1970s paint colours

After the pop high, the 1970s came back down to earth. Mustards and golds such as Freegrove Mustard and Haymarket, burnt orange and rust (Crayfish Party, Henna), chocolate and tobacco browns (Cigar, London Brown), avocado and olive greens (Primrose Hill, Caca d'Oie) made warm interiors of pine, rattan, corduroy and hanging plants.

For a seventies feel without the pastiche, pair two or three neighbouring shades in Marble Matt Emulsion, add a deep brown on woodwork or shelving in Multi-Surface Eggshell Paint, and let natural materials do the rest.

A little history · 1970 – 1979

The 1970s

After the pop high, back to the earth: pine, rattan, corduroy, hanging plants and a palette of mustard, burnt orange, chocolate brown and avocado.

Freegrove Mustard and Cigar: the 1974 living room.

The society

Crisis and a return to nature

The 1973 oil crisis, the three-day week, inflation: it was a hard decade, and sixties optimism turned inward to the home. People dreamed of the countryside, the handmade and natural materials; Laura Ashley dressed cottages in sprigged prints.

Decorating magazines and weekend DIY went mainstream; people stripped, waxed and knotted macramé. Pine furniture, often Scandinavian, replaced plastic.

Cigar on the cupboards, Butter on the walls: the 1976 kitchen.

The interior

Pine, rattan and corduroy

The 1970s living room sank another notch: a low corduroy sofa, a shag-pile rug, a smoked-glass-and-chrome coffee table, a fireplace clad in stone. The rattan peacock chair and macramé at the windows added the bohemian note.

The kitchen was clad in pine or tiled in brown and orange; the bathroom dared the avocado suite. Everywhere, house plants, spider plants, ferns, monsteras, hanging or perched on pine shelves.

Primrose Hill and Caca d'Oie: the 1972 dining room.

The colours

Mustard, avocado, burnt orange and chocolate

The palette turned earthy: mustard and gold, burnt orange and rust, chocolate and tobacco brown, avocado and olive, laid side by side in warm tonal schemes. Two or three neighbouring shades replaced a frank contrast.

Freegrove Mustard, Haymarket and John's Pantry for the yellows; Crayfish Party and Henna for the rusts; Cigar and London Brown for the browns; Primrose Hill and Caca d'Oie for the avocado greens: our colour card has it all.

Crayfish Party and London Brown: the seventies in 2026.

The legacy

And today?

The 1980s would sweep the browns away for pastels and chintz. But the seventies keep coming back: their earths, their timber and their plants are exactly what today's warm interior asks for.

For the seventies spirit without pastiche: two or three neighbouring shades in Marble Matt Emulsion, Haymarket, Freegrove Mustard, Cigar, a deep brown on the shelving in Eggshell, and natural materials, rattan, linen, terracotta, for the rest.