The makeover with Color Now 2024

Influencer and designer Marie Olsson Nylander created this year’s Color Now 2024 palette and renovated her new aparment with the earthy shades. See how the makeover was done.

The Color Now 2024 collection was created by the Swedish entrepreneur, influencer and designer Marie Olsson Nylander. It showcases the earthy palette of 14 shades from intense burgundy to sweet pink, from different shades of beige to hazy blues. The color of the year goes by the name Nude in Nizza, and is a peachy-toned, soft and warm beige.

Despite composing the color palette, Olsson Nylander also painted her new home with the colors of the collection. Creating her vision of the palette happened very intuitively.

– For me, playing with color is like therapy or meditation. It’s not like I go out and hunt colors, but instead, it happens intuitively, Olsson Nylander says.

A mural is a centrepiece of the apartment

The apartment Olsson Nylander renovated with Color Now 2024 colors is a 230 square metre apartment located in Helsingborg. The house has a special feel to it and a long history, as it was built in the 1880s.

Olsson Nylander wanted to achieve a style that is somehow unlikely and unobvious, and that’s why she designed details that make people stop and think for a while. The centrepiece of the apartment is a room-size mural in the lounge made by Finnish artist Mirja Ilkka. The lounge makes the first impression for anyone coming to the place.

– It was difficult choosing the right color for this room, so instead, I got the idea of having all the colors highlighted in the artwork. For me, the lounge is the most inspiring part of the apartment.

As the apartment is rather big, Olsson Nylander wanted to have both neutral spaces and rooms with bold colors. That said, she also wanted to show that the color doesn’t always have to be on the walls: Instead, you can paint the ceiling, door frames or skirting boards. Use of color throughout different surfaces creates a characteristic Marie Olsson Nylander interior that is so know from all her work. Layering colors and materials is her superpower.

Painting the ceilings with a bold color was also a way to honour the history of the house. The colors of the collection, like Coffee in China, Gold in Ghana and Olives in Oman, really highlight the decorative ornaments in the ceilings.

"The ceilings are rich in details and really tell the story of the apartment", Marie said.

Same shade from ceiling to walls

As Olsson Nylander wanted to have neutral colors on the walls, she simply removed the old fibreglass wallpaper and left the walls raw in some of the rooms. In one of the rooms, she painted all the surfaces from walls to the ceiling with the color of the year, Nude in Nizza. She also created an energetic room with nothing but pink, Bubba in Berlin. The small bathroom got some character with the vibrant green, Mint in Mexico.

The renovation is almost ready and the family’s just finishing up the kitchen. Olsson Nylander is searching the furniture matching the apartment at a slow pace.

– I’m into sustainability and the environment, and I want to look for vintage pieces made with natural materials, not just buy everything fast.

On top of this, Olsson Nylander is really looking forward to getting all of her belongings in the apartment. The place will be her family’s home and at the same time, her studio and showroom. The ready-made residence with all the Color Now 2024 colors makes her feel very happy.

– I cannot believe this will be my working space and home. It feels like being a guest in someone else’s gorgeous place.