Close-up of kitchen walls and cupboard doors drenched in the vibrant yellow shade 'Giallo'.

Embracing Colour Drenching and Colour Blocking in Your Home

Colour drenching your interiors is a great way to bathe your home in shades that make you happy. Using bolder hues in an all-over scheme can evoke joy within a space, creating a cosy, encompassing feel.

Discover different ways you can paint your walls, woodwork and more in one paint colour for an immersive colour drenching experience that will transform your home…

Wall: Olive Colour, Floor: Dock Blue, Left Vase: Pale Lime, Right Vase: Citrine

What is Colour Drenching?

Colour Drenching is when you take a single colour – or a combination of closely related tones – across all aspects of a space, from baseboards and walls, to ceilings and doors.

This marks a change from the traditional way of decorating, where ceilings, doors and trim are often painted in white. Instead, colour drenching embraces colour on every surface, incorporating many different elements into your scheme to deliver an impactful, cohesive finish.

Burges Butterfly – Hicks’ Blue (c.1878), Panelling: Hicks’ Blue

You can colour drench in different ways, depending on the look you want to achieve. You might choose to include just the walls, woodwork and radiators in your colour-drenched scheme, or you could paint the ceiling too for a strong design statement.

There is also the option to introduce a luxurious textural element with the use of wallpaper, pairing a tonal design with coordinating paint colours. Or consider taking things a step further with the use of ‘double drenching’ – adding an unexpected colour highlight to elevate your scheme.

Colour Drenching Schemes

Dark Shades

Whether you choose an indulgent chocolate brown or a sumptuous deep teal, dark paint colours are perfect for colour drenching schemes, creating the ultimate cosy, intimate interior.

Saturate your bedroom walls and wardrobes in mysteriously dark shades like Basalt, helping you drift off to sleep with their soothing qualities. Or create a luxurious sanctuary in your living room by painting all surfaces in the captivating Mid Azure Green. Colour drenching works particularly well in areas with panelling, alcoves and cabinets. These features create added depth in the shadows, as light emphasises the architectural features and recesses.

Walls: Basalt, Stool/bedside table: Orange Aurora

Wall And Panelling: Mid Azure Green, Skirting: Royal Navy

Your kitchen and bathroom are the most practical of rooms, but it doesn’t mean you can’t add a touch of luxury by colour drenching with darker shades. A profound dark brown like Purple Brown is a beautiful shade to complement a traditional kitchen or pantry. Or surround yourself with the grounding dark hues of the charcoal grey, Vulcan, on all four walls of your bathroom scheme.

Wall & Sideboard: Purple Brown

Walls: Vulcan, Window Sill: Livid, Bath: Livid, Floor: Livid

‘Sweet Treats’

Our ‘Sweet Treats’ palette presents nine honey, caramel and chocolate hues that work wonderfully in all-over schemes, bringing wraparound warmth and comfort to any space. Each shade can feature effortlessly on walls, trim and ceilings to create truly inviting interiors with a real sense of character.

Walls: Bombolone, Cupboard doors: Bombolone, Window trim: Silt, Ceiling beam: Flint

Bombolone is a soothing honey tone that you can embrace across all surfaces in your kitchen for a beautiful, homely ambience. Paint walls, woodwork and cabinetry to deliver a cohesive finish, with a rich golden glow that exudes warmth throughout the entire room.

For more impact, consider a sumptuous deep brown like Ganache. This decadent hue is a lovely accompaniment to natural wood finishes in a dining scheme. Immerse your guests in the alluring chocolate hues by colour drenching the walls, woodwork and even the ceiling.

Explore the palette

Colour Drenching with different shades

Ceiling: Giallo, Walls: Giallo, Cupboard: Giallo, Left Wall: Bone China Blue – Faint

Yellows

Yellows radiate positivity in the home, especially when embraced in an all-over wraparound scheme. Bathe rooms in a joyful sunshine glow with the use of yellow hues across all four walls and woodwork. Use the charming warm yellow, Giallo, in your kitchen to start each day with fresh enthusiasm. Keep this colour contemporary with dark accents and pops of colour.

Greens

Colour drenching with green will immerse your living space in a restorative atmosphere, creating strong connection with the outdoors. For full effect, paint all woodwork, walls and ceiling in a strong, confident green like Puck. Or choose fresh, vibrant greens like Garden or Pea Green.

Blues

Whether dark and luxurious or light and calming, blues feel very comfortable in the home as we see them in the world around us each day. Dive into deep shades like Hicks’ Blue and paint both kitchen walls and cabinets for an elegant and sophisticated look. Or consider the muted mid-strength, Etruria, which pairs seamlessly with Hicks’ Blue and the Bone China Blue family for a touch of colour contrast.

Walls and cabinets: Hicks’ Blue, Stool: Green Verditer

Ceiling: Hicks’ Blue, Walls: Etruria, Cupboards & Panelling: Etruria, Right Wall: Bone China Blue

Muted Palettes

To create restful spaces that are awash with light, opt for soft, neutral shades in your colour-drenched scheme. For a pared-back feel, layer tranquil shades from the same colour family on different elements: walls, window frames, baseboards, doors and ceilings.

Silent White is a family of balanced off-whites that provide gentle, natural warmth. Use Silent White – Deep on the walls, paired with Silent White – Pale and woodwork for the perfect warm neutral living room. Or for inviting pink warmth, use variations of Masquerade on the walls, with lighter Julie’s Dream on the ceiling.

Ceiling: Silent White – Pale, Walls: Silent White – Deep, Panelling: Silent White

Ceiling: Julie’s Dream, Left Wall: Masquerade – Mid, Right Wall: Masquerade, Panelling: Masquerade – Light

Wallpaper: Spring Flowers – Garden and Spring Flowers – Portland Stone, Door frame: Portland Stone - Pale, Window frame: Garden, Cabinet doors: Hopper

Colour Drenching with wallpaper

Using an all-over wallpaper with a small pattern is a wonderful way to add an element of texture to a colour drenched scheme. Each of our wallpapers are offered in a variety of colourways that coordinate with our paint palette so you can combine paint and wallpaper for an encompassing finish.

Don’t be afraid of embracing a small space with a comforting and intimate approach. Wallpapering the ceiling will ensure the space feels loved and considered, as well as maximising pattern and colour. Add instant impact using Spring Flowers – Garden on both the walls and ceiling, paired with the vibrant Hopper and Garden.

‘Double Drenching’

‘Double Drenching’ is a new approach to colour drenching that creates a more dramatic transformation with real wow-factor. Choose one strong focal shade for your walls, then introduce similarly bold colours of the same shade as surprising colour highlights on the ceiling, woodwork and furniture.

With this approach, you can be very creative in the way you combine colours, considering unique, unexpected pairings that will captivate and inspire. Paint bedroom walls in Royal Navy, with Dock Blue on the ceiling, then introduce a striking accent of the vibrant blue, Smalt, on the window frames. Or combine two sumptuous dark reds, Bronze Red and Arras, for an intriguing contrast on your dining room walls and ceiling.

Ceiling & Above Dado: Dock Blue, Walls: Royal Navy, Window: Smalt, Headboard: Dock Blue

Ceiling: Arras, Walls: Bronze Red, Skirting, Bookcase & Chair: Arras, Shutters: Mushroom

Begin your colour drenching scheme by ordering a colour card, or explore our Colour Consultancy service for bespoke guidance on your project.