Our inspiration is PANTONE Illuminating, one of this year’s spring collection colours and a beautiful sunshine colour to brighten your life.

According to Pantone, Illuminating is a bright and cheerful yellow sparkling with vivacity, a warming yellow shade imbued with solar power. Generally yellows like this fall into the zone of being considered friendly, joyful and optimistic. Think about how a sunny day makes you feel. And let’s face it, with April showers on the horizon and little sunshine added to our homes can’t go amiss. 

Paint choices

All of these have that something extra, some are more buttery and some have a tad more orange but they will all add some lovely brightness to your rooms.

1. Little Greene:  LEMON MIVVI
2. Little Greene:  TRUMPET
3. Farrow & Ball:  Yellowcake
4. Mylands: Pilmlico No. 136
5. Benjamin Moore:  Sunshine 2021-30
6. Sherwin-Williams:  Cheerful

Colour matching

A strong sunshine yellow needs to be used in a considered way, especially if you choose it to be your primary or dominant colour in the room as it can be a little exhausting on the eye. So make sure you take Pantone’s advice and balance this intense colour with soothing greys or creamy whites.

PANTONE love to pair their Illuminating with their Ultimate Gray, “the colour of pebbles on the beach and natural elements whose weathered appearance highlights an ability to stand the test of time, Ultimate Gray quietly assures, encouraging feelings of composure, steadiness and resilience.” In other words, grey and yellow go really well together and balance each other.

Or balance it with a lovely soft purple, pale pink or pale blue or use black accents to really highlight it (be careful you don’t end up going too far with this and turning your house into a sudo wasp nest!). Are you feeling a bit frisky? Then accent with a punch by adding hot pink into the mix. Not for the faint-hearted, but it can create a wow moment.

Sunshine yellow and navy has always been a classic combination but be careful you don’t end up looking like an Ikea logo. Personally, a yellow living room would create too much anxiety for me; however, navy walls with a fabulous sunshine yellow sofa would be a relaxing but powerful combination. Or think about wallpapers. Sunshine yellow could still adorn your walls but broken up within a pattern creates a more playful space.

Wallpaper delights

A few of my fav sunshine yellow adorned wallpapers:

• Kukkai in Sunshine from wallpaperdirect.com – simple but effective flower pattern.
• MADE’s wallpaper Trio, which is currently (as of when I posted this) on sale, which is always a bonus.
• I love the pink and green of the flowers against the sunshine yellow in this print called Hencroft Punch from Little Greene.
• This paste-less wallpaper can be put on apartments and removed easily – uniquely, it’s a beautiful image of a sunshine yellow flower – a great way to add a special touch to a space that you might not have too much control over.
• And for something quite unique, I love this wallpaper from Mind-the-Gap (even better, this eclectic wallpaper brand is from Transylvania, which sparks all sorts of images for me!) Chrysanthemums Yellow Wallpaper.

But if committing to yellow walls as a dominant colour or even a front door is just too much, you can still add a little sunshine into your life.

Mix with accessories

• Graham and Green’s lush LARGE SUNFLOWER ROUND LINEN CUSHION
• Next has a lovely Soft Velour Pom Edge Cushion, which you can see would look amazing on any grey sofa or even as the last pillow on a bed with a grey bedspread or quilt.
• Dunelm has a fantastic option that won’t break the bank but will add a touch of sunshine with texture to boot: Large Ochre Leaf Plant Pot.

DIY delights

And don’t forget the simple but incredibly effective DIY project using fabulous sunshine yellow spray paint and getting to work on an old lamp or even metal garden furniture to refresh your patio. Don’t be afraid of spray paint as a project. There are some great tips here for getting it just right.  But adding yellow will really brighten up a dull space.

What to wear?

Once done, don’t let that new garden or patio set designed to bring a little life back into the space to waste. We might not be planning our European vacation just yet, but we can still plan on doing some sunbathing on the balcony and in this little number from H&M, you won’t be able to be anything but happy! As the flight upgrade won’t necessarily be required, spending a bit of your hard-earned wages on this coverup dress from Beach Cafe to give you a perfect holiday abroad vibe. And for when the late evenings start to close in and a chill grows in the air throw on your Gucci beautiful wrap sweater.