Developing thermal regulation materials is essentially important for constructing energy conservation buildings. We here developed novel multifunctional composite foams with thermal regulation ability by impregnating phase change paraffin into the interconnective pores of melamine foam (MF), followed by coating a thermal insulation layer comprised of SiO2 nanoparticles (SiO(2)NPs). The endothermic and exothermic enthalpies of the as-prepared paraffin@MF@SiO(2)NPs were 179.9 and 169.5J g(-1), respectively, which was capable of absorbing and releasing latent heat via phase transition. The SiO(2)NPs insulation layer was able to suppress the heat transfer from outdoor environment to the foam and also prevented a direct heat exchange between foam and the indoor environment. As a consequence, the paraffin@MF@SiO(2)NPs exhibited excellent thermal regulation capability to maintain stable indoor temperature. Moreover, the paraffin@MF@SiO(2)NPs was lightweight (0.796g cm(-3)), which can be tailored into diverse shapes and assembled together according to the design need. Our strategy demonstrated here might be extended for developing new type of thermal regulation materials that have great potential application in constructing energy conservation buildings. (C) 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.