Guessing the Color of the Year is one of our favorite pastimes. We did it for years on our podcast and now we keep up the tradition on Instagram Stories. And every time the next COTY announcement season rolls around, we like to see all of the previous picks in one easy place. So here’s a snapshot of not only every 2024 Color of the Year, but also how they compare to each company’s previous selections. Buckle up, fellow color nerds!
As more and more companies jump on the color forecasting bandwagon, we’ve decided to focus on the major paint and color companies in the post. Many brands also release yearly palettes instead of one single color. For simplicity’s sake, we’ve omitted those as well. So apologies if we’ve missed your favorite niche paint brand below.
What Is The 2024 Color of The Year?
There is not one singular “color of the year.” Instead, a variety of companies predict which hue or hues will trend the following year. Below is a glimpse of them all together – with the major brands at the top, and the others below. We’ll explore each selection a bit more below.
As you can see, apart from a couple of soothing corals and dark neutrals, 2024’s class of Color of the Year picks were dominated by shades of blue.
What Is Color Of The Year?
As I just mentioned, each fall (and sometimes in late summer which is somewhat maddening) various paint companies race to declare their pick for a top-trending color for the upcoming year. Often each “Color of the Year” is presented alongside a collection of coordinating, trending colors that, as a whole, capture a mood or vibe the company has forecasted. While there is certainly much thought and research behind each selection, the announcement also acts as a publicity stunt to draw attention to each company’s products or expertise. It’s a lot of hype and large unveiling events are often thrown by each company. We’ll admit that we like watching all of the color drama unfold.
Started by Pantone in 2000, big companies like Sherwin-Williams and Benjamin Moore have since jumped on board along with specialty paint and stain manufacturers like Krylon and Minwax. The paint colors are often chosen both for their current (or predicted) popularity, as well as the vibe that the color name evokes. That’s why you’ll find choices like “Upward” and “Limitless” and “Renew Blue” on this year’s round-up.
Pantone Color Of The Year 2024
Pantone started the whole Color of the Year phenomenon, so it’s fitting to begin with their 2024 Color of the Year: Peach Fuzz (13-1023). They describe it as a “velvety gentle peach tone” that encourages people to embrace warmth, nurture our spirits, and share kindness. Pantone forecasts color across industries – fashion, media, graphic design, and more – meaning their picks tend to be bolder, brighter, and more saturated than companies strictly focused on paint and home design.
Over the last decade, Pantone tends to pick reds, pinks, and purples more than other brands. And twice (in 2016 and 2021) they’ve selected “color pairings” for their top annual spot.
Benjamin Moore Color of the Year 2024
Benjamin Moore’s 2024 Color of the Year is Blue Nova (825) which they describe as a “sumptuous hue” where violet meets blue. It’s a mid-tone color, which means it works as both an accent color and a full-room paint. While blues are always a popular choice (especially in 2024) the purple undertones of Blue Nova set it apart from the other more blue-green tones on this year’s list.
As you can see from Benjamin Moore’s recent picks, they’ve been trending towards deeper and more saturated colors. Perhaps it’s still a reaction to some of the blowback they got in 2016 for choosing Simply White. Especially since Sherwin-Williams picked another popular white that year too. Oops!
Sherwin-Williams Color Of The Year 2024
Sherwin-Williams’ 2024 Color of the Year is Upward (SW 6239) feels like it was chosen as much for its color as for its optimistic name. They describe it as a “breezy, blissful blue” that is “brimming with positive energy and creative thinking.” It is a versatile calming color that can be silvery-gray in some lights, making it a good choice for walls, cabinets, and more.
Sherwin-Williams is perhaps our favorite roster of Color of the Year picks. Apart from a couple of curveballs (we jokingly call 2019’s color “Hot Dog”), they can be trusted to make interesting picks without pushing the envelope so much that it feels hard to use in real life.
Behr Color of the Year 2024
Behr chose Cracked Pepper (PPU18-01) as their 2024 Color of the Year. There always seems to be one brand that throws out a dark hue each year, and it was Behr’s turn in 2024. This “versatile soft black” is a great choice because it has super subtle undertones, giving it a truer black appearance than the deep colors on past lists. This makes it easy to pair with just about any other color.
Behr hasn’t been crowning a COTY as long as Sherwin-Williams has, but they also make solid picks each year. They almost seem to be building a unified color palette that could be used all together in the same house.
HGTV Home Color of the Year 2024
HGTV Home is a collection of Sherwin-Williams colors that are sold exclusively at Lowe’s. Their 2024 Color of the Year is Persimmon (HGSW 6339), the boldest of 3 colors they dubbed their “Color Collection of the Year.” They call the collection “Renewed Comfort” because it balances two neutrals (a soft tan and pearly white) with gentle brights, like this terracotta color.
