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THE SUN MIGHT be playing hide and seek but introducing one of 2025′s most popular colours into your home will ensure that the sun shines all year round. Colour enthusiasts Sophie Robinson and Joanne Mooney tell us how to do it.
British interior designer, stylist, writer, TV personality and podcaster Sophie Robinson is an authority on all things colour. Having met her last year in Dublin for the launch of her collection with DFS, we knew she’d be the right person to tell us how to bring this season’s mood-boosting colour into our homes.
“Yellow is the perfect antidote to grey – literally and emotionally. After years of interiors being drenched in muted tones and greige everything, people are hungry for colour, personality, and, most of all joy in their homes,” says Sophie. “Yellow is like bottling sunshine – it’s uplifting, energising and full of optimism.”
The popularity of all things yellow taps into the current move towards maximalist interiors: “I think we’ve all been craving more positivity and self-expression in recent years and yellow delivers that in spades,” says Sophie. “It’s no longer about playing it safe – it’s about creating spaces that make you feel alive and yellow is the cheerleader of the colour world.” As discussed earlier this year here, Dulux named ‘True Joy’ their Colour of the Year 2025, and Sophie believes that this colour choice cements a shift towards more “hopeful” colours.
But, with so many shades of yellow on the colour spectrum, which one to choose? We think this bedroom at Glin Castle is a masterclass in the use of the colour but what does Sophie think? “Personally, I’m a sucker for a zingy, sherbety yellow – something with real energy and fizz,” says Sophie. “It’s got that feel-good factor that just slices through a room and instantly lifts the space. That said, yellow is such a versatile colour – there really is a shade for everyone.”
In terms of where to use yellow, Sophie says that different shades may suit different areas or create different moods in your home: “High-energy yellow can feel too stimulating for a bedroom but it’s perfect in a hallway, kitchen or home office where you want to feel uplifted whereas deeper or more buttery tones can feel cocooning and warm in a living room or dining space.”
While some people may adopt a “go big or go home” attitude to yellow, others might be more reticent. Sophie advises to start small but think bold: “You don’t need to commit to four walls to enjoy the joy of yellow. Try a painted piece of furniture – a bookshelf or a sideboard – or pick out architectural details like a doorway or window frame. A pop of yellow on a banister, a skirting board, a headboard or even just a sunny lampshade, cushion or vase can do wonders. That said, you can’t beat a yellow sofa for happy vibes – sometimes just one bold piece is all you need to transform a room.”
Back home, social media influencer and punchneedle artist Joanne Mooney is known to her 126k fans for her obsession with colour. Her Instagram feed features dopamine dressing for both the body and home and is a rainbow of pattern, texture and colour – whether she’s sharing her artworks, her sewing journey or her DIY decorating tips.
There’s one colour that Joanne is obsessed with above all and that’s yellow – a colour that is having a huge resurgence in interiors at the moment. Most striking perhaps, in Joanne’s home is her butter yellow kitchen custom made and painted by Aloco Kitchens in Santry, Dublin. “Yellow cheers me up. I have to be surrounded by colour and love yellow whether that’s bright canary yellow or more subtle shades of the colour. I painted a wardrobe in a canary yellow paint by Johnstone’s Paint – it’s the first thing I see when I walk up to the landing – I have a yellow herringbone carpet by AH Interiors on my stairs and landing, and a mustard and pink curtain on my landing. I love it!”
“When I was shopping for a new kitchen I had my heart set on a butter yellow kitchen because my kitchen is north-facing and quite dark so it was really important for me to have a bright but earthy colour like this particular yellow,” says Joanne. “I approached several kitchen suppliers but none of them had yellow available – navy, green, grey, black and white seemed to be the most common colours. There was probably not much demand for yellow kitchens but I was saying ‘watch this space’.” “A yellow kitchen might sound a bit garish but I knew that it would work in that space and now it’s as though I have sunshine all year round. I have oak flooring and an oak island and there is a very natural, warm feeling in the room. The colour is Hay by Farrow & Ball – it changes throughout the day depending on the light – sometimes it can almost look mustard. I painted my PVC windows the same colour and painted my side door burgundy which works really well with the yellow.”
Elsewhere there are pops of cheery yellow throughout Joanne’s home. “If you don’t want to go with all yellow on everything you could just use yellow on your island or if you have a pantry. You could add a yellow check cafe curtain, add some yellow cushions on stools or dining chairs. Art can also be a great way to add yellow to your scheme. Yellow makes everything else pop and can really complement the other colours in your home.”
Unlike Joanne, customers at at PLUCK Kitchens in London have no problem commissioning kitchens in a myriad of colours including yellow. Founded in 2016, the company makes beautiful kitchens that feature elm, oak and cherry woods as well as high grade birch plywood. Two kitchens which recently caught our attention are their family kitchen in Birmingham and the ‘Artist’s Kitchen’ projects. The Artist’s Kitchen is an open plan design in which shades of green combine beautifully with ‘Market Mustard’ cabinetry which glows against the tiles. To unite the scheme visually, yellow has also been used on the island’s shelves and skirting.
“For the family kitchen in Birmingham we were briefed by our clients to create a kitchen that was ‘bright and unusual’, thus this colourful family kitchen came into being,” says designer and Pluck co-founder George Glasier. “Market Mustard is the lead hue of the cabinetry and has been paired with soft Ruskin Blossom while for texture there’s Cherry wood and London Plane. The arrangement of the wood and colours brings character to this kitchen, breaking up the cabinetry and giving a sense of individual cupboards, rather than a single block of colour.”
Sophie Robinson teaches people how to decorate with colour through her in-person workshops in the UK as well as her online workshops. For more information go to sophierobinson.co.uk or discover her colourful life on Instagram at @sophierobinsoninteriors. Be inspired by Joanne Mooney’s use of colour or find out when her next punchneedle workshop is taking place at joannemooney.ie or on Instagram at @joannemooney_.
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