Destination Painting: Create a Place-based Colour Palette for Your Home

Credit: CIL Paints

Almost as good as being on vacation, destination painting can bring the world to you

CIL Paints inspires homeowners to paint their favourite place right onto their walls

Do you dream of diving into the red sea? Wandering Aztec ruins and watching the sun set from a beach-side bungalow in Thailand? CIL Paints is inspiring homeowners to bring their dream holiday into their home with destination painting: the newest trend in home decorating.

The idea behind destination painting is more than simply adding themed accessories to your home. It’s about evoking the feeling of places through colour. “This isn’t about putting a stuffed seagull, a vase or rope accessories to your mantle and calling it nautical,” says Alison Goldman, marketing communications manager for CIL. Destination painting takes interior decorating a step further, transforming the entire space through colour.

Check out CIL’s blog and get inspired by the gorgeous destination painting ideas. You’ll be surprised at how pairing bright peacock blue, lemon yellow and grey evokes Sweden or how a mix of colours and accents in clean bright whites, greys and teal makes you think of Italy.

Design a Place-based Palette for Your Walls

Bring Italy into your home with neutral walls and a few colourful accents. (Image: CIL Paints)

Destination painting is about choosing colours based on your most coveted holiday destinations. Goldman, who has been a graphic designer for 17 years and works alongside AkzoNobel’s colour trends group, suggests home owners go online; look at travel packages, photos and brochures, and dream a little. Who can argue with that? All the fun of planning a holiday with none of the costs or logistical headaches!

The idea is to get in touch with the feelings and reactions you’re getting from the destinations. Perhaps the vibrant blues and greens of Costa Rica or the spicy reds and poppy oranges of China leave you lingering over the page. “In most cases people will find that it’s colour that attracts them to a certain place,” says Goldman.

Let yourself get carried away by your travel dreams as you browse the web and flip through brochures, and when you start noticing recurring colours, you’ve found your place-based palette.

Enhance Your Mood with New Hues

For a Swedish look think light and bright with lemon yellows, blues and sweet little accents. (Image: CIL Paints)

We all know that changes in our surroundings can boost our mood and renew us, but did you know colours can have the same effect? When it comes to painting your walls the old saying ‘a change is as good as a holiday’ couldn’t be more appropriate.

People often underestimate the ways in which colours can influence their mood but the psychological effects of colour, particularly bright colours in the middle of winter, can be remarkable. “Studies show that the colours we surround ourselves with have a direct effect on our state of mind,” says Goldman.

Because adding colours to your walls can take guts, a great way to get started is to transform one room with colour; bedroom, rec room or den works great as a getaway where you can go to refresh and relax.

Turn Your Room into an Exotic Destination

Create a warm Brazilian-style room with yellows and earthy browns. (Image: CIL Paints) 

Along with colours, landmarks are a great way to conjure up the feeling of a place. CIL suggests coming up with a theme based on a international landmark and then building around it with colours and accents. Get inspired by CIL’s ideas, for example, glass- topped tables in reds, golds and greens and extravagant rugs might not exactly take you to the Giza Pyramid but will certainly bring an Egyptian vibe to the room.

Always dreamed of visiting Athens? CIL suggests white walls and terra cotta tiles to bring you closer to the wondrous Acropolis. “The real benefit of destination painting,” says Goldman, “is that, by choosing the right colour combinations and themes, you’ll feel like you’re on vacation all year long.”

Lydia Millett hails from New Zealand and has recently moved to Canada. She has an English literature degree and a diploma in creative writing.