Colour lookbook

As passionate about colour as us, you’ll undoubtedly have heard of Wild Wonder™, our Colour of the Year 2023. For the past 20 years, our colour experts from around the world have been translating the hottest trends into shades that define the mood of the moment, and this year’s is inspired by the transformative power of nature. Supporting our health and wellbeing, the natural world has long had a positive impact on how we feel, so it’s no surprise that we’re looking to bring the outdoors into our interior spaces to boost our mood. Uplifting and positive, Wild Wonder™ can help you do just that with a soft and ethereal quality, complemented by four easy-to-use colour palettes: Raw, Lush, Buzz and Flow. Here, we show you how to get creative with our Colour of the Year – together with its supporting palettes – to lift your spirits and nourish your soul. It’s time to give your home a glow-up… 

A bedroom should make us feel rested and relaxed, so what better way to do that than to embrace all the beauty of nature to create a comforting sanctuary? Here, we’ve tapped into the biophilic trend to bring the outdoors in using a split-wall, dual-tone effect from the Lush palette: the bottom-half, aligning with the top of the headboard perfectly, is painted in mellow Wild Wonder™ to bathe the sleeper in a dreamy light; while the top-half is painted in earthy Overtly Olive for added peace and tranquillity. Completing the look are curtains that take their cues from the lush hues of the forest; plants that add life; and metal accessories in gleaming brass for texture and glamour. 

Explore all of the colours in the Lush palette

Create a feature wall out of built-in shelving painted in versatile Tranquil Dawn – Colour of the Year 2020 – by picking-out the back of the middle-shelf in sunny Wild Wonder™. Not only does the nature-inspired combination from the Lush palette lift the spirits, but it serves a more functional purpose, too, by showcasing a stylish collection of tableware and condiments. Contrasting but complementary, the aesthetic taps into the trend for more colourful, playful kitchens, rather than white and clinical. After all, a kitchen is the heart of the home, so should feel warm and emotive for cooking and entertaining.

Explore all of the colours in the Lush palette

With the power to evoke positivity, Wild Wonder™ has been painted on all the walls in this open-plan home, creating a cocooning effect that’s both uplifting and comforting. The warm neutral acts as a serene backdrop for similarly neutral furnishings in natural materials, including a chair and sofa upholstered in soft linen, wooden tables made from solid wicker, plus a circular woven matt in rustic wicker. As the star of the show in the enriching Raw palette, the effect of Wild Wonder™ is unfussy but impactful, allowing the sunlight that streams through the windows to dance and flicker on the walls. A boho scene inspired by the beach or countryside. 

Explore all of the colours in the Raw palette

A home office should be calm but motivating so it’s conducive to productivity and creativity. Here, we’ve used soothing Wild Wonder™ with energising Cocoa Pod from our Lush palette to create a space for both, combining them in a strong pattern on a single wall. Certainly, the graphic check provides an inspirational view between thinking time and Teams meetings. We’ve paired the painted motif with plush velvet chairs in a complementary emerald – they’re both chic and comfortable – together with plenty of lush green plants, which release oxygen and absorb carbon dioxide, while bringing even more colour and depth to a room. Grounded and familiar, there’s nothing to distract from the task at hand in a room like this. Learn how to recreate the check effect here.

Explore all of the colours in the Lush palette

Wild Wonder™ can be paired with the vibrant colours from the Buzz palette to inject more personality into your spaces and places. From bumble bees to fields of wildflowers and butterflies, the supporting shades are also inspired by nature, but provide sympathetic contrast to the Colour of the Year. In this playroom, for example, we’ve teamed the calm of Wild Wonder™ with the joy of Smooth Maple. By dividing up the walls between the two colours, the space benefits from the qualities of both, while providing interest and vitality to plain surfaces and a boxy room. Certainly, colour-blocking like this sets the scene for a children’s space, sparking their imaginations and evoking a sense of wonder. 

Explore all of the colours in the Buzz palette

While Wild Wonder™ brings lightness and earthiness into the home, sometimes a dark or watery shade is needed in a space, in which case our Colour of the Year 2023 can be combined with something deeper from the Flow palette such as Midnight Tide. Creating a sense of balance, this cool blue is also inspired by nature, albeit the rolling oceans rather than windswept grasses. Used with lighter Denim Drift™ either side of Wild Wonder™ – painted in a thin strip between the two – and the effect is gloriously harmonious. Completing the look is an on-trend bouclé sofa in a dreamy cream that balances the scheme further.  

Explore all of the colours in the Flow palette

Pick-up a copy of Let’s colour magazine in your local decorating store for more inspiration; or watch our how-to videos at youtube.com/duluxuk

Share how you use Colour of the Year 2023, and its complementary palettes, on social tagging @DuluxUK – you could feature on our Instagram and Facebook pages.

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