Could the resurgence of wallpaper's popularity be behind a paint company's "light & space survey" aimed at persuading us that its new paint range is just what we all really need to make our smaller homes look bigger?
Dulux is promoting its new range - called "Light & Space" - with a rather convoluted press release which says that 88 per cent of Irish estate agents believe houses have got smaller over the past 10 years, with 60 per cent of agents believing apartments have got smaller. (Em, does any one remember the dogboxes of the early 1990s?) The figures apparently come from a straw poll of agents though clearly not those operating in the leafy suburbs where homeowners are merrily adding on vast kitchen extensions, big attic rooms and even digging underground to create basements.
No matter: the main point Dulux is trying laboriously to get across is that smart use of paints - particularly light, bright colours like those in its new paint range - can create the illusion of more space.
And as it's undeniably true that many of us are living in apartments and townhouses instead of the standard 111sq m (1,200sq ft) three-bed semis of yesteryear, it's likely a lot of us want to do that. The Light & Space range costs from €28.99 for 2.5 litres.
