Interior designer sees brighter colors on the horizon

Colors of interior paints and home furnishings in 1984 will be more dramatic, use brighter accents, and have greater fashion appeal. That's the opinion of color expert Bonnie Bender, who told designers and colorists at the Design Color '84 conference in Toronto that ''we are living in an era of color tranquility and entering one of unusual visual sophistication.''

In 1984, she said, the muted palette currently popular in interiors will prevail, but brighter accents will be used to enhance their character and provide a smooth transition to the dramatic brights predicted for 1985.

People ''still have need for tranquil color backgrounds and a concern for dwindling space in home interiors,'' she said. ''Now, instead of stark white, rooms are being painted in warm whites, soft grays, and medium values of muted hue colors to achieve an effect of space but with more design definition and distinction.''

Ms. Bender noted that fashion colors in muted values are the current fad. These are the taupes, mauves, pink beiges, warm grays, dusty roses, muted corals , blue-greens, and grayed blues that can be painted on fashionable backgrounds of low-key color.

Garnet and teal are favored accents to use in raising the drama quotient of gray or beige color environments, she added.

She said that 1985 will be a pivotal year in color - a period when there will be strong feeling for dramatic brights such as peacock and the teals. Black will be important as a foil for the brights. If color is the bellwether of our economy, she added, it looks like brighter days ahead.