Colours for your home: buy wall paint

re-box · 5 min read

Why colour is more than décor

Colour decides how a room feels before you've said a single word about it. A warm terracotta makes a living room feel instantly more inviting, while a cool sage green calms the bedroom after a hectic day. Wall paint is therefore one of the most effective – and most affordable – tools for reshaping your home. Choosing colour deliberately changes not just the look of a space, but how you feel within your own four walls.

Studies on colour psychology show that warm tones like red, orange and yellow slightly raise the pulse and encourage a sociable mood, while cool colours like blue and green lower blood pressure and create a sense of calm. This is why waiting rooms are often painted in muted blue, while restaurants like to work with warm reds and oranges to stimulate the appetite. For your home, this means it's worth asking what feeling you want each room to have before you pick up a brush. A home office benefits more from focus-enhancing green tones than from stimulating red, while a hallway can afford to be bolder and darker, since it's usually just a space you pass through.

The re-box colour world: premium wall paint at a glance

At re-box, we've developed a colour palette that takes this effect seriously. Our colours range from earthy natural tones like clay, loam and olive to timeless neutrals and bold accent shades like petrol and bordeaux. Every colour impresses with excellent coverage – usually two coats are enough – and a silky matte finish that reflects light beautifully without shining.

In practice, this means: one litre of our wall paint covers roughly 6 to 8 m² per coat, depending on the surface. For an average room with 20 m² of wall space, you should budget around 5 to 6 litres for two coats – it's better to plan a little generously than to run out halfway through, as paint batches can occasionally vary slightly. Between the first and second coat, we recommend a drying time of at least four hours – overnight is better for dark shades or high humidity. A common mistake when painting is applying it too thickly to save on a coat. This leads to drips and an uneven finish. Two thin, even coats are always better than one thick one.

The key difference: our packaging is reusable. Instead of paint tins that are thrown away after a single use, re-box relies on a returnable system. You order, you paint, you send the empty packaging back – we clean it and refill it.

Combining colours correctly: practical tips

A tried-and-tested rule of thumb for a harmonious room is the 60-30-10 rule: 60 percent main colour (usually walls), 30 percent secondary colour (furniture, textiles) and 10 percent accent colour (décor, cushions, picture frames). This creates harmony without becoming dull. In practice, this means: if your walls are painted in a warm sand beige, choose a related mid-tone for your sofa or rug, such as a muted brown or olive green, and add a visual highlight with cushions or a vase in bold terracotta or mustard yellow.

Room orientation matters too: north-facing rooms often feel cool and benefit from warm shades like sand beige or terracotta. South- and west-facing windows already bring in plenty of warm light, so a cooler blue or green can work well here too. If you're not ready to paint the whole room, start with an accent wall – usually the one behind the bed or sofa.

A common mistake when choosing paint colours: relying solely on trending shades from social media without considering your own room. A deep, saturated navy that looks fantastic online can quickly feel overwhelming in a small room with little natural light. That’s why you should always test a colour in your own space first, before committing to a wall colour for the whole room. Don’t forget the ceiling colour, either: a pure white ceiling makes bold wall colours feel calmer, while a ceiling tinted to match the walls makes a room feel cosier — though also lower.

Colour by room: which shades work where

In the living room, warm earthy tones like ochre, terracotta or a warm taupe create an atmosphere you’ll want to linger in. Pair them with natural materials such as wood, linen or rattan to bring out their earthy character. In the bedroom, we recommend muted blues or greens — they have a proven calming effect and support restful sleep. Here, it’s best to hold back on bright accent colours, as they can work against the soothing effect of the base tone.

Kitchens and bathrooms benefit from light, fresh colours: a soft white with a hint of green or a delicate sky blue create clarity and make smaller rooms feel larger. In humid rooms like the bathroom, make sure to ventilate well while the paint dries, and consider an extra sealant for heavily used surfaces such as tile grout or splash zones. In hallways and entryways, which often get little daylight, it’s worth testing your colour under artificial light in the evening, since some shades look quite different under artificial light than in daylight.

The sturdy, reusable box is just as robust and tight-sealing as a conventional tin — only it can be used again and again. The process couldn’t be simpler: after painting, let any leftover paint dry completely or return it via the collection point, give the box a quick clean with water, and send it back using our return label. We take care of professional cleaning, leak testing and refilling before the box goes back into circulation.

For you, that means: painting with premium wall paint, without needing a new box every time you renovate. We make returning and refilling easy through our return system.

How to find your perfect wall colour

Before you settle on a shade, we recommend: order our sample cards or small test strips and hold them up against the wall at different times of day. Morning, midday and evening light all shift – and so does the way a colour reads. It's best to test on at least two different walls in the room, since a wall's orientation to the window also changes how a colour appears. A classic beginner's mistake is choosing based on a small swatch on screen or in a catalogue alone – colours often look quite different over a large surface and in real room light than expected.

Also make use of our online configurator: there you can combine colours directly with furniture and rooms and see the effect right away, before a single brushstroke is made. If you want to be completely sure, paint a DIN A2-sized piece of lining paper or cardboard with your chosen colour and hold it up in different spots around the room as a trial. This way you can take your time with the decision without changing the whole wall straight away – and you're sure to find the colours that truly suit you and your home.

Frequently asked questions