When you’re in charge of decorating the family home, you usually just have a budget, or rough idea of how much you want to spend on paint, paper, a few new finishing touches and Bob’s your uncle, as they say.  These days though it is a bit more complicated – there are so many more colours and shades in the paint chart section of the local d.i.y emporium!   If you ask an assistant for help, they will automatically assume that you have already studied the hundred and one colour/shade charts available.  They will also assume you know the difference between an eggshell finish from a primer and top coat emulsion.  They will also assume you have already researched what sort of paint finish will suit your particular circumstances.

To get a more lively colour palette throughout the house, a more cohesive thread throughout, colour theory is almost always considered by the professionals.  Ther are generally 7 rules to take on board and these range from analogous;  monochromatic; complimentary; split-complementary; triadi; tetradi and square colour schemes all come into play here and it’s a good idea to have some knowledge of each so that it’s not all one big baffling exercise when the choices have to be made.    Using a colour wheel will define the three main colour types which are primary, secondary and tertiary.   A whole new ball game opens at this point!