Dr Dulux: How To Complement Your Natural Light in Any Room with Colour of the Year 2022 palettes

Natural light has a lot to answer for when painting and decorating. The way sunlight enters your room can have a big effect on how you see the colours on your walls.

Depending on the direction your room faces, natural light can make paint colours appear lighter or darker, which can affect the entire mood of the room.

If you’ve set your sights on our Colour of the Year 2022, Bright Skies^TM, and its supporting palettes, you’re in luck. We can show you the best combinations to choose for north, south, east or west facing rooms.

Check these home decorating ideas out:

South facing room colours

A south facing room is probably the easiest room to decorate. These rooms let in lots of warm natural light throughout the day, which means most paint colours work well here. However, we’d steer you towards cooler tones, like blues and greens, as they can help to balance out or reduce the intensity of light.

The Greenhouse palette is full of south facing room colours. In this kitchen, we teamed two greens, Fresh Foliage and Calming Meadow, with a splash of our Colour of the Year 2022, Bright Skies^TM, a light and airy blue. Together they bring the tranquillity of nature into the room, whilst making the most of the natural light that’s flooding in.

North facing room colours

When decorating a north facing room, you have to reverse your approach. These rooms don’t get much natural light, which can make a space feel much darker and cooler. So, in this case, it’s best to use lighter colours with warmer tones, such as pinks or yellows.

The Workshop palette is made up of bright, joyful hues, giving you a great selection of north facing room colours. Here we painted a large feature wall in Rose Canopy to make the space feel brighter, then surrounded it with Bright Skies^TM and Sky View on the kitchen cabinets.

East and west facing room colours

The time of day can also affect the colours on your walls, particularly in east and west facing rooms.

East facing rooms receive lots of natural light in the morning, leaving the room feeling cooler in the evening. Why not lean into this with cool blues and greens? Try a two-tone effect with Moon Cloud and Tranquil Dawn, our Colour of the year for 2019, both of which can be found in the Greenhouse palette. Alongside Bright Skies^TM, you’ll have a calming and soothing colour palette.

As you’ve probably guessed, natural light affects west facing rooms in the opposite way. They don’t get much light in the morning, making them appear cooler until the room brightens up later in the day. Natural tones are great as west facing room colours. They can give a room an open and airy feel, whilst enhancing the sunlight that gradually spills in. Here we teamed Bright Skies^TM with Tranquil Dawn and Fossil Hunting, found in the Greenhouse palette.