Original article featured in Cambridgeshire Agenda February 2009. Photography courtesy of Fired Earth.

Choosing the wrong paint colour for your home can be a costly and distressing mistake and finding just the right colour can seem to be an impossible task, however, there are some golden rules to follow that will result in finding the perfect palette. Cate Burren of Angel and Blume interior design reveals the secrets of the professionals. A really good paint colour is at the core of all great interiors schemes and the way to find the best colour for your room may seem laborious but it is time and effort well spent. The perfect colour is an effect you will enjoy everyday and it is one of the most impactful tools to creating an inviting and elegant home. However, there are literally thousands of colours available, so how do you go about finding just the right colour?

The first thing to consider is other elements within the room. Whether you already have furniture and accessories that you want to integrate into the room scheme, or whether you are starting afresh, it is really important to consider the style of the room and also the fabrics and furnishings that you are going to have in the room. The Danish architect, designer and colourist, Vernon Panton said ‘There are no ugly colours, only ugly combinations of colours. A colour must be judged in the context of other colours - never alone’ and this is certainly true where interiors are concerned, so to avoid bad combinations, consider the whole scheme before you start.

What's your style?

Once you know the look you are trying to achieve, you will find it much easier to find a range of paints that works for you and to select colours from it. Not only will this help with ensuring the colours you pick work well together but it will also help to reduce the enormous range available down to a manageable pool to choose from. We have listed some of our favourites below and you will find that you are drawn to one or two particular ranges, so try to go with the ones that you are instantly drawn to.

The next and very important step is to get a tester pot. Colours will always look different painted on the wall compared to what you see on a paint chart. Until we are sure of the colour, we paint up large sheets of paper with the colour and pin it up on the wall in question. That way, we can see the colour in the environment that it will ultimately be in and we tend to use two or three sheets and put them in very light and very dark areas to see how they will look in different parts of the room. We also leave them up for at least 24 hours, as colour looks very different at night under artificial light and also at different times of the day as the natural light changes.

We would recommend investing in good quality paint. Firstly the colours are just as they are designed to be, rather than being the nearest match. Also, the reason that good quality paint is more expensive is because the colour in it is achieved using a higher level of natural materials rather than plastics and there is a higher percentage of pigment, which means that the colour has a much greater depth and intensity of colour.

Main colour and accents

Most schemes will have at least a main colour and an accent colour and this may be the paint colour and a fabric colour, or could be two paint colours. It is really important to get the combination of colours right but also the balance of quantity of colour. There should be a clear distinction between the main colour and the accent which depending on the intensity of colour should be just a dash. When you are considering the colours included in the room, you need to take into account both the floor colours (carpet, wood, tiles etc.) and also the furniture colour (which may be a dark or light wood, plastic or coloured finish). There has also been a trend for feature walls recently – our advice on this is to have a feature wall if it has a purpose such as a background to a collection of pictures, or highlighting a particular feature in a room, but don’t do it if the real reason for only painting or wallpapering a wall is that the colour or pattern is too bold for the whole room – if that is the case it will look that way and you would be better toning things down and putting the paint or paper on all walls of the room.

Finally, don’t forget that choosing the right paint colour is difficult, even for people that do it everyday and know the colours available really well. If you are stuck, or not convinced of your choice, take some advice. Most interior designers will give colour consultancy advice and there are many specialists available who will work on one room, a whole house or on an hourly rate. It will be a lot cheaper than having to redecorate if you hate the result.

Happy decorating!