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Dopamine décor: How to choose colours that bring personality to every room

Published on: Nov 15, 2026, 18:16:59 IST
Dopamine decor is softer and expressive in Indian homes. (Picture credit: Freepik)
Dopamine decor is softer and expressive in Indian homes. (Picture credit: Freepik)
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Indian homeowners are choosing colours to create spaces that feel comforting, expressive, and personal.

Your home shows who you are. It showcases your personality through its interiors, from the colours and textures to the objects you choose to decorate with.ALSO READ: Entryway decor guide: Easy ways to make hallways look stylish and spacious

Colours, especially, play a major role. Describing how beautifully colour personalises spaces, Srikanth SK, head of customer experience at Birla Opus Paints, told us, "Colour has always been woven into the fabric of Indian homes, from our festivals and crafts to the way we personalise our living spaces. What is changing today is the intention behind its use. Homeowners are choosing colours not just to enhance aesthetics, but to create homes that feel comforting, expressive and deeply personal.”

The expert also mentioned how the use of colours is evolving. With dopamine decor in the spotlight, the trend is often associated internally with bold colours and maximalist interiors, but in India, it is more about colours that feel uplifting and soothing.

Living room

The combination of brown and bright yellow is emotionally revealing.

For balconies, reading corners, foyers, and window seats, Srikanth suggested gentle greens or soft, muted yellow to create a calming, nature-inspired setting. Light neutrals, such as warm off-whites and creamy whites, help the space feel open and uncluttered. Pair with cane furniture, indoor plants, floating shelves, and textured rugs.

In reading corners, foyers, and window seats, use gentle greens or serene yellow shades to evoke calm and mental clarity by strengthening our connection with nature, while soft neutrals like white linen reduce visual clutter and create a sense of openness.

Bedrooms

Since bedrooms are places to rest, the expert recommended muted pastels and soft hues. You can add colours like pale lavender, powder blue, and muted sage to create a relaxing atmosphere. Living rooms can feature brighter colours to complement their lively, social nature; bedrooms, in contrast, need a gentler palette.

Children's room

Children's rooms and study corners should be creative and painted in cheerful colours, such as peach, sky blue, and mint green. When the colours are expressive, they act as a stimulating environment for creativity.

 
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Adrija Dey

Adrija Dey’s proclivity for observation fuels her storytelling instinct. As a lifestyle journalist, she crafts compelling, relatable narratives across diverse touchpoints of the human experience, including wellness, mental health, relationships, interior design, home decor, food, travel, and fashion that gently nudge readers toward living a little better. For her, stories exist in flesh and bones, carried by human vessels and shaped through everyday endeavours. It is the small stories we live and share that make us human. After all, humans and their lores are the most natural and raw repositories of stories, and uncovering them, for her, is akin to peeling an orange under a winter afternoon sun. Always up for a chat, she believes the best stories come from unfiltered yapping, where "too much information" is kind of the point. A graduate of Indraprastha College for Women, University of Delhi, and an alumna of the Indian Institute of Mass Communication (IIMC), Delhi, Adrija spends her idle hours cocooned with herbal tea and a gripping thriller, scribbling inner monologues she loosely calls poetic pieces, often with her succulents in attendance. On lazier days, she can be found binge-watching, for the nth time, one from her comfort-show holy trinity: The Office (US), Brooklyn Nine-Nine, or Modern Family. Dancing by herself to her peppy playlists, however, is an everyday ritual she swears by religiously.

Explore the latest Lifestyle News on health, fashion, travel, relationships, food and festivals. Find useful tips, expert advice, trends and inspiring stories for everyday living.
Explore the latest Lifestyle News on health, fashion, travel, relationships, food and festivals. Find useful tips, expert advice, trends and inspiring stories for everyday living.
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