Pastel house paint, grown-up style: not a kid's room

What are pastels, and why do some rooms look expensive while others look like a sweet shop?

Pastels are pinks, blues, greens, lilacs or yellows mixed with white until they lighten, giving colours that are soft on the eye and don't shout. They suit homes in a hot city where you want a bright, airy room that puts you in a good mood from the moment you wake up.

The catch is that there are two kinds of pastel. The first is clear and bright, like boiled sweets, and makes a room look like a newly opened macaron shop. The second is a little more muted, with grey or beige hiding inside. That's the grown-up one: it works with a suit and with pyjamas.

Most rooms that look childish aren't wrong because of the colour. They're wrong because everything around it is sweet at the same time: pink walls, pink curtains, pink cushions. However muted the pink, that still looks like a doll's house.

A formula for pastels that look grown-up, not childish

An easy rule to remember: the pastel is the lead actor, not the whole film crew. Keep the pastel on the walls, and let what's around it be natural materials that give it weight.

• Choose a slightly muted pastel over a clear, bright one, such as Old Rose or Taro Cream
• Pair it with mid to dark wood, rattan, linen and stone to give sweet colours some weight
• Use a warm white such as Ivory or Coconut Ice Cream on ceilings and mouldings, instead of stark white
• Choose one main pastel; if you want to mix, add just one lighter tone
• Add small dark accents, such as a black lamp or a dark picture frame, like eyeliner for the room

Which pastel for which room?

Pastel pinks such as Pink Milk and Cherry Blossoms in a bedroom or dressing corner give your skin a healthy glow. If you're worried it's too sweet, move to the more muted Old Rose, which looks more like dried roses in a vase than a sweet.

Pastel blues such as Mist and Clear Skies feel cool on the eye in a bedroom or bathroom, and suit homes with strong afternoon sun. Pastel greens such as Mint Green and Pastel Mint suit kitchens and work corners, as fresh as opening the fridge to find the vegetables already washed.

A soft lilac such as Taro Cream is the choice if you want something different but calm. Soft yellows such as Custard Cream and Egg Custard make a room with little light feel warmer straight away.

Textured pastels: the shortcut to grown-up

If you want a pastel that looks grown-up straight away without much thought, try Voqe Mineral Finish. Its matt surface with hand-made brush marks makes sweet colours look like a plastered wall in a European café rather than a playroom, and no two walls come out the same.

Shades worth trying are Young Peach and Gossip Peach for warm peach tones, or Sorghum Pink and Strawberry Pink if you love pink. Mineral Finish works on both walls and floors, and is sold as a two-tin set, starting at ฿1,180 for Set 2QT.

Test pastels on the real wall first, then paint the whole room

Pastels are very shy around light. A colour that looks clear blue on screen can turn greenish grey on a wall under yellow lighting, and the colour on a screen never matches the colour on a wall. That's why every Voqe shade comes in a 100ml sample bottle for ฿75. Paint a large patch and look at it in the morning, the afternoon and with the lights on.

If you still can't choose, try the shade quiz on our website, or send a photo of your room to LINE @dynohomes for free advice from the team. You can also see the real colours at Voqe Studio (Bang Phli), with walls in every shade to see in real light, open Monday to Friday, 8:00–16:30.