group, for members to comment. On the day, Kate had prepared a beautiful digital presentation with the answers and stats on paint orders made through The Interior Designers Hub.

INSIGHT ON TRENDS

The Hub has a supplier directory, to which members have access and through which they can place orders. Paint colours from various different brands are sourced frequently by the Hub and it is evident that paint orders for gray tones are low. The Hub’s data showed that, while orders for shades of gray have decreased substantially, earth tones are moving in.

Aaron, COAT’s in-house colour guru, had also prepared a presentation for us. It was full of inspiration and illustrated their brand identity. Thankfully, Aaron’s presentation reflected the same result: gray is definitely out!

Let the fun begin!

After our lunch break, we were divided into two groups. One was led by Aaron and the other by Rob. We were given a fan deck with all the COAT colours — and I mean all of the published and unpublished ones. The idea was for us to come up with new paint colours for them to produce specially for the Hub. COAT purposely has a limited selection of curated paint colours in order to make decision-making easier. As you are no doubt aware, too many options generally lead to confusion. The colour fan deck had endless choices. If there was still one shade that we really wanted and it was not there, they could create it for us!

THE BRIEF

We were given a brief, and our colours had to be:

a) In line with current trends

b) Marketable and a colour that clients would use

c) A choice of two neutral and two colours

NARROWING DOWN THE COLOURS

Within each group, we started the brain-storming process. Each group had to come up with one neutral and one colour that we would later combine for the final four. At first we thought, how could we ever agree and settle on just two colours? I personally thought it would have been harder than it actually was. If you know me, I love colours — they bring such joy into a space! That is why I include a colour consultation in my interior design service. We proceeded to discuss what we felt was lacking in the market and what we thought our clients would like. Also, let’s not forget, we had the COAT brand to keep in mind, which has a close relationship to the colour green. Once the group had agreed on both shades, it was time to name them.

This was my favourite bit of the experience — Such a fun process! We basically started researching words or social references that reminded us of the colour. Everyone came up with their own name and they were all written down. Once we were happy with the list, we voted on them internally .

The final four

A) Just George - A white neutral inspired by Georgian architecture.

B) Malcom - Not blue or green, but “in the middle” of the two neutrals.

C) Grandma’s Brooch - A colour inspired on the precious stones of your grandmother’s jewelery box.

D) Not That Deep - A sumptuous blue green, that is not too deep.

And the winner is…

We left COAT Paints feeling happy. They promised to send Kate samples of the four paint colours, and within Hub Insiders we were going to vote on the winner. Once Kate received the four tins, she posted a video with the samples. A poll was created on our private Facebook group, as well as on The Interior Designers Hub Instagram account for everyone to vote on. After much anticipation, the result was announced, and the winner was…

D) Not That Deep!

It is a bespoke colour unique to The Interior Designers Hub — how cool is that? If you would like me to order this colour for you, just click here. Not interested in this colour but need help making your space feel like a home that reflects your style and personality? No matter where you are, I can help you, in person or virtually. To find out more, click here now!