Ensure your colour scheming works well every time you decorate with our guide to the basic rules.
Getting the colours you'd love in your rooms to work together beautifully is something you want to do right first time. There are plenty of ways to do it, so you can pick the method you prefer - you might enjoy having a reference like the colour wheel, or perhaps putting together a mood board of sample fabrics, paint colours or wallpapers might suit you better.
Method One: The Colour Wheel
A colour wheel of 12 segments is based on the primary colours of red, yellow and blue. The secondary colours of green, orange and purple are created by combining the primary colours, and are also shown on the wheel. The remaining segments of the wheel are made from primary colours mixed with secondary colours, and are named for the combination - for example blue-green.
If you are using a colour wheel to help you decorate, theory tells you that you can create a scheme from just one segment of the wheel - and of course your scheme would be co-ordinated as you'll just be working with one colour.
This obviously isn't a whole room of - for example - blue things from the floors to the walls to the furniture. Use darker and lighter tones of your chosen colour and you'll create variety in the scheme but still know it's co-ordinated.
Alternatively you might choose two or three colours that sit alongside each other on the wheel - for example green, yellow-green, yellow - as these will work equally happily together in a room.
Other options for a co-ordinated room include using colours that are opposite each other on the wheel, or using three colours spaced equally apart on the wheel.
Remember that whichever option you choose, you'll need a break from colour in your room, too. So plan for areas of neutral or white. And don't forget that pattern can still be part of the room, bringing your chosen colours together.
We're all inspired by other people's decorating schemes. If you've fallen in love with a room you've seen on our site or in a magazine your sense of colour will tell you that the colours co-ordinate, but to reproduce the look, do some analysis of how this harmony is achieved.
Method Two: Re-Create A Look You've Seen
Look at how much of the total area of the room each colour takes up. If a colour is on the floor or walls, then that's a substantial area, and you can use that sort of proportion in your room.
If a colour's just used on a vase, a rug and a couple of other small accessories, then to get the same effect that's how little of the room you should use the colour in, too.
If you know which colours you want to use in a room, but want to check how they look together, why not have a look at them on your PC screen before you get out a paintbrush?
Method Three: Play With Colours Online
Dulux's MousePainter allows you to play with Dulux's colours in a room. Choose from a gallery of images the room that's closest to the style of your own. You can then pick a colour, and click and drag it to fill an area of the room.
Repeat until you've filled all the available areas of the room, and until your colours are a harmonious set, not a clashing nightmare.
US site Design My Room also allows you to drag paint colours into a virtual room - as well as flooring, furniture and accessories - so you can check your colour scheming will co-ordinate.
Interior designers and stylists use mood boards to check their colour schemes are working, and if you like to collect samples before you decorate, this is a great colour co-ordinating tool for you.
Method Four: Use A Mood Board
Start with a plain board to which you can pin and stick samples, and then gather wallpaper, fabric, pictures of the furniture and accessories you want, and use sample pots of paint to create paint swatches.
Then you can lay out all your proposed colours together on the board to check they are co-ordinating perfectly.
For the best guide to what works, try to keep your samples proportionate to each other. For example, if you're painting all four walls in one colour then this would be the largest sample on your board; a flooring sample would also be one the biggest. A piece of the proposed curtain fabric would be smaller, and a colour just used for vases or cushions wouldn't be very big at all. This will give you the most accurate idea of the balance of colour in your completed room.