Paint Matters

Paint is one of the easiest ways to change the look of a room, and it's relatively cheap to do, and of course you can do it yourself if you have the confidence. There are some fantastic colours around, or you can mix your own. Here's my pick of fantastic combinations, some of them not for the faint-hearted!

What a great mood shot and some great colours Zoffany at stylelibrary.com

This stunning landing has so many clashing colours but somehow they work.

Wall: Cape Red 279 Lower Wall: Mid Azure Green 96, Woodwork: Scree 227, Far Door: Trumpet 196 all littlegreene.com

I'm a big fan of a painted staircase, my stairs are painted, and I think the black door and frame leading out to the black painted staircase is a great idea and the pale sage green is calming and easy to live with. Walls: French Gray, Door and stairs Mahogany farrow-ball.com

You wouldn't think these colours would work together, but they do. Pale, barely-there shades on the far wall could be dominated by strong blue on the near wall, but it works well, add a contrasting yellow border which is echoed in a fake picture rail behind.

Far wall top: Cosmic Grey, Far wall bottom: Coquette, Near wall: Cadet Blue, Yellow accent: Moonlit Green all Sanderson at stylelibrary.com

When Annie Sloan introduced her Chalk Paint she started a trend that everyone loved, because it made upcycling furniture a whole lot easier -no prep, one coat and you're done! Then she introduced Wall Paint too, which is washable and scrubbable. Job done. Wall paint: Antoinette and Amsterdam Green. Dressing table: Chalk Paint in Antoinette anniesloan.com

These peacock colours are really trending right now and its easy to see why, don't they look great? Inky blue walls teamed with an emerald green fireplace and deep skirting boards. Add velvet chairs in both colours with contrast piping and you've got this amazing club look. Walls: Midnight Navy Feature Wall Emulsion and Scottish Pine non-drip gloss crownpaints.co.uk

Wow. Just wow. It would take some guts to do this, and we don't all live in a stately home but its great for inspiration. Regal purple, emerald green and teal blue. Love the marbled fabric on the sofa too. Zoffany stylelibrary.com

And to end, something a bit quieter. Add a touch of magic with a circle painted in Feature Wall Cosmic Sky Glitter Emulsion. It looks like a starry sky. diy.com