We are done with macaron pastels, we’ve lost our appetite for ice-cream schemes, and clean colours that “pop” — and the paint and wallpaper firms have read the room and launched some gloriously grimy hues. Think sludgy greys and soiled ochres, dirty blushes and grungy terracottas.
This isn’t a 1990s throwback trend, though — the new grunge colours are nothing to do with Pearl Jam or Nirvana. But in common with Seattle’s most famous music movement, the latest decor trend is about rejecting pretty and pristine. The interior designer Georgina Cave describes one recent project, a north London home belonging to a teacher/artist whose interiors accommodate two teenage boys and their friends, plus a dog and two cats. “It is very relaxing. The look we created was with easy living style in mind, where bumps and scrapes made by their children, pets and guests would only enhance the look. The colours chosen were deliberately sludgy — our approach hailed the return to more earthy hues with an overall grungy feel.”
The house, in Queen’s Park, showcases the grimier shades on the colour cards. There’s Farrow & Ball’s Pavilion Grey in the hallway, Paint & Paper Library’s Slate IV on the study walls and joinery, and Slate I on the architrave. The reception room is in Mole and the guest cloakroom is decorated with Madison Grey, both by Abigail Ahern, a designer renowned for her “bottom of the lake” intensely pigmented darks. “The idea is that people can feel relaxed in the space,” Cave says. “Nobody is going to care if they have their shoes on, and they aren’t going to care if they want to kick their shoes off. The colours go hand in hand with a sense of embracing the old and imperfect.”
According to Pinterest, searches for “grunge wall prints” increased 27-fold in the past year, and searches for “earthy home” almost doubled. “As we head into 2023, people are favouring more muted and grungy tones to decorate their homes,” says Matt Siberry, head of home at Pinterest. “Think chic but edgy — we’re seeing searches increase for terracotta in the kitchen, dusty pink for the living room and dark green in the bedroom.”
Grunge deco may feel less effortful and more “come as you are”, but it requires a meticulous eye to get it right. Lighting, textiles and accent colours must be chosen with care. The big question is, how to handle these hues so that dirty doesn’t turn dreary? “I don’t think there’s such a thing as a dreary colour,” says Lucinda Chambers, the former Vogue fashion director who founded Collagerie with Serena Hood to supply a covetable curation of fashion, beauty and interiors. “It’s how you put the dirty, grungy colours together that brings them to life and makes them sing.” She is a superfan of browns. “At the moment I’m loving Etruscan Brown by Edward Bulmer. It’s not quite pink and not quite tobacco. I’m leaning into that. I’m planning a room in my head, and I am feeling I’d probably put it with Little Greene’s Brunswick Green or even Farrow & Ball’s Hague Blue.”
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The artist and designer Gergei Erdei associates earthy colours with 1970s opulence. “Browns, ochres and terracotta were very popular in the 1970s. If you know the Paris apartment of Yves Saint Laurent, he used them in a very luxurious yet subtle way. I used these tones a lot in my work and I also have a lot of these shades in my wardrobe. [At home] I used earth tones to bring in some character and a touch of 1970s decadence. The olive-toned rug I have is a brilliant piece from Nordic Knots and the wall paint is Little Greene Arras.”
Even devotees of eye-popping palettes are going for grunge. Emma Bestley, co-founder of YesColours — known for her frankly startling colour card — says: “I’ll be introducing a little grunge into my bedroom project with hues of muted greyish lilacs alongside our Loving Pink, which is reminiscent of 1990s burgundy beanie hats, velvet slip dresses and leather DM boots. It’s a colour that oozes comfort and uncomplication, which is what I need in my bedroom, especially in the mornings.”
● How to decorate when you rent your home
How to get the grunge look
1. Layer up
Repeat the same colour in two or three tones, as the effect will be less harsh than a solid block. Paint & Paper Library sells its Architectural colours in five different intensities, or you can mix in a dash of black to taste.
2. Keep lighting low
Don’t overlight your dirty decor — so dazzling downlights are out, low lights are in. Think a twinkly forest of table and standard lamps, ideally on a five amp circuit so that they can all be switched on with a single flick.
3. Choose accent colours with care
Neon is a hard no. Try muted pinks and greens, smokes and lavenders instead.
4. Embrace natural light
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Pair your palette with unlined curtains in open weave or semi-transparent fabrics, to let light through. Parchment lampshades give table lights a similar quality.
5. And . . . relax
Rejoice in the fact that dust, muddy marks and dog hair hardly show.
