How to Try Pastel Color Drenching Without Overwhelming Your Space

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Step aside, moody walls and muted neutrals. Enter pastel color drenching. This immersive and surprisingly sophisticated trend is all about boldly embracing color, but with a gentle, livable touch. Simple strategies can help you try out the style without it becoming overpowering.

What is Color Drenching?

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Color drenching is a design concept that involves wrapping a room in a single color or closely related shades. Designers paint walls, trim and even ceilings to create a cohesive and immersive atmosphere, elevated by coordinating furniture and textile choices.  

Initially, the trend focused on moody tones, but more recently, pastel shades and light colors have emerged as a palette of choice.  

Why Pastels?

Today’s pastels are not your great-grandmother’s pastels. Far from being sugary or childish, modern hues are dusty, cloudy or softened. However, these shades still evoke nostalgia, romance, fairy tales or escapism. In an uncertain world, people may be craving these comforting colors as a haven from tech-heavy, stressful lives. 

According to predictions by Zillow, color drenching is expected to remain trendy through 2026, making now a great time to experiment with this trend. 

5 Tips to Pastel Color Drench Without Overwhelm

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Your goal is to create depth and interest, not a flat, monotonous space. If you’re new to this trend, here are tips to make it manageable. 

1. Start in a Smaller Space

Beginners can easily experiment in a powder room, home office, entryway or reading nook. This makes the project feel more doable and will help you build confidence before tackling a larger room.

2. Vary Tones and Textures

To create visual interest and avoid flatness, it’s important to use multiple tints of the same pastel shade. You can do this by using one tint on the walls and another for trim, but it’s often easiest to do it through furniture, textiles and textures. Experiment with adding velvet, linen, wood or metal to your drenched space, in different versions of the same core color. 

3. Use Neutrals as an Anchor

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It doesn’t have to be literally top to toe, especially on your first attempt. A white ceiling, a natural wood floor or some neutral furniture can provide a visual break and prevent the single pastel color from becoming too intense. 

4. Accessorize With Purpose

You can use decor to enhance the drenched look. A few decorative items in a contrasting, deeper hue can create a focal point and add layers and complexity to your room.

5. Let Natural Light Be Your Guide

Lighting has a major impact on color drenching, especially with pastels. Rooms featuring abundant natural light can handle slightly more saturated tones, while darker spaces may benefit from sticking to the very pale end of the spectrum. 

Taking Pastel Drenching Outdoors

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Since good exterior design can boost your home’s value by 7%, this is one way to experiment that might also yield a return on your investment. Painting your garage door in your favorite pastel shade can add personality and curb appeal to your home while still appealing to a broad range of potential buyers.

Once you have a hue for your garage door, link it to other exterior features — such as your front door or fencing — in the same pastel tone for a cohesive look. However, check swatches in outdoor light, as artificial lighting in a store can alter the color’s appearance compared to how it looks in sunlight.

With a creative eye, many pastel combinations can work well for exteriors. For example, if you choose to paint the whole exterior, you might pair buttercream yellow with white window trims and a dark roof, making your windows appear larger and your home more calming. 

What are the Benefits of Color Drenching?

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Along with looking visually stunning, there are several practical reasons for going all-in with a single color. Using a pale shade wall-to-wall can make a room appear larger as it reflects more light. Color drenching can also:

• “Hide” less appealing fixtures, such as radiators, by making them blend in.
• Highlight architectural features by drawing the eye to their shape rather than color.
• Simplify your choices of furniture and textiles.
• Minimize painting costs and time while delivering a high-impact transformation.
• Set a cohesive mood for the entire room, which is influenced by the pastel colors you choose.

How to Choose Your Pastel Palette

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Pastels are created by mixing primary or secondary colors with white, resulting in a less saturated tint. They are true to the mood of the original, but with added light, playfulness or softness. 

Everyone reacts to color differently, but as a general rule, these are some of the moods you can evoke with specific tones:

• Pastel pink: Nurturing, romantic and gentle.
• Pale blue: Tranquil, serene and calm.
• Mint green: Fresh, clean and healthy. 
• Lavender: Dreamy, imaginative and magical.
• Pale yellow: Cheerful, optimistic and happy.
• Pale orange: Warm, hopeful and creative.

 Above all, choose a pastel you personally love.

Creating Harmony at Home

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Pastel color drenching creates harmony through clever layering of tones and textures. By starting small, indoors or outdoors, you can experiment and have some fun with it. Go ahead and let the soft, dreamy language of pastels transform your space and your home’s mood. 

Ready to try pastel color drenching in your own space? Download the DecorMatters app to explore real-room designs on the Explore page and use our AI Interior Designer to instantly visualize pastel palettes, layouts, and styles in your home—before you paint, buy, or commit.

UP NEXT: Enhancing Your Home's Interior Design With Color Psychology

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