Force of nature

From Resene and Your Home and Garden

2022 Winner – Small Room Awards Competition

The winner of the Resene Small Room Awards harnesses the great outdoors through a love of colour.

Andrea Kurth’s decision to paint a punchy and playful mural on a white wall in her “plain” laundry turned out to be a winning move. The judges of the Resene Small Room Awards 2022 loved Andrea’s ingenious use of Resene testpots, proving a little paint colour can go a long way.

Her mural, created using Resene Rock Spray, Resene Gondwana, Resene Paper Doll, Resene Fuel Yellow and Resene Half Escape, evokes a naturalistic dreamscape of fauna and flora, bursting with pops of colour on top of her existing coat of Resene Black White. “It’s a masterclass in packing personality into a room,” says editor Fiona Hawtin. “The mural hits all the right notes of whimsy and fun in what’s often an overlooked space.”

Andrea is excited about winning the award, saying, “It’s kind of cool to know that it’s not just me that likes it, and maybe others might be inspired to do something different in their home.”

For others who want to experiment with colour and pattern in a small room, she recommends platforms such as Pinterest, Instagram and TikTok as places to find inspiration. “Think about what suits you and feels right in your house, then just go for it. If you don’t like it, you can always paint over it,” Andrea says.

The keen DIYer has a few new projects up her sleeves already, adding that she’s contributing to her husband’s “ever-growing list of things to build”. But for now, Andrea’s going to enjoy her picture-perfect laundry, even adding a rug and homemade hampers to enhance the colourful space.

More Resene colours to try: