Dulux Colour of the Year 2025: 'True Joy' is set to be the tone to create a happy home next year

It's safe to say next year is set to be bright if Dulux Colour of the Year 2025 is anything to go by. Earlier this morning I joined the colour experts from the iconic paint brand for the big reveal of 'True Joy' as the carefully selected shade to represent its colour of the year.

Unlike the Dulux Colour of the Year 2024 'Sweet Embrace' a neutral with a hint of pink or even the Dulux Colour of the Year 2023 'Wild Wonder' a gentle golden green, next year's chosen tone is a bold and unapologetic shade of yellow.

The energising, sunshine-bright shade of yellow has been chosen to encourage homeowners to embrace more vibrant interior paint colour trends to awaken and recharge their homes for the year ahead.

Dulux Colour of the Year 2025: True Joy

'True Joy' encapsulates the inspiration behind the uplifting shade: "A pop of colour that brings joy to your walls and a smile to your face," say the Dulux team.

"Our mission at Dulux is to provide you with colours that bring you joy for years to come," said Dulux's creative director Marianne Shillingford at today's big reveal. "We want to inspire living spaces that are filled with optimism, pride and creative energy with the most uplifting colour of all – 'True Joy'."

This is a story of yellow, not just one yellow but all yellows and the joy associated with the colour. Marianne predicts: "Yellow is the colour of sunshine, a warm welcome colour. You're going to be seeing this colour everywhere in 2025."

Marianne Shillingford

Marianne Shillingford is the creative director at Dulux and founder of The Colour in Design Awards. With a career spanning 30 years, Marianne knows how to create magic with colour and shares her passion for colour and decoration on her website.

While the sentiment is strong, there's no question that yellow is a somewhat divisive colour and may not feel open to all, especially those who are not confident with colour enough to embrace dopamine decor. But fear not, the team want to inspire everyone to unlock the endless possibilities of this happy paint colour.

“It may be difficult to immediately picture where yellow paint could seamlessly slot into your home," says Marianne instinctively. "But it’s actually much more versatile than you may first think."

Here are a few of the most creative ways you could introduce this captivating colour into your home.

How to use 'True Joy' Dulux Colour of the Year 2025 in your home

1. Intentional highlights

Yellow is synonymous with sunshine and light and therefore feels like the perfect accent colour to use on window frames and window recesses in any room to create a halo-like effect as the light hits it.

"You don't need huge amounts of yellow to make an impact," explains Stephanie King, creative and content lead at Dulux explains. "Used around the window, exactly where that light floods through in the morning create a glow, the expected pop of colour is enough."

Stephanie King

Steph is passionate about making the world a brighter place, developing a specialty in homes and interiors. Possessing an insatiable eye for visual composition, design details and colour, she is a meticulous art director across the many shoots she has had the pleasure to lead.

2. Statement ceilings

Alternative ceiling paint colours are one of the biggest interior design trends in recent years, as homeowners embrace the idea of a 5th wall to make a statement. "Yellow on the ceiling is a fabulous way to introduce this colour to any room," says Steph.

"It works particularly well in a bedroom. When you wake up and look up you're going to be greeted by the colour of the sun, providing that shot of optimism and dopamine at the beginning of the day - and I don't think there's a better way to wake up." We couldn't agree more, it's certainly more uplifting than a standard white ceiling.

3. Thoughtful accents

Because a little goes a long way with a colour as vibrant as yellow you can make small touches count in a big way. Painting shelving is a great way to refresh the look and feel of a room without having to go all-out with yellow walls.

Even a small splash of yellow on a floating shelf is enough to create a sense of dopamine decor, as Dulux proves with its latest photography above. "Shelving is a really great way to start small, to take a small step in the right direction," Step explained. 'You can paint a shelf lip or paint inside a shelf if you're not feeling as confident (to paint the whole wall)."

4. Bold feature walls

There are those who would argue that feature walls are 'out of fashion' but I'm a firm believer that if you only want a small dose of colour without committing to an entire wall the accent wall is the way forward. I still have them in my home for this very reason, regardless of what's on-trend.

With a bright colour such as 'True Joy' an accent wall is more than enough to create a feature of any wall. It doesn't even have toe an entire wall. In fact, as demonstrated above it can be just as impactful in an alcove, archway or even to create a canvas of colour within a wall space.

5. Adding definition

A fun way to add a touch of this uplifting shade is to paint architectural details and recesses that help to frame a space. This creative use of colour is a nod to using colour without having to commit entirely to the walls.

As the creative team at Dulux brilliantly demonstrate in their new photography above it can be a great way to transition from one room to another via a door frame. It's a playful way to give definition to an open-plan room where you want to signifiy a change in use – perhaps you want to inject some joy and vibrancy as you move from a home office into a busier family space.

As always the Dulux colour of the Year 2025 is supported by colour palettes, predetermined by the team of colour experts, of complementary tones to inspire how to use the colour in homes with neutrals, earthy tones and pops of brights.

Additionally, to support the importance of colour for this year’s Colour of the Year, Dulux has partnered with the charity, YoungMinds, to raise awareness of mental health resources and support.

“We’re delighted to have the support from Dulux to coincide with the launch of its Colour of the Year, True Joy, and shine a light on the importance of young people’s mental health," says Tom Madders, Director of Communications and Campaigns at YoungMinds.

"Yellow itself is a colour integral to YoungMinds with our Hello Yellow fundraising initiative on World Mental Health Day, which invites people to wear yellow to show young people they’re not alone with their mental health. We can’t wait to see the Dulux team embracing this on 10th October and are grateful for their donation and additional fundraising.”