Wonder walls: meet the new paint trends
Forget grey, the latest key colours promise an instant mood uplift – and will totally transform your home, says Jessica Salter
Would you ever have thought of painting your living room brown? Or your bedroom a fetching shade of lilac? Well, that is what the new season’s colour charts promise. After the enduring popularity of 50 shades of grey, we’re now branching out into a new palette that promises more warmth and cosiness for the colder months ahead.
The reason we’re going bold with our choices? Frankly, after 18 months at home, we need something to excite our eyeballs and give our homes a refresh. “We have been cocooned at home and made it a place of safety, warmth and comfort,” Betsy Smith, colour consultant for the eco-paint company Graphenstone UK, says. “Autumn/winter 21 is about building on this but creating opportunities to be adventurous and experimental, embracing creativity and having more fun with colour.”
Colour, as we know, can have a huge effect on our psychology and the richer new season tones work “to uplift our spirits, create vitality and re-energise us, creating a positive mindset,” she explains. Which, as we’re staring down the barrel of cold, grey days, is something we all need.
PINK POWER
The most searched-for paints this autumn are Setting Plaster, a subtle pinky colour by Farrow & Ball that does indeed look like a freshly plastered wall, which gets 10,600 average monthly global searches, according to research this month by the interiors website homedit.com, followed swiftly by the charmingly named Dead Salmon.
Pink might have alarming millennial connotations, but the new pinks are earthy and warm. Emma Bulmer, director and colour consultant at Edward Bulmer paints, says that Lilac Pink is one of the brand’s most popular colours. It is a soft, dusty neutral, rather than the “saccharine pink that we’re used to seeing,” she says. “It’s a warm tone that works beautifully as a new neutral.”
Pinks, she says, “are here to stay; Lilac Pink can look lovely in a hallway, it really warms up the space, but is equally nice in a bedroom or sitting room, where it can act as a backdrop to hang pictures on.” Jonquil, meanwhile, is a slightly stronger colour that hovers between pink and yellowy-beige, and which the textile artist Jessie Cutts, of Cutts and Co, says is “the best pink out there”.
RETURN OF BEIGE
Speaking of beige, its back. “But it’s not a bland beige,” Smith says. The reason it’s popular, she explains, is because it has a “safe, timeless aesthetic that is serene and elegant and creates a restful interior”. It also has the advantage that it works whatever the period of property, and she recommends Graphenstone’s shades of Pale Walnut, Old Bone and Saddleback for grown-up glamour.
The way to make it feel more contemporary is to experiment with different paint finishes to add depth, or teaming with bright, clean pastels on the paintwork.
Slightly further down the yellow spectrum, the third most popular colour we are searching for this season, according to the research, is Farrow & Ball’s India Yellow. Smith confirms that Graphenstone’s Bengal yellow is a popular choice, which she likes to pair with Lovat, a brown-toned paint.
SPICY BROWNS
Bulmer, meanwhile, says their customers are being even bolder and opting for browns for reception areas, with Clove, a spicy, warm brown and London Brown being best-sellers. Laura Hunter, who goes by the moniker @nofeaturewalls on Instagram, recently repainted her sitting room in London Brown from a dark blue, which she found had dated. “I find brown, with red undertones, a really warm and rich colour that pairs really well with florals as a ‘woody’ purposeful base and stops the florals in the room from feeling too girly and more earthy,” she says.
For the really daring, Neptune has just released its paint colour of the season – also called Clove – a brown with purple tones it says is “inspired by the rich colouring of dried autumn leaves”.
NEW COLOUR COMBOS
Once you’ve embraced the new tones, it’s time to get playful with woodwork.
Relax with calming Clove by Edward Bulmer; go bold in smaller rooms as in Yinka Ilori’s use of Lick’s Yellow04, below
Smith says that for those seduced by pinks and lilacs, “an accent of rusty orange will add a touch of vitality to the space and create a contemporary aesthetic”. Meanwhile, an olive-green can be teamed with “its complementary colour – red. The inherent softness in an olive colour creates the perfect adjacency for bolder colours, creating sophisticated dynamic accents,” she says.
Bulmer says their whole colour range was designed with only 12 key pigments, “so we’re really confident about matching colours because they are all first cousins really; they produce a gentle balance when they are paired together”. It means you can take a chance and pair Dutch Orange, a popular shade this season, with Fawn, a soft beige. “It works really well because if you did the skirting in white, it would make the orange too punchy, but Fawn tones it down,” she says.
If you want to add height to a room, painting the ceiling in a bold colour, such as Lick Orange 01, can help draw the eye up. “Decorating your ceiling is a maximalist move that is a great way to open up a small space,” Natasha Bradley, Lick’s head colour specialist, says.
The opposite effect is to extend the colour of the cupboards to eye level on the wall behind, known as a tide line, which “creates one continuous line around the room,” according to Adrian Bergman, design manager at British Standard by Plain English. “This technique works particularly well in rooms with high ceilings, as it lowers the focus and grounds the joinery, with the added benefit of adding colour and personality to a space.”
DRENCHED IN COLOUR
One particularly visually stunning way to approach colour is to “colour drench” the room, meaning to paint all the surfaces in the same colour – walls, woodwork, even the ceiling. “It is a great way to add drama to spaces and experience the emotional power of colour,” Smith says. “It can work particularly well in awkward small areas because edges and surfaces fuse to create an infinite atmospheric space.”
Think of the downstairs lavatory, which designer Yinka Ilori recently showed painted in a bright yellow for his collaboration with Lick. Or a utility or pantry bathed in a single colour, which “can hide a multitude of unsightly disproportionate components,” according to Smith. Small rooms, including bathrooms, can afford to go bolder than larger rooms as you spend less time in them.
MARRY UP THE HOUSE
Giving our walls a refresh is particularly important while we’re still relatively housebound. “Living and working from home means the increasing need to compartmentalise our homes,” Smith says. “Colour can define areas and give spaces a clear sense of purpose.” There is a danger in making it too fragmented, but to keep a harmonious flow, Smith either recommends keeping flooring or woodwork colour consistent, while Bulmer says choosing colours with a similar pigment tone (as the Edward Bulmer range all are) helps with continuity.
But all the experts agree that we shouldn’t be scared to branch out. “For me, homes shouldn’t be predictable,” Smith says. “They should be a series of spaces that offer differing experiences with the occasional unexpected accent that catches your attention to keep you engaged in your space.”