pastel power

The new fashion pastels are perfect for summer.

Soft pastel colours have been swirling around our homes for a few years now, interpreted as icy, gelato tones – think ice-cream and lolly colours. But this season pastels are growing up. They've moved from those watery looks to a more muddied dusky style. It's a more grown-up, sophisticated palette. And we're using a variety of them in one room, not just a touch here and there.

Pink room: A sophisticated palette of dusky pastels for this dining room includes a back wall in Resene Tana, another wall in Resene Half Perfect Taupe, a floor in Resene Soulmate and trims in Resene Alabaster. The plant pot on the shelf is in Resene High Tea, with a chair in Resene Tussock. To add depth and contrast, the coat rack is painted in Resene Hot Toddy. Blue/green room: Blue and green pastels have always been popular for baches. Here, a relatively new colour Resene Duck Egg Blue is used for the wall with trims and sideboard drawers in Resene Merino, a floor in Resene Barometer, and a ladder in Resene Xanadu.

The trick to using more than one pastel is to use colours with the same saturation or tint levels. So either all dusky pastels together like this dining room, or all light and bright pastels together.

With this new approach to pastel schemes, soft neutrals have a strong role to play, sitting happily alongside colours we would more traditionally classify as pastel. So while you're cruising the colour charts at your Resene ColorShop, don't forget to also check the Whites & Neutrals range.

Keep these new pastels from looking too gluggy by teaming them with crisp white trims like Resene Alabaster. Or include a sharp-coloured accent like copper or the Resene Hot Toddy coat rack in this dining room. You'll find plenty of these fashion pastels in the Resene colour collections. Go ahead, experiment and have some fun.