SM Home: Complete your Home in Living Color

It is only fitting that SM Home, a retailer that provides not just great home items, but also the inspiration you need to complete your home, tackles color for the second edition of its SM Home Design Series “In Living Color”.  SM Home’s partner for the two-week program is none other than Boysen Paints Philippines, the nation’s leading manufacturer and supplier of paint products. 

Arguably the most universally relatable element of design is color. Everyone has a favorite color, or at the very least a color preference.  There is also no denying the power of color.  It both conveys and elicits emotion, it sets the mood and the tone, it creates ambiance and evokes nostalgia.  Speaking purely visually, it can be used to create the illusion of space, separate areas, and create focal points.  The fastest, most affordable and easiest way to makeover a room and to change how people perceive it is to slap on a fresh coat of paint, more so if it is in a new color.    

But having a favorite color or relating to color as a design element doesn’t mean a person truly knows how to use it as a design element.  “Cohesion is what makes a design work, and choosing the right color palette for your design objective is essential towards creating cohesive living spaces,” says SM Home AVP for marketing, Tom Castañeda. 

“The good news is that designers will always take a client’s color preference into consideration, and no matter which hues you’re most fond of, a great designer can find a way to make it work.”  Tom enthuses, “And that’s what our In Living Color series is all about, we’re setting out to give our customers a sense of how color plays into design as a whole, and helping them find the perfect palettes for their own spaces,” he concludes.

The vignettes were designed specifically to showcase the power of color, using Boysen’s four just-revealed Color Trends 2018 palettes.  

“Based on inquiries we get from stores and online, it seems more and more homeowners are looking for new colors to choose from,” says Justin C. Ongsue, Boysen vice president. “That’s why coming up with a yearly color forecast is needed to help them design their homes. It’s good that we have this partnership with SM to give our customers the inspiration on what their spaces would look like with the best furnishings from SM Home, the colors from us, and some timely advice from the experts,” he adds. 

There are four themes and 24 colors in this year’s collection—Be Bold. Be Seen. Be Here. Be You.—with each designer/architect tackling one of the four palettes in their design setups. 

Dawn Sy’s living room, painted in the shades that make up the Be You palette, is a study in how a carefully selected palate of complementary colors creates a synergy all its own, and allows a home owner to personalize a space.  

Allen Oblena’s dining room, painted in the shades that make up the Be Here palette, showcases the revitalizing power of color, and shows how old and worn furniture can be given a new and refreshing twist with a bit of creative color play.  His vignette also highlights some easy DIY projects that can breathe new life into old furniture.  

Among color’s most powerful properties is its influence on human emotion.  This has been proven again and again in measurable, scientifically conducted studies.  Grace Moslares’ bedroom, painted in the colors of the Be Bold palette, provides the perfect design expression of that power.  She uses color to create a space that is inviting, calming, and restful.  

Finally, Jennifer Soliman highlights the versatility of color in the most functional part of a home, the kitchen, painted in the shades that make up the Be Seen palette.  In condos in particular, where space is a problem, and dividers are often discarded to maximize space, designers will often turn to color to designate working spaces within kitchens. Soliman cleverly uses colors that complement and that subtly create distinct enclaves within the seemingly small space. 

The designers were on hand for the exhibit launch, where they shared their own insights into home and hue.  “We really couldn’t have chosen a better partner than Boysen for this.  More than just the huge range of colors to choose from, Boysen clearly puts in a lot of research and thought into developing their color trends shades, specifically for the Philippine market.”  Tom relates, “Like everything we do at SM Home, Boysen is about enhancing real world-spaces that everyone can live, work, relax, commune, and play in.”  

The SM Home Design Series: In Living Color will be on the ground floor of the SM Makati Concourse until March 11, there will be a pop-up store selling items handpicked by the vignette designers. Additionally, the Bridgeway area on the fifth floor of The SM Store in Makati will feature five setups also styled with Boysen’s Color Trends 2018 palettes, 

On Saturday, and Sunday (March 3 and 4), the I Living Color Designers will be conducting a series of free seminars between 1pm to 5pm.