BOLD COLOUR IS THE NEW CONFIDENCE

For almost a decade, interiors whispered. Minimalism took over, neutral palettes dominated, and many homes drifted into a safe sameness built from beige, cream and careful restraint.

But something has shifted. As the world becomes more chaotic, homeowners are leaning toward spaces that offer warmth, optimism and personality.

Colour has returned to luxury design because it delivers exactly that, but in a considered, modern way, far from the brash maximalism of the 2010s or the timid pastels of the early pandemic years.

The new wave is thoughtful, layered and emotionally led, a resurgence shaped by a desire to feel grounded in our own space.

From Sydney to Melbourne, Atlanta to Toronto and Portugal, colour is back with conviction.

Why Colour Matters

Major global paint houses see the shift clearly. Warm earth tones and gentle pastels are now sitting comfortably beside deeper colours like burnt orange, moss green, berry shades and vintage rose.

Forecasts suggest a swing back to expressive palettes shaped by nostalgia, slower living and a renewed pull toward nature.

This shift reflects what people are living through: rising costs, global tension, digital overload and plain old burnout. People want comfort, a sense of connection and something that lifts the mood. Designers are responding with palettes that feel warm, grounded and human.

Colour is no longer about trends, but about emotional resonance.

Lauren Treloar, Dulux Colour and Design Manager, says homes are increasingly becoming “canvases of personal storytelling.”

She notes a growing willingness to use colour to bring “energy, joy and personal character throughout the space,” driven by the desire for warmth, individuality and emotional connection.

The broader colour movement is also reflected in the 2026 Dulux Colour Forecast, distilled into three palettes: Ethereal, Elemental and Evoke.

Together they champion warm earth-based neutrals, rich burnt oranges, caramels, sage, moss and spearmint greens, alongside soft pinks, vintage rose tones and muted berries. One of the strongest shifts, Treloar says, is the rise of spearmint green, which pairs effortlessly with earthy pinks, browns and burgundies.

Sydney’s Coastal Blues

In one Sydney penthouse, the shift towards colour begins with quiet confidence. Soft aqua and Mediterranean blues wind through the kitchen, living and bathroom in a way that feels serene rather than showy.

The goal, says Nathalie Scipioni, principal architect and director of Nathalie Scipioni Architects, was to unify what had once been a disconnected, boxed-in layout.

“My aim was to open up what had been a closed, disconnected layout and create a home where the kitchen, living and dining areas feel connected and calm,” she says.

“I used one feature colour (blue) to tie the spaces together, applying it in different ways so it feels consistent but not repetitive.”

The palette works because it’s balanced with soft greys, pale timber, brushed brass and plenty of texture.

“I controlled saturation by choosing muted shades and finishes with texture. I used pale timber, brushed gold and soft greys so the blue stands out without overpowering the overall sense of calm,” she says.

Even so, Australia is still colour-cautious.

“I don’t see bold colour making a major return in Australia just yet,” she says. “The market still leans towards neutrals… clients are hesitant to embrace colour because they don’t see it used around them. It is not part of the visual landscape in the same way it is Europe.”

Yet she sees her work as a quiet education, showing that colour can be gentle, refined and deeply personal.

Earthy Depth

Further south, another family home takes colour in an entirely different direction. Here, deep greens, walnut timber, brushed brass, mustard, rust and black stone fill the rooms with a rich, tactile warmth.

The brief was clear: no more beige.

“The brief was to completely move away from the beige and neutral tones that once defined the home and to reintroduce personality through a palette that felt both sophisticated and nurturing,” says Richard Misso, creative director of The Stylesmiths.

“Deep greens and walnut were chosen for their connection to nature… Brushed brass details added warmth and subtle reflection.”

In the living area, an artwork becomes the anchor that unites rust armchairs, an olive sofa, terracotta tones and black stone.

“A multi-tone palette like this works when each hue earns its place and connects through tone rather than saturation,” he explains.

“Texture plays an equal role to colour… creating variation and visual rhythm without overwhelming the eye.”

What’s ahead?

“Bold colour is already making its return, but in a more refined, tonal way… It’s less about maximalism and more about authenticity through colour.”

Rich earth tones define this living space by The Stylesmiths. Photo: The Stylesmiths

The American Case

Across the Pacific, a roughly 930-square-metre manor near Atlanta champions a cinematic approach to colour, says Seth van den Bergh, principal designer at The Drawing Room.

Long architectural sightlines demanded strong punctuation points, bold red moments, black walls, saturated accents and warm neutrals.

“At Milton Manor, the palette was built around rhythm and a restrained use of colour,” van den Bergh says.

“Boldness only works when it is balanced with restraint… the ‘fearless palette’ gains its strength from warm neutrals, white painted wood floors and a thoughtful use of colours and objects.

These elements allow the saturated gestures to feel intentional rather than overwhelming. It is that balance that lets the home breathe.”

Even the black walls are handled with precision.

“We layered the surfaces and filled the negative space with related tones… the key is to treat black as a finish rather than a colour,” he says.

