Every September, Australian painters, designers and homeowners wait for one release: the Dulux Colour Forecast. It tells us which colours will fill Australian homes over the next year, and for 2027 it marks a real change in mood. After several years of safe greys and cautious neutrals, the new forecast brings soft yellow-greens, playful pastels, deep jewel tones and warm, earthy browns into the same conversation.

Dulux describes the Colour Forecast 2027 as being about connection and authenticity through colour. According to Dulux colour and design manager Lauren Treloar, Australians are looking for colours that offer balance and belonging, and the forecast leans into softened yellow-greens and blues with grey and purple undertones, lifted by bright berry and cherry accents.

This guide breaks down all three 2027 palettes (Play, Sensory and Treasure), every colour in them, and, because we are a painting supplies business rather than a design magazine, how to actually put these colours on your walls: which paint to use in which room, how to handle deep colours, how to get crisp two-tone lines, and how to spray trend colours like a professional.

Dulux Colour Forecast 2027 at a glance

What is driving the 2027 colour trends?

Colour forecasts are not random. Dulux builds each forecast from year-round research into global and local trends, including design shows, runway presentations and events such as Milan Design Week. The 2027 forecast picks up three ideas that have been building for a while.

A return to analogue pleasures. The Play palette is inspired by music, games and hands-on pastimes. Treloar describes it as featuring "playful patterns, rubber elements and imperfect embellishments". In paint terms, that means cheerful mid-tones, pastel lilacs and powder blues, and accents that do not take themselves too seriously.

Everyday rituals and calm. The Sensory palette focuses on mindful living: lighting a candle, bringing natural elements indoors, slowing down. It blends Japanese influences with warm, soft neutrals and tactile surfaces.

Story and heritage. The Treasure palette is opulent and expressive. It favours depth over decoration and aims for spaces that feel curated, elegant and intimate.

The common thread is that people want homes that feel personal. Dulux says each palette is built for cohesion and personalisation, so you can mix shades across a home rather than locking into one look. That flexibility is good news if you are repainting room by room.

Palette 1: Play

Play is the most cheerful of the three palettes. Dulux describes it as "a palette filled with unexpected light and mid-tone colour pairings", designed to stimulate curiosity and creative expression.

The Play colours

See the official colour swatches on the Dulux Play palette page. On-screen colours vary, so always check a physical sample.

Key Play colours explained

Dulux Spring Fever is a soft yellow-green pastel and arguably the face of the 2027 forecast. Dulux pairs it with two bold accents: Dulux Baca Berry, a rich berry, and Dulux Temptress, a vibrant orange. Spring Fever on the walls with a Baca Berry door or a Temptress joinery piece is exactly the kind of unexpected pairing the palette is built around.

Dulux Canary Wharf is a striking cornflower blue, and Dulux Catnap is a mid-tone spearmint. Together they add a fresh lift. Dulux Blue Glass is shown by Dulux as a spontaneous feature wall colour, which tells you how Dulux expects it to be used: confidently, on one surface that gets attention.

Dulux Albeit and Dulux Rich Loam are the grounding colours. Albeit sits with the navy tones, and Rich Loam is a warm, decadent brown. Use them where you want the room to feel anchored: a lower wall, a kitchen island, a bank of cabinetry or a front door.

Dulux Tranquil Retreat will be familiar to many Australians. It has been a popular warm grey for years, and its inclusion here shows how the playful colours are meant to be balanced with something quieter.

Where Play works best

These are our suggestions as painters, not part of the Dulux forecast itself:

• Kids' rooms and playrooms: Spring Fever or Powder Blue walls with a Catnap or Canary Wharf feature.
• Home offices and studios: a single Blue Glass wall behind the desk adds energy without overwhelming the room.
• Laundries and mudrooms: small rooms are the safest place to try Temptress or Baca Berry.
• Front doors: Baca Berry or Albeit in a gloss enamel looks sharp against white or soft green cladding.
• Joinery and cabinetry: colour on kitchen and laundry cabinets is one of the most effective ways to use Play without repainting whole rooms.

