Sweet and spicy: Dulux reveals colour of the year for 2019 as Spiced Honey

The Dulux Colour of the Year has been chosen by an expert panel of designers and trend forecasters. Here's what you need to know... 
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Get ready to sweeten up your home next year as Dulux has named Spiced Honey — a warm caramel hue that is versatile enough to introduce into a wide range of home interiors — as its Colour of the Year for 2019 at today's annual trend forecast.

It's a warm neutral — think woody, sandy and inviting amber tones — and is described by the paint giant as "calming and nourishing" or "stimulating and energising", depending on the palettes and light surrounding it.

The brand chose the rich, warming colour as a nod to the unsettling nature of 2018, and as a way to re-energise our homes in the year ahead.

"Spiced Honey is a warm caramel with notes of amber that perfectly reflects our new sense of optimism and resilience in 2019," says Marianne Shillingford, Dulux's UK Creative Director.

Intense pigments:the 'space to love' colour palette is the warmest, showing Spiced Honey as a wall border for the rich terracotta

"It is a colour that is happy to play the supporting role rather than being used as a full immersion shade on all the walls so try it in feature bands and blocks as well as on the interior woodwork and painted furniture," she adds.

"As sweet and delicious as honey on hot buttered toast."

Marianne Shillingford, Dulux

"Paired with off-whites and a dollop of deepest inky Cobalt Night, Spiced Honey offers a room fresh contemporary bite but introduce soft warm greys and muted pinks like Angora Blanket and Soft Stone and you achieve a look that is as sweet and delicious as honey on hot buttered toast," explains Shillingford.

HOW TO INCORPORATE SPICED HONEY INTO YOUR HOME

Along with revealing Spiced Honey as the hero colour for the year, the ColourFutures expert panel has released four palettes featuring the shade and other hues that pair well with it in various rooms of the home.

For home offices and other multi-use spaces, the panel dubs this colour palette as 'a space to think'. An inviting mix of rich neutrals and touches of soft pink, intense burgundy and sophisticated deep blue feature in this palette. Polished woods, mid-century furniture, graphic rugs and textiles emphasise the smart look.

A mix of rich neutrals and touches of soft pink

In the next palette, Spiced Honey is paired with a muted mix of romantic powder pinks and blues that evoke calm. It works well in bedrooms, with plain pale woods, simple hand-thrown vessels and pretty fabrics.

Spiced Honey is mixed with dusty pinks, pale woods and pretty fabrics for this romantic look

The warmest palette, filled with richly pigmented shades including deep forest green, bold teal and intense terracotta red. With wooden furniture and botanical prints, it creates a cosy open-plan dining and kitchen space and will flow through to living rooms.

Rich, intense shades sit beside wooden furniture in this homely palette

Painted with shades from the final palette, this space is brought to life with reclaimed, personalised furniture and bold graphic shapes. Playful, vivid reds and greens sit among pale pinks, blues, crisp greys and whites.

Bold and bright, this playful look mixes blues, greens and graphics