For those scared to commit, he recommends beginning with emotion, studying the light, understanding the room’s vistas, then editing to one clear direction.

“Think of it like a film. You would not have all your lead characters speaking at once, so let the room have one clear voice to follow,” van den Bergh says.

For homeowners nervous about bold shades, Treloar suggests starting with how a space should feel and introducing colour slowly through architectural details or textures. Moodboards and real paint samples remainessential.

“Colour can change substantially in different lighting or when colour from other furnishings reflects on the wall,” she says. “It’s all about experimentation and allowing your personal style to evolve.”

Playful Confidence in Toronto

In a Toronto condo belonging to actress Amalia Williamson, colour takes on a joyful, youthful energy.

The space started as a blank, characterless developer shell. With a careful mix of custom cabinetry and budget retail pieces, the palette evolved into a vibrant blend of navy, blush, gentle greens, bold orange and saturated green.

Crucially, the bold accents came last.

“We actually selected those accents at the very end,” designer Isabel Clune of Isabel Clune Design says. “The foundation of the room was already rich with colour but in a soft, muted way.

The saturated green pendants and bold orange stools became the perfect counterbalance… It’s a controlled pop, not a swing into ultra-maximalism.”

Even the surfaces balance practicality with beauty.

“I always design with equal consideration for function and beauty… Marble can be refinished, it’s naturally heat-resistant… its subtle imperfections and patina add character over time.”

The embossed tile was chosen purely for its visual impact, with marble behind the stove for everyday practicality.

It proves colour doesn’t require huge budgets – just intentionality.

Colour Me Happy

Colour at Portugal’s Viterbo Interior Design begins with feeling, not pigment. As Gracinha Viterbo and Miguel Vieira da Rocha explain, “we never begin by selecting colours, we begin by talking about how people live.”

The team worked with the family to map the emotional temperature of each room, asking what mood each part of the home should hold: where they should feel energised, where they should slow down, where they should decompress and where they should gather with others.

The palette grew out of that emotional map, refined on site with large samples and fabrics at different hours of the day so that each hue produced the exact feeling the family wanted.

The home’s bold moments never spill into chaos because strict principles anchor the palette.

“Each room was given one strong chromatic gesture – never two,” the designers say, ensuring character without competition.

A restrained architectural backdrop and a tight family of colours allowed tones to reappear through the house in different intensities, creating continuity.

The result is a home that feels expressive and dynamic, yet the flow is seamless.

Bold colour meets considered balance. In this Lisbon project by Viterbo Interior Design. Photo: Francisco Nogueira

19th Century Revival

In Turin, colour becomes a bridge between eras. A 19th-century apartment restored by BRH+ Studio has been reimagined as a dialogue between heritage architecture and a vivid contemporary art collection.

Nowhere is that tension more captivating than in the entryway, where deep octanium walls and a site-specific fresco ignite a striking conversation between past and present.

Victoria Stoian’s fresco transforms the vaulted ceiling into an imagined sky, drawing the eye upward the moment visitors enter the apartment and signalling that this is a home shaped as much by art and narrative as by architecture.

BRH+ Studio treat colour not as decoration but as architecture, using it to connect the original terrazzo floors with new interventions and give the apartment a cohesive rhythm.

A dramatic fresco crowns the entry of Apartment SL.

BRH+ on Colour and Heritage

For architects Barbara Brondi and Marco Rainò, founders of BRH+Q, the entrance to the Turin apartment was conceived as more than a hallway.

“The entrance to an apartment can be understood not only as the threshold to private living spaces, but also as a symbolically charged environment where the personality of the inhabitant can be expressed,” they explain.

In this case, the space was designed to reveal the owners’ passion for contemporary art while connecting that sensibility with the building’s nineteenth-century architecture.

The large tempera fresco by Moldovan artist Victoria Stoian transforms the vaulted ceiling into an imaginary landscape suspended between past and present. At the same time, the deep chromatic treatment of the walls connects visually with the apartment’s terrazzo flooring, creating a dialogue between decorative surfaces.

For Brondi and Rainò, the key to working within historic buildings is restraint. Every project begins with a close study of the context so that new interventions complement rather than overwhelm the architecture.

Pasadena: A Cocoon of Blue

In Pasadena, a second-floor bedroom suite became the perfect test case for how far colour can transform a small space when used with conviction.

The room sits apart from the home’s communal areas, giving interior designer Jennifer Vaquero of September Workshop the freedom to create a space centred entirely around her client’s favourite hue.

“While we loved the idea of creating a relaxing and serene space, it was equally important that the rooms also feel energetic and joyful,” she says.

Warm accents, reflective textures and subtle sheen in the window sheers ensure the deep blue palette never feels flat.

“When that light bounces off the golden and purple hues in the marble or the warm woods, the whole suite seems to come alive.”

Wrapped in cocooning layers of deep blue, the September bedroom suite balances calm and energy.