Palette 2: Sensory

Sensory is the calm counterpart to Play. Dulux describes it as "inspired by Japanese craftsmanship and the comfort of everyday rituals", a soft, tonal palette built around botanical greens and meant to evoke stillness and restoration.

The Sensory colours

See the official colour swatches on the Dulux Sensory palette page. On-screen colours vary, so always check a physical sample.

Key Sensory colours explained

The botanical greens (Dulux Moorland, Dulux Field Maple and Dulux Spinach Green) are the heart of Sensory. They give you a range from soft to deep, which makes tonal schemes easy: lighter green on the walls, deeper green on joinery or a feature wall.

Dulux Barite is a muted tan, singled out by Dulux as a key Sensory shade. Dulux Buttercookie is a warm, wheat-toned neutral. Both are excellent alternatives to the cool greys many Australian homes were painted in over the last decade. They warm a room up without making it look yellow.

Dulux Blue Balm is a light coastal blue. In a palette full of greens and browns, it adds a breath of air and works especially well in bathrooms and bedrooms.

Dulux Sweet Chocolate and Dulux Dark Cocoa are the earthy browns. Brown is having a genuine comeback, and these two are rich enough for a moody study, a feature wall behind a bed, or cabinetry paired with timber benchtops.

Where Sensory works best

• Bedrooms: Barite or Buttercookie walls with a Field Maple bedhead wall create the "stillness" Dulux talks about.
• Bathrooms and ensuites: Blue Balm or a soft green, paired with natural timber and stone.
• Living areas: Sensory neutrals are easy to live with across large open-plan spaces.
• Studies and libraries: Spinach Green or Dark Cocoa for a cocooning, focused room.

Because Sensory is about tactile surfaces, finish matters as much as colour. A low sheen or matt finish keeps these colours soft. If you want texture, consider how you apply the paint: a quality lambswool roller leaves a slightly richer surface than a cheap synthetic sleeve.

Palette 3: Treasure

Treasure is the drama palette. Dulux says it "captures the grandeur and depth of ancient treasures" and is meant to evoke drama and theatricality. Treloar describes it as layering story, heritage and jewel-toned richness.

The Treasure colours

See the official colour swatches on the Dulux Treasure palette page. On-screen colours vary, so always check a physical sample.

Key Treasure colours explained

Dulux Plunge is a striking teal, and Dulux sets it against Dulux Pelican Pink, an energising coral-pink. It is the most talked-about contrast in the 2027 forecast: bold, a little unexpected, and very photogenic.

Dulux Murray Red is the hero shade Dulux uses to show how Treasure feels: curated and intimate. Reds like this suit dining rooms and powder rooms, where you spend shorter, more social time.

Dulux Raspberry Fool and Dulux Rich Red Violet are the berry shades. They connect Treasure back to the berry accents in Play, so you can use them across both palettes.

Dulux Gentle Sands and Dulux Warm Woollen are yellow and gold shades that add warmth and luminosity, balanced by deeper tones such as Dulux Precision.

Where Treasure works best

• Dining rooms: Murray Red or Rich Red Violet for a warm, intimate space.
• Powder rooms: small, closed rooms are made for Plunge or Raspberry Fool.
• Feature walls and alcoves: Plunge behind open shelving, or Pelican Pink in a reading nook.
• Colour-drenched rooms: Treasure colours look their best when the walls, trims and sometimes the ceiling are all painted the same shade (more on colour drenching below).

The whites and neutrals of 2027

Every palette includes at least one white, and they matter more than people think. Your white is what everything else is judged against, and it is usually the paint you buy the most of.

• Dulux Natural White (Play): Australia's long-time favourite, soft and warm.
• Dulux Stately Frills Half (Play)
• Dulux White Dune Half and Dulux Ecru (Sensory): warmer, creamier neutrals that suit the botanical greens.
• Dulux Snowy Mountains Half, Dulux Raw Cotton Quarter and Dulux Bone White (Treasure): good companions for jewel tones on ceilings and trims.

