Set a neutral base colour to build your furnishings upon.

Sunlit still life

Find a neutral base for your living space

Find a neutral base colour palette as a backdrop to enhance your furnishings.

A light palette of off-whites can provide the perfect foundation for making your personal touches the hero in each room. “We call it the poetry of little pleasures,” says Willeke Jongejan, Senior Colour Designer at the Global Aesthetic Centre. “We’re seeing a new idea of living and consuming – rather than constantly adding new products, the focus instead is on buying less and buying better.”

Play with finishes to add an extra dimension

Neutral base colours draw out and define the objects in your room.

Light natural tables

This very pared-back colour palette still offers you the opportunity to play with different finishes and materials. “When deciding on the objects to include, consider using ‘glass and gloss’ in the space,” says Willeke. Picture frames, glass and any other shiny items placed in the room will draw attention. You can also soften the space with the use of natural materials and touches of colour in your choice of furniture.

Adopt the subtlety of ‘silent design’

Textures and off-white tones can create a stylish silent design to your home.

Whites and naturals living space

“This discreet, modest approach to the interiors can be summed up as ‘silent design’,” says Willeke. “The subtle mixture of textures, finishes and off-white tones offers up layers of subtle variation the more time you spend exploring it.” By softening the harsher side of industrial minimalism, you can create an almost blank canvas for you to personalise with your own possessions.

A space to be lived in

Paint with light by considering how colour schemes will work with sunlight and shade.

Sunlit table

Remember that the overall effect you want to achieve is one of lightness – in every sense of the word. The space should lift your spirits, and be designed to reflect and refract light around the room. So when thinking about the momentos to include, consider varying the surfaces – enrich the space with intriguing, tactile objects.

It may be about adding personal experiences and memories to your home, but you still want it to feel modern, airy and forward-looking. You can add a contemporary twist to a room using a block of darker tone such as the grey blue Colour of the Year 2017, Denim Drift, as a subtle statement feature on a wall.

Find your neutral base

Download the Dulux Visualizer app to see how a pared-down palette could enhance your home.

Get the look with these paints:

E4.05.65 / 96YR46/065
G0.05.75 / 54YY63/072
ON.00.81 / 08GG72/006
TN.02.84 / 17BB79/028
S0.10.50 / 87BG27/077
G9.03.88 / 83YY89/055