Great bathroom colours for a stylish design

It's no surprise that neutral paint colours are still number one for bathrooms. We look at some of the most popular options and the latest trends in bathroom paint colours.

Some weeks ago marketers in paint colours and design from around the world sat down in Bilbao, Spain, to workshop what colours would be in demand for design over the next 12 months. The bathroom colour winners by many brushstrokes are the neutrals - off-white, beige, stone and mid browns.

"The trend in bathrooms now is for simplicity, and Dulux colours within the neutral range sit very nicely with that," explains Andrea Lucena-Orr, Colour Planning and Communications Manager for Dulux Australia. "Given the surge in popularity of using timber in bathrooms, neutral Dulux paint tones work beautifully."

Timber is very important going forward, reveals Andrea. "The neutrals that work very well with timber are colours like Antique White USA, Vivid White and Hog Bristle," she says. "This last colour is really lovely and it has a brown undertone which is a very popular bathroom colour at the moment. Ecru is also a fantastic colour."

She reveals that one of the more popular Dulux colour tones is a brown tone called Self-Destruct. "It has a slight hint of brown in it but it's a very stony brown," Andrea says. "It sits with the mid tones."

Interestingly, the trends in bathroom paint colours and design follow the lead of women's fashions, and what happens in Europe has a huge impact on what occurs here. "Many of the top fashion houses are now into homewares, so that has a big influence on paint colour trends," says Andrea.

But although Dulux paint colours often take their lead from Europe, Andrea says the Australian light has an overwhelming influence on whether a colour is popular here. "Yellow, for example, which works very well in Europe, seems to fade to nothing here," she says. "Lemons are also very difficult to use in our very bright light."

When providing its colour forecast for the forthcoming year, Dulux Australia pays close attention to trends in architecture, fabrics, carpets and tiles. And while neutrals remain popular Dulux paint colours this season, this doesn't necessarily translate to all areas of the bathroom. "What we are finding is that with timber being so popular, customers are prepared to do some funky things with bathroom colour, like using red or rusty orange tiles," says Andrea.