Where Colour Is Heading

Across continents, a consistent story emerges. Colour is returning not as trend but as therapy, craftsmanship and identity.

Homes no longer want to whisper. They want to reflect the lives within them, joyful, complex, grounded and expressive.

Design is shifting from minimalism to meaning. From quiet to considered. From safe to soulful.

The new colour confidence isn’t loud or chaotic. It’s intentional, emotional and human, and one of the most powerful tools in luxury design.

This article appeared in the Autumn 26 issue of Kanebridge Quarterly, which you can buy here.

What’s more important than being a good employee right now? Looking like a good employee in the eyes of AI productivity trackers that more managers are using to evaluate their teams.

Employee-monitoring systems are especially popular at tech companies and are also used by other white-collar firms that want to probe how people spend company time. The scary thing: You might not even know you’re being watched because many states don’t require disclosure.

Metrics can include performance data that is undoubtedly relevant, such as sales results. But it also can employ dubious proxies like keyboard strokes and how often your computer screen goes into sleep mode.

We generally accepted, or at least understood, heightened surveillance during the work-from-home era. Back then it seemed reasonable for bosses to keep tabs on employees they couldn’t see.

Yet the oversight has only escalated, and tensions are rising, too.

A group of former Meta Platforms employees alleges in a lawsuit that the company used a “constellation of internal artificial-intelligence systems” when it began laying off about 10% of its workforce in May. Meta says humans make termination calls.

However that case shakes out, a couple of things are clear. Companies eager to gauge which employees are locked in now have sophisticated AI monitoring systems at their disposal. And they believe they have leverage in a tepid labor market.

So while we may chafe at having our worth reduced to numbers on the boss’s productivity dashboard, we have to play the game as it’s being played. Here are some tips, based on conversations with people who make employee monitoring systems—and others who game the systems.

Be meticulous about your calendar

Calendar integration is one way that productivity trackers have gotten more advanced and, ostensibly, fairer.

Let’s say you make an old-fashioned phone call or attend an in-person meeting. Your Outlook or Slack status may switch to “away,” making you appear as inactive as if you were taking an extended coffee break.

Employee monitors like one made by a company called Insightful cross-check your online status with your calendar to see whether there is a valid reason for your apparent inactivity. If that call or meeting is on your schedule, then the system will recognize that you are busy offline. If nothing is on the books, it could look like you’re slacking off.

Hit the activity sweet spot, around 80%

Let’s not go any further without addressing the underlying question: How much downtime is permissible during the workday? After all, people have been scared to let managers see anything non-work-related on their screens since personal computers first arrived in offices.

No one knows this better than Roger Wagner, who is widely credited with creating the first “boss button” in the early 1980s. He designed a keyboard shortcut to instantly display a spreadsheet if the boss walked by your cubicle while you were playing a computer game. Boss buttons have been features of countless diversions since. (I confess to using one built into a March Madness streaming app.)

Wagner, the founder of computer-education company 1010 Technologies, says his original design was a joke—more of a commentary on overbearing managers than a cover for lazy employees. Good bosses understand workers need mental breaks throughout the day, he says.

This matches what I heard from Insightful Chief Executive Ivan Petrovic. He says customers that use his company’s workforce-management platform don’t expect employees to stay on task 100% of the time.

“On average companies are aiming for 60% to 80% of your time being utilized for work during the day,” he says.

Go ahead and exhale. It’s probably OK to watch an occasional YouTube video at your desk.

And if you’re going to artificially inflate your activity level, be careful. Hitting 90% could look suspicious.

Get physical

So don’t leave your mouse jiggler on all day. Choose the right one if you must resort to shenanigans.

There are lots of software applications that mimic the movements of a computer mouse, so you can appear to be working while away from your desk. There are also devices that plug into computer ports and do the same thing.

Corporate cybersecurity systems increasingly block these apps and devices, and productivity trackers claim to be able to detect them. But some workers swear by mouse docks, like one made by Tech8 USA, that keep cursors moving. The company originally made mouse-moving software but now focuses on physical jigglers.

“People are drawn to mechanical solutions because they’re so simple and don’t require software,” says Tech8 Marketing Director Sam Matthews. “As monitoring technology becomes more sophisticated, that distinction has become even more relevant.”

Use AI, but not too much

Another popular metric for employee-monitoring systems is AI usage. Companies want to know who is embracing new tools, and it can be tempting to think more is better.

“There’s a performative aspect where employees overblow their usage of AI so that they appear relevant in the organization,” says Andrea Derler, principal researcher at Visier, which helps companies track and analyze employee work habits.

In a recent Visier survey of 1,000 U.S. workers, 48% admitted to exaggerating their AI usage.

This is already an outdated strategy. Using AI for everything used to score points for experimentation. Now it can seem wasteful because many companies are watching AI token spending more carefully.

Look, productivity theater has always been part of work. Most of us aren’t trying to cheat the system, but expectations are changing so quickly that we need to be savvy about what the latest employee trackers are looking for.

Sometimes it takes a little gamesmanship to get full credit for our contributions.