By Kate Wagner, Curbed Seattle

Until around 2007, McMansions mostly borrowed the forms of traditional architecture, producing vinyl Georgian estates and foam Mediterranean villas.

But in the last 10 years, this has begun to change: McMansions are now being constructed in architectural styles from the 20th century, specifically modernism. We are witnessing the birth and the proliferation of modernist McMansions: McModerns.

Though McModerns are commonly found in the places where modernism itself thrives—indoor-outdoor climates like the West Coast and the Southwest, and near liberal cities on the East Coast—they are also beginning to pop up in burgeoning tech hotbeds south of the Mason-Dixon, such as central North Carolina and Atlanta, Georgia. McModern houses are following the trail left behind by NPR, Chipotle, and MacBook Pros: They've become popular with younger, tech-savvier, and more highly educated individuals.

Is 2017 leaving you black and blue? You're in luck!

And slightly ahead of the curve, too. It so happens that black (in many iterations) and blue are the colors predicted to trend in 2018, according to various paint entities as part of the companies' prestigious color of the year predictions.

Each year, beginning in fall, several paint companies, fashion entities, and design websites begin to predict what they see as the colors that will dominate the various landscapes of the next year. Last year, it was Pantone 15-0343, a lovely yellow-green shade that "evokes the first days of spring." The Pantone Color Institute, which calls itself the "global color authority," may have the final say when all things are said and done, but that isn't stopping companies like PPG Paints, Olympic Paint, Glidden, and Behr from throwing in their hues of choice.

Specifically, PPG Paints has backed their Black Flame concoction, a lighter black with indigo tones launched back in June. Black Flame was the unanimous choice to become the world's "new neutral" by 20 leading color experts around the globe (think secret underground meetings with weird chants and robes).

While the chants and robes may not actually exist, the opinions of opinion makers certainly do. A company's paint color can mean big business, which is a large part of why so many entities throw their choices into the ring and announcements are highly anticipated. At the same time PPG was showing off Black Flame (it's like Zoolander's Blue Steel but EVEN MORE INTOXICATING), Olympic Paint revealed Black Magic, an "often misunderstood neutral" primed to blot out the easy-going grays and pinks of 2017.

Says Dee Schlotter, senior color marketing manager, Olympic Paint: "In past years, consumers have gravitated toward open, airy spaces that are thought to leave room for exposure. However, in the current day, consumers often feel uneasy, restless, or like their privacy is being invaded, so they crave deep, comforting colors that offer a welcomed escape from the chaos of daily life. Olympic paint's Black Magic perfectly satisfies consumers' desire for privacy."

Schlotter continues, "Black Magic can easily make a statement in any home on a front door, window trim, kitchen cabinets, exposed shelving, or even sliding barn doors. It works especially beautifully in a dining room with a bold light fixture."

Not to be outdone, Glidden put its own spin on black, announcing their Deep Onyx as their color of the year. Why? According to Color Marketing Manager Misty Yeomans, "Just like a little black dress, Deep Onyx is a classic, timeless staple." The hue is meant to give off a "less is more" attitude that reflects a minimalist style inside the homes of those in the know.

Stepping out of the shadows is Behr, who boldly announced their first-ever color of the year as In the Moment, a blue-green blend that "Speaks to our society's desire to disconnect and be present," according to Erika Woelfel, vice president of color and creative services at Behr. Grand Central Station commuters on August 9 were certainly living In the Moment, as they were witness to Behr's blue via a virtual reality color video and chats with the company's color experts as they strolled through different rooms of a makeshift home.

While we could talk about trends until we're blue in the face, we'll await the final verdict on which colors clients will consume in 2018.

One thing does still plague the mind, however: How does one become a color expert, exactly?

The MBA and the homebuilding industry in the city of Seattle won a decisive victory recently. In the matter of Bendare Dundat v. City of Seattle (Master Builders Intervenor), Judge Barbara Mack issued a decision overturning the City's 'qualifying lot' design review ordinance for being in violation of RCW 82.02.020.

The Court determined that the ordinance imposes direct and indirect costs on projects and developers that are neither reasonably necessary nor the direct result of the proposed development. As the Court stated, "It is hard to fathom how costs and fees could be reasonable and necessary for the smaller project, but not for the first, more impactful project on the adjacent property." Finally, the Court found the city admitted that the ordinance was designed to mitigate collective impacts, not the impact of any individual project—this is the very thing that violates RCW 82.02.020.

The MBA is very happy to have been able to provide financial support to pursuing this matter in court, and the outcome is a collective benefit to developers and builders in Seattle. The MBA will continue to identify ways in which it can work to improve housing affordability within Seattle.