What the rest of the world is choosing for 2027

Australia is not alone in moving towards soft greens. AkzoNobel, which owns the Dulux brand in the UK and Europe (a separate company from Dulux in Australia), named Soulful Sage its Colour of the Year 2027, describing it as "an ethereal, soft and silvery green". In the United States, Benjamin Moore picked Webster Green and Sherwin-Williams picked Celery, a light, muted green with soft yellow undertones.

The pattern is clear. After years of greige, the world's big paint brands are all heading towards soft, liveable greens. If you are repainting in 2027 and want something current that will still look good in five years, a soft green or a warm, earthy neutral is a safe bet.

Bringing 2027 colours outside

The Dulux Colour Forecast is an interior forecast, but its ideas translate well to exteriors when used with care:

• Front doors are the easiest place to start. Baca Berry, Albeit or Plunge on a door, with a soft neutral body colour, gives instant street appeal.
• Earthy browns and botanical greens from Sensory suit Australian landscapes and look natural against gardens and timber.
• Deep colours in full sun fade faster and absorb more heat. For very deep exterior colours, use a quality exterior acrylic made for deep bases, such as Dulux Weathershield Ultra Deep Matt or Weathershield Deep Matt, and check the manufacturer's guidance on dark colours for your substrate.
• Trims and fascias look sharp in a white from the same palette as your door colour.

Which Dulux paint to use for each room

Colour is only half the job. The right product decides how the colour looks and how long it lasts. Here is how we match Dulux products to rooms when painting trend colours:

Shop the Dulux products in this guide

A budget-friendly option: tint Dan's Paint to trend colours

If you are painting a whole house, a rental or a renovation on a budget, our own brand is worth a look. Dan's Paint Cosmocoat for Walls is a premium water-based acrylic for interior and exterior use, with mould-resistant additives, low odour and low roller spatter, and it is easy to spray. It comes in a white base and can be tinted to most colours using the Dan's Paint Easy Colour Tinting Range, including colours from other brands' charts.

Two things to keep in mind. First, tinting is done in white bases, so it works best for light and mid tones such as Spring Fever, Blue Balm, Barite or Buttercookie. For very deep colours such as Murray Red, Dark Cocoa or Precision, talk to our team before ordering. Second, always paint a sample patch first, because a colour tinted into a different paint can look slightly different from a manufacturer's chip.

The range also includes Cosmocoat for Ceilings, Cosmocoat 3-in-1 Prep and Cosmocoat Voda Enamel Semi Gloss for doors and trims.

How to paint deep and bold colours without the headaches

Plunge, Murray Red, Dark Cocoa and Baca Berry look spectacular on a finished wall, but deep colours are less forgiving than whites. These habits make the difference:

• Plan for at least two full topcoats. Deep colours applied too thin look patchy, especially in low sheen.
• Keep a wet edge. Work one wall at a time from corner to corner, so the paint never dries mid-wall. Lap marks show far more in deep colours.
• Box your paint. If you are using more than one tin, mix them together in a larger bucket so the colour is consistent across the whole job.
• Check the sheen. A low sheen or matt finish hides minor wall imperfections; gloss on a deep colour will show every one of them.
• Light matters. In Australia, north-facing rooms get the most sun and warm light, while south-facing rooms get cooler, softer light. A colour that looks rich in a north-facing room can look heavy in a south-facing one, so test in the room itself.

Colour drenching: the 2027 way to use bold colour

Colour drenching means painting the walls, skirtings, architraves, doors and sometimes the ceiling in the same colour. It makes small rooms feel bigger and gives bold colours a calm, finished look instead of a busy one. It suits the Treasure and Sensory palettes particularly well.

In practice that means low sheen on the walls and semi-gloss enamel on the trims and doors in exactly the same shade. The surfaces read as one colour, but the trims are still tough and wipeable. If you are using Dulux, that usually means Wash&Wear on the walls and Aquanamel on the woodwork, both tinted to the same colour.

