Habitat plus - just call it chocolate

The word may conjure up images of dowdy old-fashioned rooms decked out in shades of mustard and dingy brown. But given a pinch of grey or a twist of gold, brown can be a wonderful colour with which to paint your walls.

In fact, let’s not call it brown. Try these descriptive tags and brown turns from yuck to yum: cocoa, chocolate, coffee, cinnamon, sepia, nut, russet, rust and mahogany.

Resene Mondo bedroom

Nutty and warm In fact, brown-based colours have been hugely popular in recent years: albeit dubbed as toasty neutrals and nutty greys like Resene Drought and Resene Oilskin.

Many an interior scheme has been built on tonal colour schemes, using varying strengths of one of the gorgeous pale neutral browns off the Resene Whites & Neutrals collection. Resene Tea (described as a complex river-boulder beige) always ranks high on the Resene Top 20 list of most popular colours. This type of ‘greige’ (grey beige) colour is hugely versatile and useful in interiors. And of course, one of our most-loved decorating materials – timber – is brown. So we’re actually quite used to seeing this colour not only in our homes, but also in nature.

Brown is generally thought of as a masculine colour that promotes feelings of strength and stability. It’s comfortable, warm, approachable and reassuring.

Add yellow for amber tones and tawny browns, like Resene Korma, or add black for dense rustic browns, like Resene Sidewinder. Tobacco browns or paper-bag browns, like Resene Sandal, work well with traditional interiors, especially for more intimate spaces like bedrooms and studies. Or add a squeeze of orange for rust-browns that have more warmth and zing.

Some combinations to try

• Mid or dark brown and grey – an on-trend colour scheme
• Brown and ice-blue or dusky teal
• Tonal colour schemes based on varying strengths of the same brown
• Tawny brown and green, two of the most prevalent colours in nature
• Brown and mustard or orange for a retro feel
• Mid brown with creamy vanilla white

Left: Resene Oilskin fireplace; designed by Yellowfox. Right: Resene Curtain Collection Haven in colour Naturalle with Resene Stonehenge walls.

Want to get your own free copy of future issues of Habitat magazine?

• Retail customers and homeowners: All Resene ColorShop and DIY Cardholders are sent a copy of each issue of Habitat. Sign up for your free card here - Australian residents - New Zealand residents.
• Specifiers: Sign up for Habitat here.

If you have an idea, project or story that you think would suit Habitat plus, we’d love to hear from you. Please drop us an email with your details and include photos if submitting a project.

Habitat plus are not mailed directly. They are available free from Resene ColorShops and resellers while stocks last and available for viewing online.