2000s paint colours

The 2000s invented 'greige', the grey-beige middle ground that set off oak floors and gloss kitchens. Taupes and stones (Ionic, Grays Inn, Colosseum), duck-egg blues (Notting Hill, Bridge Blue) and warm greys (Stirrup, Archway House) made the backdrop, while the feature wall, in chocolate (London Brown), aubergine (Plum Tree) or a flash of lime (New Lime), gave the room its character.

For a current take, keep the idea of the feature wall but paint it a deep shade in Marble Matt Emulsion, with a soft greige on the other walls: the whole room stays warm, never cold.

A little history · 2000 – 2009

The 2000s

Greige, taupe, duck-egg blue and the feature wall: the decade of property television, gloss kitchens and the boutique hotel recreated at home.

Bridge Blue, London Brown and Cornice: the 2005 living room.

The society

The home as an investment

Ever-rising house prices, easy credit, buy-to-let: in the 2000s the home was thought of in terms of resale value. Property television, selling, buying, renovating, dictated a neutral taste that 'appealed to everyone'.

The boutique hotel and the spa became the models for bedroom and bathroom; the open-plan kitchen-diner with an island, the heart of the home. Flat-pack furniture and laminate floors furnished millions of new flats.

Plum Tree and Cornice: the 2007 boutique-hotel bedroom.

The interior

The feature wall and the gloss kitchen

One coloured or papered wall behind the sofa or the headboard, the other three neutral: the 'feature wall' was the decorative gesture of the decade. A leather sofa, a glass coffee table, oak or laminate flooring and a large abstract canvas completed the living room.

The kitchen went high-gloss and handleless, with a quartz or granite worktop and a stainless-steel range cooker; the bathroom dreamed of the spa, with a freestanding bath, a walk-in shower and large stone tiles.

Ionic and Oratory: the 2008 spa bathroom.

The colours

Greige, taupe, duck egg and chocolate

The 2000s invented 'greige', the grey-beige that goes with everything, and rolled taupe, stone and linen across millions of walls. Duck-egg and blue-grey softened bedrooms and bathrooms; chocolate, aubergine and a dash of lime or teal woke up the feature wall.

From us, Ionic, Grays Inn, Colosseum and Stone Castle for the greiges; Notting Hill, Bridge Blue and Mews Blue for the duck eggs; London Brown, Rose Taupe and Plum Tree for the feature walls; Stirrup, Archway House and Drury Lane for the greys to come.

Notting Hill and Colosseum: the 2000s in 2026.

The legacy

And today?

The 2010s would push neutral all the way to wall-to-wall grey, before colour came back more enveloping than ever: painted ceilings, woodwork in the same shade as the walls, 'colour drenching'. The feature wall simply changed its job.

Keep the idea of the feature wall, but paint it a deep shade in Marble Matt Emulsion, Plum Tree, London Brown or Oratory, and dress the other walls in a soft greige such as Ionic or Colosseum. The whole stays warm, never cold.