HGTV Home is comparatively new to the COTY game, but we’ve come to expect bolder and brighter colors from them. You know, like the “pop of color” you might see on the cover of a magazine or TV screen.
Glidden Color of the Year 2024
Glidden’s 2024 Color of the Year is Limitless (PPG1091-3). They pitch this color as a fresh and warm alternative to gray that’s “anything but yellow.” It does have the power to pair with both warm and cool tones, but we’d suggest using it with caution. Yellows are tough, especially if you expect them to be truly neutral. Different lighting throughout the day can bring out undertones you may not want.
Since picking their first COTY in 2016, Glidden favors pure colors without much gray or muddiness in them. To us, this makes most of them better suited for accent colors than whole-wall colors. In fact, their 2021 (Aqua Fiesta) pick was proclaimed the first ever “Accent Color of the Year.”
More Color Of The Year Picks
Let’s breeze through some colors picked by smaller paint brands or brands that haven’t been selecting Colors of the Year as long as the six above. We think you’ll notice a trend pretty quickly…
Valspar’s 2024 Color of the Year: Renew Blue
Up until 2024, Valspar had been declaring multiple colors of the year. In 2024, their singular Color of the Year is Renew Blue (8003-37D). This “green-influenced blue” was selected for its calming qualities, promising relief from the overwhelm of daily life.
Dunn-Edwards’ 2024 Color of the Year: Skipping Stones
Skipping Stones (DET 567), Dunn-Edwards’ 2024 choice, was picked for similar reasons to Renew Blue. They too describe this blue-green tone as having meditative and energizing qualities, much like the sea.
Dutch Boy’s 2024 Color of the Year: Ironside
Dutch Boy went dark with their 2024 COTY selection, Ironside (422-7DB). Unlike the black tone of Behr’s Cracked Pepper, Ironside has a distinct olive/brown undertone. Dutch Boy notes that dark and moody interiors are trending for their elegance and sophistication. But we can’t help but wonder if it was chosen to promote their formula’s coverage, going as far as calling this their “One-Coat Color of the Year.”
Krylon’s 2024 Color of the Year: Blue Bird
Krylon is a spray paint brand, so we’ll give them a pass for choosing an in-your-face blue like Blue Bird for their 2024 COTY. They acknowledge that it’s bold, but also use words like “soothing” and “breezy” which might not be words that everyone would universally use to describe it.
Rust-Oleum’s 2024 Color of the Year: Satin French Blue
Also a spray paint brand, Rust-Oleum chose a softer and more sophisticated blue with their “2024 Spray Paint Color of the Year” called Satin French Blue. With a hint of periwinkle, this blue still brings some pop without being quite as aggressive as Krylon’s.
Minwax’s 2024 Color of the Year: Bay Blue
Minwax’s 2024 COTY choice, Bay Blue, continues this blue trend to wood stain colors. While most of us probably know Minwax for browns, tans, and reds – this is actually their second time declaring a blue. While we haven’t used their blues, you can see how blue stain turned out on a table we refinished years ago.
Graham & Brown’s 2024 Color of the Year: Viridis
This UK-based paint and wallpaper company declared Viridis their 2024 COTY. Like some of this year’s blues, this muted green was chosen for its calming connection to nature. It also pairs well visually (and thematically) with the company’s wallpaper Design of the Year, called “New Eden.”
C2 Paint’s 2024 Color of the Year: Thermal
C2 Paint rounds out the blues in 2024 with Thermal. While many blues were selected for their soothing qualities, C2 describes their “punchy” pick as a “call to action, urging us to live boldly.”
Stainmaster Paint’s 2024 Color of the Year: English Green
We honestly didn’t even realize Stainmaster sold anything beyond carpets/flooring, but this Lowe’s paint brand announced their first COTY in 2024: English Green. It’s a solid start with a deep hue that they say promotes a calm and grounding feel.
Our 2024 COTY Guesses
Like I said at the start, one of our favorite things about these Color of the Year announcements is trying to guess them ahead of time. On our podcast or Instagram, we’ve shared our predictions in early fall before they start rolling out. Some years we’re pretty spot on, others not so much. In 2024, we did our two typical guesses plus a bonus “wacky” guess just for fun.
I was in the neighborhood of Valspar’s Upward with my “light, cool gray” prediction (although Upward is decidedly more blue). And both Behr’s Cracked Pepper and Dutch Boy’s Ironside fall near my “deep brown, almost black” guess. Ironside is more greeny olive than brown, and Cracked Pepper is solidly black.
Oh well, hopefully we’ll do better with our 2025 Color of the Year guesses!
More Paint Colors We Love
You can check out more of our favorite go-to paint colors by touring our homes in the menu at the top of our blog. We’ve also written these detailed deep-dive posts about our favorite paint colors: