Whatever you think about colour, think again, as we delve deep into the psychology of colour with Karen Haller. We turn our focus to the green colour palette. Before solving your decorating dilemmas, including how to choose exterior house paint and children’s bedroom decorating ideas.

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The green colour palette is having a moment – a whole year in fact! So, we just had to talk about green paint colours in our Colour Lookbook.

Green is the most restful colour. It symbolises life, growth, freshness and it reconnects us with nature. We are even filling our homes with more and more lush, green houseplants. They’re not only a great source of colour, they improve our wellbeing too… if you can keep them alive that is. A skill we are yet to master!

Anyway, back to the green colour palette – something we know plenty about.

Some greens can be sharp, cold and downright scary. But fear not, our Colour of the Year 2020, Tranquil Dawn, is here to save the day. A more organic, softer, quieter shade that’s easy to live with. We explain the thinking behind the most popular COTY we've ever had.

Mint Macaroon – a blue, minty colour and a lovely choice for a kids’ bedroom.

Willow Tree – a beautiful, watery green. It’s new to our wood and metal range.

Mossy Stone – a pale green with grey undertones, perfect for grown-up bedrooms.

Palm Night – dark and dramatic without demanding attention.

Emerald Glade – a dark, captivating green. Use it on a feature wall in your living space or kitchen. 

And you can always use the Dulux Visualizer to see how different colour trends look on your walls.

From the deepest forest green to the softest sage, there are green paint colours for everyone, all of which work well with different colours, like pinks and jewel tones.

You can explore Dulux’s entire range of green paint colours here. Or click this link for more green colour palette inspiration.

This is the bit of the show where we get insights from someone incredible. This episode we call in friend and fellow colour expert, Karen Haller.

Who is Karen Haller?

Karen is an Applied Colour Psychologist and author of the international bestseller, A Little Book of Colour.

Marianne and Karen go way back (to 2000 to be precise). Karen is one of Marianne’s colour heroines because of her intellectual and creative approach to colour. So, we jumped at the chance to ask her a few questions…  

What does colour mean to you?

“Colour is a beautiful unspoken language. It’s one of the few universal connectors”.

How would you describe your job?

“Applied Colour Psychology is about how colour influences the way we think, feel and behave… I look for patterns of human behaviour and the colours that we are drawn to”.

Karen uses these understandings to discover how we can use colour to improve our wellbeing and mental health at home, at a workplace or in healthcare.

How do we choose our own feel good colours?

Karen tells us that every colour has positive and adverse effects or traits. A colour that makes you happy, might not make someone else happy.

“It’s all about trusting our innate intuition… we must look inside ourselves and find what truly resonates”.

What do you think about the green colour palette?

The green colour palette provides a sense of calm, and this could be why so many of us are migrating towards this colour during times of crisis and uncertainty.

“Green sits in the middle of the visible spectrum, which is why we find green very restful because our eyes need little adjustment”.

That’s not to say green is always calming. Karen explains that lime greens can be zingy and lively, due to the hints of yellow.

What colours should we avoid?

“Red can overheat us, overwhelm us and make us feel angry and annoyed”. Yet, Karen mentions this won’t apply to everyone. She goes on to say that “some people find red to be a lovely, cheery lift me up colour”.

We answer your real-life decorating questions and DIY dilemmas in each episode. If we aren't helping you paint with confidence, then we’ve failed our mission to add colour to your life!

Marie in Reading wants to know… how to make the outside of her home look as good as the inside.

Here are our top tips:

• Figure out what you’re going to do yourself and what you need a professional to do (we’re talking the more dangerous stuff).
• Break down each task – the front door, entrance gate, the downstairs window frames into achievable time frames.
• Make sure you have the right tools and paints to hand before you start.
• Clean the area – make any repairs to masonry and wash down your woodwork.
• Use exterior products – you need fillers, primers, undercoats and topcoats that can brave the elements. Learn how to choose exterior house paint.
• Protect yourself, your kids, the dog, the neighbour’s car, even your plants!

And it might sound obvious, but make sure you check the weather forecast. You never know what Mother Nature has up her sleeves… especially in the UK!

We covered prep work in our first episode, too. Listen now to remind yourself or catch up.

Dr Dulux: childrens bedroom decorating ideas

Laura and James in Sheffield want to know… how to add a personality to their son’s bedroom.

We all want to make a space where our youngsters can play, create, dream – or all of the above. The good news, there are so many kids bedroom themes out there, which are easy to achieve.

Here’s some childrens bedroom decorating ideas:

• Create a rainbow mural
• Paint a city skyline
• Send them to outer space
• Design a jungle-themed bedroom

Don’t be surprised if you get as much joy out of the room as they do! Find more helpful how-to-videos and fun themes on this link.

Do you have a burning question that you'd like to ask? Drop us a message here.

#FeelGoodColour

We bring this episode to a close with a feel-good story from our guest speaker, Karen. She takes us back to her uni days when a dark, teal blue felt hat inspired her to study Applied Colour Psychology. No, really!

And just like that, we’ve covered episode 2.

We’d love to stay and chat some more, but we don’t want to keep you from listening to the full episode – or starting your own paint projects.

You can tune into episode 2 here. If you like what you hear, we’d really appreciate it if you could hit subscribe or leave us a review.

Happy listening / decorating… Let’s Colour!