Homes are getting brighter, bolder and more sociable, and the colour is following

A board game sits half-finished on the dining table. There’s a record on, a stripe painted around the wall and a bright orange balustrade on the stairs. Rooms like this are made for doing things in, not just for looking at.

You can see it in what people search for. Pinterest’s 2026 forecast, built on its users’ searches, named a circus-inspired look it called FunHaus, with bold stripes, sculptural shapes and a touch of nostalgia. Houzz found the same mood when it compared searches on its US site in early 2026 with a year earlier.

Searches for a “board game room” rose 45%, a “card room” 129% and a “playroom” 38%. Interest in a “mahjong room” grew more than twentyfold.

The Dulux Colour Forecast 2027 puts colour to the idea. Its Play palette is one of three in the forecast, and Davina Harper, Colour & Design Specialist at Dulux New Zealand, links it to life on screens.

“In a world shaped by algorithms, endless content and digital noise, there is a growing sense of sameness and overstimulation,” she says. “The palettes reflect an urgent desire to create spaces that feel more personal, expressive and deeply human.”

Soft base, loud accents

Most playful schemes follow the same pattern. A soft base does the heavy lifting and a few strong accents bring the energy.

Dulux’s Play palette is built that way. The base includes Silverstream, a pale yellow-green, two blues, Birdlings Flat and Balaena Bay, a cornflower, and Gonville, a mid-tone spearmint.

The accents are Gillespies Beach, a rich berry, and Tokomaru Bay, a bright orange. A navy called Albeit and a warm brown called Whakapapa keep it grounded.

“Together, these unexpected pairings encourage creativity, interaction and self-expression,” says Davina.

Blue is the thread. Dulux expects homeowners to start treating it as a neutral, and in Play a blue wall often sits behind the brights where white once would have. The forecast’s styled rooms, by stylist Bree Banfield and photographer Lisa Cohen, push the idea hard.

One layers three blues across the cabinetry, wall and ceiling. Another puts berry on the ceiling. A stairwell painted in soft Havelock Half picks out its balustrade in Tokomaru Bay orange.

dulux colour forecast 2027 playful colour 1

Rooms for doing things

The bigger shift is in what rooms are for. A playful home is one where people do things together, and the objects that go with that are coming back.

Dulux points to record players, chess sets and board games as both things to use and part of the decor. After years of “polished perfection and screen-led living”, its forecast says, “we’re making room for more play, spontaneity and self-expression”.

So plan the space for it. Records deserve a shelf of their own.

Recorded Music NZ found more than half the vinyl sold here since 2003 was bought in the four and a half years to late 2025. A cupboard for games, or a table that can hold a jigsaw for a week, earns its place too.

Dulux pairs the colour with forgiving materials, such as silicone, rubber, pleated details and padded furniture that looks almost inflatable. Coloured glass and stone are an easy way to bring in a bright accent, and seams and piping are picked out in contrasting colours. Dulux calls the style “intentionally undone”.

Try it with a brush

Paint is the cheapest way in. Dulux suggests a soft wall in Birdlings Flat with simple motifs, stripes or organic shapes painted over it in Balaena Bay for a tonal look, or Whakapapa for stronger contrast.

One of its rooms does just that, with a brown border running around blue walls. Stripes are central to FunHaus too, so a striped wall or ceiling ties both ideas together.

It doesn’t need to be perfect. Dulux describes Play as celebrating “the charm of imperfect moments in everyday life”, and a hand-painted line that wobbles a little suits that better than a ruler-straight one.

If a painted motif feels like too much, start with plain colour. Dulux rates painting all four walls as one of the easiest ways to change a room.

Try blue walls with berry brought in through furnishings and décor, a pairing Dulux suggests and one that’s easy to change later. Test a sample pot in your own light before you commit.