Spraying 2027 trend colours like a professional

Bold colours and colour drenching are where paint sprayers really earn their keep. A sprayed finish has no roller stipple or brush marks, which matters on deep colours, and spraying doors, frames and skirtings in place is far faster than brushing.

Walls and ceilings

For whole rooms, a sprayer with a bigger paint supply saves constant refilling. Our own Dan's Backpack Airless Paint Sprayer carries a 5-litre reservoir on your back, and the Dan's Compact Cordless Airless Paint Sprayer offers the same capacity in a unit you set down beside you. Both are cordless, so there is no lead across the floor. For bigger jobs, see the full range of airless paint sprayers.

Doors, trims and feature colours

Trend colours are often used in small amounts: one door, one bank of cabinets, one feature wall. That is exactly where the Graco Ultra QuickShot II shines. Its gun and hose hold only around 30ml of coating, and its Quick Flush mode makes colour changes faster, so switching from a Plunge door to a white trim does not waste paint or time.

Not sure which cordless sprayer suits your work? Read our guide to the best cordless paint sprayers in Australia.

Spraying tips for colour

• Strain your paint, especially tinted paint, to avoid tip blockages mid-coat.
• Use a fine finish tip on enamels and trims for a smooth, even film.
• Overlap each pass by about half and keep the gun around 30cm from the surface for even colour.
• Back-roll on rough surfaces. On porous or textured walls, back-rolling straight after spraying evens out deep colours. Our guide to back-rolling after spraying explains how.
• Flush thoroughly between colours, so a white trim does not come out tinted pink.

Rolling trend colours: why the roller cover matters

If you are rolling rather than spraying, your roller cover affects the finish more than most people realise. A good lambswool cover holds more paint, lays it on evenly and helps avoid the patchy look deep colours are prone to.

The Express Rollers lambswool range comes in different nap lengths: shorter naps for smooth walls and low sheen finishes, longer naps for textured surfaces and exteriors. If you are rolling a deep colour in low sheen, use a fresh, quality cover and keep the roller loaded.

Crisp lines for two-tone walls and colour blocking

Several 2027 looks rely on sharp lines: a Rich Loam lower wall under a Spring Fever upper wall, a Plunge arch, a Pelican Pink stripe. Clean edges depend on masking.

• Use a masking tape applicator to run long, straight lines quickly and apply tape with paper or film in one pass.
• Choose the right masking tape: low-tack or delicate-surface tape over freshly painted walls, and quality painter's tape such as iQuip masking tapes for sharp edges.
• Remove the tape while the final coat is still slightly soft, pulling back on itself at a low angle.

2027 colour combinations to try

The first two combinations below come straight from the Dulux forecast. The rest are our own suggestions, built from colours within the same palette so they sit together naturally.

• Spring Fever + Baca Berry + Temptress (Dulux pairing): soft yellow-green walls with berry and orange accents. Fun for kitchens, kids' rooms and creative spaces.
• Plunge + Pelican Pink (Dulux pairing): striking teal against coral-pink. Try Plunge on cabinetry or a feature wall with Pelican Pink in accessories or a door.
• Canary Wharf + Catnap + Natural White: cornflower blue and spearmint, kept fresh by a soft warm white. Good for bathrooms and laundries.
• Barite + Field Maple + White Dune Half: muted tan walls, a botanical green feature and a creamy white trim for a calm bedroom.
• Blue Balm + Buttercookie: light coastal blue with a warm wheat neutral, ideal for an ensuite or a coastal living room.
• Spinach Green + Sweet Chocolate: deep green walls with chocolate-brown joinery for a moody study.
• Murray Red drenched + Bone White ceiling: a colour-drenched dining room with a light ceiling to keep it from feeling closed in.
• Gentle Sands + Precision: a warm gold balanced by a deeper tone, as Dulux suggests for the Treasure palette.

Whatever combination you choose, keep the proportions in mind. A useful starting point is roughly 60% main colour, 30% secondary colour and 10% accent, so the boldest shade stays a highlight rather than taking over the room.

