For the first year ever, Dulux have announced 3 colours of the year for 2026, rather than just 1 with this trio of soulful indigo blues that bring a resounding breath of fresh air to an interior. It’s made me incredibly excited for this next round of paint colour trends to come forth.
Blues have been increasingly on the rise in our interiors over the last year, another soothing alternative to a green, and in some cases, good enough to be classed as a versatile neutral.
Acording to Dulux, “Colour expert insights reveal that blue is more than just a pretty hue. It’s a powerful tool in Contemporary home decor, offering both aesthetic appeal and psychological benefits. It’s a colour that offers a sense of stability, fluidity and boundlessness – just the panacea we need in today’s hectic world”.
They’ve named their colours of the year as The Rhythm of Blues, Meet Mellow Flow, Free Groove and Slow Swing – blues they believe in for 2026, use each on their own or as a trio for a tranquil room scheme.
What Are The Dulux 2026 Colours of The Year?
This year, Dulux have create three beautiful shades to help you find the perfect one for your space. Heleen Van Gent, Creative Director at AkzoNobel’s Global Aesthetic Center said, “People around the world want to slow down and recharge their batteries. They want to feel in tune with others and celebrate kinship. They want to be bold, have fun and feel carefree. To reflect these moods, we’ve centred our colour stories around three different rhythms – Slow, Flow and Free, and chosen ‘Your space, your pace’ as our theme“.
“We want everyone to find a flow that works for them at home, so we’ve selected three indigo blues as our colour family for 2026: the dark blue Slow SwingTM, the light blue Mellow FlowTM and the vibrant Free GrooveTM – Dulux Colours of the Year”.
Slow Swing
The darkest indigo shade out of the trio and such a beautiful one for bringing definition to an interior scheme, or leaning into the darkness with this one in a colour drenched approach for a high impact look.
Deepest darkest indigo, this shade has a very inky blue quality to it, and whilst it’s dark it doesn’t feel oppressive like a black. Positioned against the other shades as a darker accent would create such a soothing scheme.
Beautiful for a coastal inspired design, or one paired with wooden elements and warm neutrals for an earthy inspired room scheme that feels good to be in.
Perfect for: leaning into the darkness in north facing rooms, use on an accent wall or piece of furniture to create depth of colour or for use on woodwork when positioned with one of the lighter shades of blue.
Free Groove
This mid range blue out of the trio is ridiculously feel good. Blues sit next to green on the colour wheel and being near the middle of the colour wheel it makes it one of the easiest colours on the eye, I always think you can’t feel bad when surrounded by a feel good blue!
Described by Dulux as a vibrant blue, position against other high impact shades such as yellow and orange for a high contrasting look. For a more muted, floaty scheme, pair with the lighter tone in their trio, Mellow Flow for a beautiful balance.
Perfect for: Most orientations of rooms as it’s such a vibrant blue, great on accent walls or zoned areas such as the below for a joyful pop of colour.
Mellow Flow
The third colour in their Rhythm of Blues is Mellow Flow, an airy light blue. This almost dusky blue has a beatiful presence to it, and it’s one of those muted blues that feels versatile enough to be classed as a neutral.
The tones in the image below show how tonally this colour can work with the other two blues and more earthy, grounding neutrals. Brown being a running theme which really does show us where the colour trends are going over the coming year.
Mellow Flow works well as a lead colour in a lot of schemes as it works well as a base colour on walls, introducing the other blues, and other accent colours on woodwork and decor accessories.
Perfect for: all orientations of rooms, such a versatile neutral shade of blue which makes it an excellent base colour, colour drench with it for a cosy feel or paint a piece of furniture and position against a darker shade to create a soft balance.
Colour Schemes To Use With These Blues
Dulux have created three versatile colour palettes, showing you what types of colours you can team with these blues to create different experiences in your interior.
They’re also a great way to see how pairing specific tones with the blues makes them feel totally different, and something that can be replicated with decor accessories and textiles, rather than just paint.
A Free Colour Story
A fun, carefree and uplifting colour palette which features a palette of multicolours which will depict a very playful scheme. Surprisingly blues work very well with most colours, even greens and yellows!
If you want to create a space full of energy and joy, this is the palette to do it with, it would look gorgeous positioned in a kids bedroom scheme.
A Flow Colour Story
All of the colour palettes are very reminiscent of an earthy colour palette which draws colours from organic matter, and warm earthy terracottas are at play in this gorgeous colour palette.
This colour palette creares a harmonious, grounding scheme that feels good to be in. Sitting opposite on the colour wheel, blues and oranges create the most high impact look when contrasted together and I love seeing these shades positioned next to each other.
Sahara Drive, Relaxing Siesta and Teddybear Brown are a few of the earthy terracottas featured in this palette.
A Slow Colour Story
For more of a grounding, defining scheme, we’re looking at lots of hushed and muddy browns. These wintery, earthy tones create a meditative state when aligned next to the blues.
A relaxing scheme that would be ideal if you want to embrace the darkness in a very dark north facing room. A cosy scheme for cinemas rooms, reading nooks and living spaces.
I’m not surprised that the colours of the year are part of the blue family as I have been seeing blues start to make headway again in interiors this year.
What do you think of Dulux’ colours of the year for 2026? Will you be using them in any upcoming projects?
