I do hope everyone has a good festive season and are feeling refreshed ready for the New Year ahead.

What’s your New Year resolution when it comes to your home? Are you planning to change of decoration, perhaps any extension or a new kitchen? All sounds too good too be true eh! But what do you do after the builder has left, plasterer been ( the mess and dirt cleaned up). Suddenly you have your new dream room then reality strikes…How am I going to finish the walls? Do I paint? Do I wallpaper? The choice suddenly becomes too much and you don’t want to make the wrong decision.

Over the next few issues I am going to be assisting you with wall finishes….The pro’s and cons of paint or wallpaper. Texture or no texture, and touching a bit on preparation of the walls. Well, here are a few trade secrets on what type of wall finish to choose and how to choose it.

We’ll start with colour. Colour is powerful and because it is powerful, it is largely feared. Timid followers of home fashion have largely been spared facing up to this fear for the last few years ago, thanks to the popularity of minimal white and its creamy relations. Some other smart schemes also have tended to stick to ‘neutrals’-browns, taupe, beiges and nearly black. Both these schemes the look can is subtle and expensive, but can be dull and bland. Inspiration for colour can be found anywhere, look in your wardrobe, in your garden, tear out pictures from magazines-piece your room together gradually and think about the balance of colour. A good rule of thumb is that your room should be 60-30-10…that is 60% one colour 30% another and 10% an accent colour.

Light and colour interrelate in a complex and fascinating way. The same colour can look quite different I natural and artificial lights, in the morning or in the evening, and on different walls in the same room. Always check the colour in the room that you are going to be using it in…never choose it in the paint store, take a sample home first.

Pale colours reflect light and make rooms look larger and brighter, while dark colours absorb it, drawing walls in for a cosy enclosed feel.

Texture also affects colour and how it is perceived. When designing a colour scheme with limited palette, remember that differences in texture add interest and depth. Even when just painting now, there are some textured paints available, but a little word of caution! Ask yourself, how do I remove this from the walls after this fashion fad is no longer popular? It could be just good sand or it could be skim coat the walls in plaster.

Test paint colours on large pieces of lining paper which you can stick to different walls in the room. Or another way to decide which colour you require is to use a self coloured wallpaper sample book, which has practically ever shade that you could ever wish for. After choosing the colour from this match a paint colour to it, or take it to a centre that can scan the colour then can mix the shade of paint too it ( very handy!! For us fussy designers)

Rules are there too be broken. Never be too frightened, or lazy, to experiment- it will be worth it in the end.

However when it all gets too much or you require a helping hand to do this and don’t wish to take any risks in getting it wrong, call in the professionals. I would be delighted to come and help you, bringing thousands of wallpapers, fabrics, curtains, blinds and floor coverings directly to your home. Please feel free to call me on 07768 945654 or visit the web site at www.simply-interiors.biz