How to choose your 2027 colour: a step-by-step plan

1. Pick a palette, not a single colour. Decide whether your home feels more Play, Sensory or Treasure. You can mix palettes, but starting from one keeps things cohesive.
2. Choose one hero colour for the room or area you most want to change.
3. Buy sample pots and paint large patches, at least A4 size and ideally bigger, on two or three walls.
4. Look at the patches morning, midday and evening. Australian light is strong and colours shift a lot through the day.
5. Choose your white last, by testing two or three whites next to your hero colour.
6. Choose the product and sheen for each surface: walls, trims, ceilings, doors.
7. Plan your prep: fill, sand, spot-prime stains, and use a tinted undercoat under deep colours.
8. Decide spray or roll, and set up masking accordingly.

Common mistakes with trend colours

• Choosing from a tiny chip. Colours look stronger on a whole wall than on a chip. Always test large.
• Using a bold colour everywhere. Trend colours work best with balance. Let one or two rooms carry the statement.
• Skipping the undercoat on deep colours. It usually costs more in extra topcoats than the undercoat would have cost.
• Mixing whites. Using different whites on ceilings, trims and walls in the same room can make one of them look dirty.
• Ignoring sheen. The same colour looks different in matt, low sheen and gloss. Decide sheen before you judge the colour.

Frequently asked questions

What are the Dulux colours of 2027?

The Dulux Colour Forecast 2027 has three palettes: Play, Sensory and Treasure, with twelve colours in each. Key shades include Dulux Spring Fever, Baca Berry, Temptress, Canary Wharf and Blue Glass (Play), Dulux Barite, Blue Balm, Moorland and Spinach Green (Sensory), and Dulux Plunge, Pelican Pink, Murray Red and Raspberry Fool (Treasure).

What colour is Dulux Plunge?

Dulux describes Plunge as a striking teal. In the 2027 forecast it is paired with Dulux Pelican Pink, an energising coral-pink, as a bold contrast.

What colour is Dulux Spring Fever?

Spring Fever is a soft yellow-green pastel from the Play palette. Dulux pairs it with berry and orange accents such as Baca Berry and Temptress.

What colour is Dulux Barite?

Barite is a muted tan from the Sensory palette, a warm neutral that works well as an alternative to cool greys.

Is green still in fashion for 2027?

Yes. Soft and botanical greens appear throughout the Dulux 2027 forecast, and paint brands overseas have also chosen soft greens for 2027, including AkzoNobel's Soulful Sage and Sherwin-Williams' Celery.

Can I use 2027 trend colours outside?

Yes, with care. Front doors are the easiest place to start. For deep exterior colours, use an exterior paint made for deep bases, such as Dulux Weathershield Ultra Deep Matt, and check the manufacturer's guidance for dark colours on your surface.

Can other paints be tinted to Dulux colours?

Many paints can be tinted to match colours from other brands' charts. Dan's Paint Cosmocoat, for example, can be tinted to most colours in its white base. Results can vary slightly between products, so always test a sample patch, and talk to us about very deep colours.

Can you spray deep and bold colours with an airless sprayer?

Yes. Airless spraying gives an even film with no roller or brush marks, which suits deep colours well. Strain the paint, use the right tip, overlap each pass by about half, and flush the sprayer thoroughly between colours.

Ready to paint in 2027 colours?

The 2027 forecast is one of the most optimistic Dulux has released in years: softer greens, cheerful pastels, warm browns and jewel tones you can actually live with. The best results still come down to the basics: the right product, good preparation and the right tools.

Paint Access stocks interior paints and exterior paints including the Dulux range, Dan's Paint, paint sprayers, rollers and masking supplies, with fast shipping Australia-wide. Looking back at what was popular before? Read our guide to the most popular paint colours in Australia in 2025.

Colour names and palette descriptions are from the Dulux Colour Forecast 2027 published by Dulux Australia. Dulux is a trademark of its owner. On-screen colours are a guide only; always check a physical sample before you paint.