Consider the look of the room before you decide on the hue of the walls

Colour is a magical tool that can transform a room, shortening or widening its dimensions, creating a sense of space or intimacy and imparting a cool or warm atmosphere. The colour of the walls in a room sets its tone and is a highly personal choice. We are drawn to certain shades and abhor others. Colour triggers memories and associations for us and we only have to look at the way we describe colour to understand this — tangerine orange and olive green, for example, all shades that can be identified with no problem at all.

Also key to creating the perfect neutral room scheme is using the correct accent colour or colours, in just the right amount and combination, to introduce another dimension to soft, tonal rooms. Accent colours are used to provide visual interest, so they need to catch and startle the eye in a delightful way, but without jarring, seeming out of place or overpowering the subtlety of the overall scheme. Colour accents can be introduced in a variety of different ways — in plain colours or patterns, through cushions, rugs, throws, pieces of furniture, display of ceramics or other decorative objects, vases and flowers.

When choosing colour, there are various elements to consider — what will the room be used for? What kind of atmosphere are you planning to create? What size is the room? And perhaps most important of all, what kind of light is available? Light is crucial: without it there is no colour. The purest light is white light: the sunlight at midday will show colours in their true shade.

Artificial lights will also influence how we see colour, and different types of artificial lighting will produce different effects. Halogen light can flatten and bleach colour, while fluorescents come in many shades but tend to neutralise colour, and tungsten lights give off a yellow cast. This makes it important to check how your chosen shade appears under different lighting conditions. The simplest way is to paint good-sized patches onto the walls of your room. Dot the patches around the room and observe how the colour looks through the day.

Interiors are rarely made up of a single colour and all the elements of a room need to work together to form a coherent colour scheme. Colour schemes tend to be of two types — contrasting and harmonising. Contrasting schemes are vibrant and varied colours, while harmonising schemes use colours that are tonally related. Because of this, contrasting schemes tend to be more energetic and visually stimulating, while harmonising schemes create a calming and relaxing atmosphere and as a result they are particularly suitable for bedrooms.

It would be ideal to club a set of swatches to match the items you will be using in a room, before choosing the right colour or colours for it.

Do you like bright or neutral colours in your room?
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