Paint colour trends in Ireland and the UK
The quarterly colour demand report: what people are weighing up before they buy, across every brand at once.
People come to Swatcher to match a colour from a photo, try it on a wall in the room visualiser, shortlist it and assign it to a room. Across 16 brands and 13,108 colours, that is a view of paint colour demand in Ireland and the UK that has not existed before: not what sold, but what was being considered, brand against brand, before anyone opened a tin.
Each quarter we will publish it for the people who decide what goes on a colour card: paint brands and distributors, retailers, design studios and the press. The first issue covers the last quarter of 2026.
Each issue reports two markets: the island of Ireland, Northern Ireland included, and Great Britain. Both are measured against the same catalogue: the brands sold in Ireland, many of which are sold in Britain too. Ranges sold only in Britain are not in it, and every issue says so.
The most-considered colours right now
Across everyone using Swatcher in the 30 days to 4 November 2026, not yet split by market. The report ranks the same thing, quarter by quarter.
What the quarterly report covers
The first pages say what happened this quarter. The rest lets an analyst dig.
The colours being considered
The quarter’s most-considered colours across every brand, ranked by one published index, with movement since last quarter.
Families, not just names
Share of interest by hue family and depth, so ranges can be compared, not only colours.
Brand consideration and cross-shopping
How much of the engaged audience each brand reaches, and which brands are weighed against which.
The colours people bring in
The colours people arrive with that no catalogue entry quite hits. The gaps are the product opportunities.
Rooms, surfaces and markets
Interest by room and by walls against trim, reported for the island of Ireland and for Great Britain side by side.
A method you can check
Every figure traces back to a defined event, a stated filter and published weights and sample sizes. Challenge a number and get a straight answer.
Method and privacy
Aggregate statistics about colours, never about people: colour references and timestamps only, with no names, emails, photos or project details. No figure is published for a colour fewer than thirty people engaged with in the quarter; below that, colours roll up into their family.
Colour names and values are the brands’ own published product data, used as identifiers; no artwork, chip cards or marketing copy is reproduced. Weights and thresholds are published in every issue and held steady, so quarters compare honestly.
Questions
Short answers for anyone sizing it up.
- Is there a paint colour trends report for Ireland and the UK?
- Yes. Swatcher’s colour demand report is a quarterly report on the paint colours people in Ireland and the UK are considering, across 16 brands and 13,108 colours, drawn from real activity on Swatcher. It ranks colours and colour families by one published index, shows how much of the engaged audience each brand reaches, and lists the colours people bring in that no catalogue entry quite hits. It comes as a PDF with a CSV data pack.
- What paint colours are popular in Ireland and the UK right now?
- Across everyone using Swatcher in the 30 days to 4 November 2026, the most-considered paint colours were Brilliant White by Johnstone's, Egyptian Cotton by Dulux, Timeless by Dulux, Dimity by Farrow & Ball and Natural Hessian by Dulux. Swatcher’s Trending page keeps the full ranking live; the quarterly colour demand report splits it by market, the island of Ireland and Great Britain.
- Which paint brands does Swatcher’s colour demand report cover?
- Acres Hall, Alchemist, Benjamin Moore, Colourtrend, Crown, Curator, Dulux, Dulux Heritage, Dulux Trade, Farrelly & Co, Farrow & Ball, Fleetwood, Johnstone's, Lick, Little Greene and Ronseal, all sold in Ireland. Every brand in the catalogue is in Swatcher’s colour demand report; a brand with too little activity in a quarter is shown as colour-family totals rather than colour by colour.
- Does the colour demand report cover the UK, or only Ireland?
- Both. Swatcher’s colour demand report covers two markets side by side: the island of Ireland, with Northern Ireland counted alongside the Republic, and Great Britain. Both are measured against the same catalogue: the brands Swatcher tracks, all sold in Ireland and many in Britain too. Ranges sold only in Britain are not in the catalogue, so the report does not measure their share, and a colour British visitors want that no catalogue entry hits shows up among the colours people bring in.
- How is colour demand data different from paint sales data?
- Sales data says what sold. Swatcher’s colour demand report says what people were weighing up before they bought, across every brand at once. A colour considered this quarter is a colour bought next quarter, so demand data reads as a leading indicator rather than a record.
- Where does Swatcher’s colour demand data come from, and is it anonymous?
- It comes from what people do on Swatcher: looking up a paint, matching their own colour, favouriting, building a palette, applying a paint in the room visualiser and assigning it to a project room. Swatcher’s colour demand report is aggregate statistics built from colour references and timestamps only. No names, emails, photos or project details enter it, and no figure is published for a colour fewer than thirty people engaged with in a quarter.
- Who is the colour demand report for?
- Swatcher’s colour demand report is written for marketing and insights teams at paint brands and distributors first, then retailers and decorating centres, interior design studios and the press: anyone who decides what goes on a colour card, or writes about it.
- When does the first colour demand report come out, and what does it cost?
- The first issue of Swatcher’s colour demand report covers October to December 2026, a first read on the colours people are taking into 2027, and is planned for early 2027. Pricing is being settled with the first subscribers rather than published. Register interest on Swatcher to hear first; what you ask for shapes what the first issue includes.
- Can a paint brand get its own version of the colour demand report?
- A brand-specific cut of Swatcher’s colour demand report is planned as an add-on: the same sections for one brand, plus which competitor colour each of its top colours is most often compared against. It is offered where the brand has enough activity in the quarter for the numbers to hold.
Hear when the first issue is ready
Tell us who you are and what you want it to answer. It shapes what the first issue includes.
Work from your own paint library
We're also looking at letting a brand, painter or designer load the paints they use and get accent and trim suggestions from that set alone.