Choosing the Colour

When contemplating decorating does the idea of using colour fill you with dread?  Do you know what colour you'd like but don't know what shade to choose?

Colour, can to some, be very confusing and here's our few tips on how to get the best out of the colour for your room.

Take into consideration any items you are leaving in the room; you may wish to keep a favourite vase bought as a present. Let's pretend its the vase below, purchased from www.debenhams.com

Item No. 3040283165, £32 reduced to £25.60

Hopefully you can see elements of purple and green in this glass vase...so now you have your "colour" choice for your room.  You now need to decide on a hue.

If you visit Dulux Colour Index you will see how they show their "colour" and "hue" very simply.  There are so many to choose from!  We've snipped the purple and green section to show you.

Take your vase (or whatever item you are using as your colour incentive) with you and my advice would be to pick 3 of each colour...three green and three purple and buy the small tester pots.  Paint them on your wall(s) and live with the colour for a few weeks.  You need to see how the colour works in natural and electric light.  

Remember when opting for a dark paint colour you need to add the paint to walls at least three times the strength (i.e. three coats of paint).  

You don't need to be as bold as the colours in the vase but can take elements from that.  You may decide to paint the whole room with a tint of purple/lilac and choose a dramatic green wallpaper for the feature wall.  There are so many wallpapers to choose from these days and we love Tangletree Interiors who offer so many styles and colours and great hints and tips.  Here is a snippet of a wallpaper we felt would compliment our theme above.

Tangletree Interiors, FG065H154 Plum/Green Mulberry Home £65 per roll