Of sunshine and honey

Is there anything more rejuvenating and optimistic than sweet and enveloping yellow?

With its muted tonal yellows and creams this is a room you could just imagine sinking into and escaping from the world – it’s no wonder that warmer colours are often the ones we turn to following periods of upheaval and change – so it’s no surprise that soft citrus shades are back in favour. Is there anything more rejuvenating and optimistic than sweet and enveloping yellow?

Yellow is probably the most fringe colour of the interior world – it’s a tricky colour to use and therefore often avoided by over-cautious home decorators.

It has been used in its brighter forms to add sunshine to darker rooms, pretty up children’s bedrooms and hit a fresh floral note in country-style homes.

Gold is a perennial cousin of yellow, adding bling and luxe to rooms in restrained amounts. Gold doesn’t have to be confined to metal. Check out the gold paints in the Resene FX Metallic range.

In recent years, yellow has appeared in its darker, moodier shades of mustard and ochre, often offset by charcoals and inky blues, or softened with pale greys and whites. Two great examples of rich mustards are Resene Pizza and Resene Tom Thumb.

Then came the clays tones and soft wheaten golds like Resene Papier Mache and Resene Putty.

Now it’s time to add a slightly brighter note to clays and dig them up out of the earth to greet the sun – meet delicious creamy curdy and honeyed yellows. These yellows are so soft and welcoming, that you can even build a tonal scheme of them – it’s an idea most people wouldn’t attempt. Yellow has so often been relegated to be used as accents only, but this room proves that you can use it literally anywhere and everywhere.

It all starts with rich cream walls painted in Resene Meringue, which has just a whisper of yellow in it.

Add furnishings and bedding in pale yellow, and anchor it all in a floor finished in Resene Colorwood Breathe Easy which gives a subtle blonded effect.

Accents are then added in stronger yet still muted yellows such as Resene Illuminate, Resene Coconut Cream and Resene Creme De La Creme on the drum-shaped side table and vases. For a sharper note, try Resene Funk with its acidic edge.

If you wanted to add an earthier note, try Resene Fluffy Duck or Resene Athena, or to give it a fresh botanical twist, Resene Springtime is an effervescent yellow and Resene Nirvana is a salty yellow-green.

The cocooning feel of these honeyed yellows used as a tonal scheme makes them perfect for a bedroom but the naturally uplifting and joyful nature of citrus shades also makes them an excellent choice for entertaining areas, particularly outside where they beautifully complement natural greenery and wood decking.

Mixing a variety of citrus shades of different intensities stops any one colour from becoming too overpowering.

Be careful when choosing stronger yellows for your walls however, as yellow tends to reflect off itself and seem more intense than it looks on the paint chart.

How to make a DIY textured artwork

You will need:

• Boxed canvas frames
• Pre-mixed plaster of Paris
• A plastic spatula
• Resene testpot paint in colour of your choice, we created a few sizes and used Resene Funk, Resene Creme De La Creme and Resene Double Spanish White
• Resene testpot brush

Step-by-step instructions:

1. Unscrew the wooden frame from the canvas.

2. Apply the pre-mixed plaster to the canvas using a spatula. There is no right or wrong way to apply this; just move the plaster around the canvas until you are happy with the texture/design.

3. Leave the canvas to dry overnight.

4. Paint the canvas and the wooden frame in your chosen colour – you will need two coats.

5. Screw the canvas back into the wooden frame.

Project by Vanessa Nouwens. Photography by Bryce Carleton. May 2022