5 Scatter-gun colour selection Keep your colour palette under control. Use one accent colour, or subtle variants of it, in one space and not a whole cacophony of them. A good rule of thumb for an accent colour is to keep it to about 10% of the scheme. 6Choosing a bright colour from a small paint chip Use a Resene testpot! Look at the colour painted in the biggest size you can in the room and with all the furnishings. Paint the colour on a piece of card and prop it up behind the sofa, hold it next to the curtains, check it with the carpet. Do this in both the day and night light. A seemingly intense neutral can wash out to nothing on an exterior house wall that’s blasted by the sun. And green or yellow can be overpowering in a bright room when the colour is bounced back on itself from the walls. 7Getting Resene ‘colour’ tinted into a non Resene paint Resene tinters and paint are unique so only Resene paint will give you true colour rendition. If you have a Resene colour tinted into another brand of paint, you’ll be in for a nasty non-matching surprise. Resene also has all sorts of clever additives and paint technologies to make sure your paint, and the colour it carries, has a longer-lasting better- looking life. For example, there’s the Resene Kitchen & Bathroom range, Resene Fly Deterrent and Resene CoolColour for exteriors to name a few. Ask staff at your Resene ColorShop for more details. Don’t just paint all of the walls white while the kids are young or you’re waiting to renovate. If you consciously choose white walls, be sure you have fabulous furniture as white will silhouette the furniture in a way no other colour will. Creams or taupes are far more forgiving. 3Going too clear and bright Paint colours fall roughly into two styles – muddy and clear. Most successful schemes are based on muddied, muted colours as they are softer on the eye and easier to live with.You might make the assumption that the ‘leaf green’ you’re keen on is quite bright, but look closer and you’ll see that most leaf greens are quite greyed and dusky. You’re probably after sage, not mint; olive not emerald. Likewise with sea blues, or earth browns. The exception is a trend for jewel tones where deep clear colours may be the hero: navy sapphire, ruby red, regal purple or jade green. Clear, bright colours are best kept as accents. 4 Highlighting ugly details If your skirting is skimpy or you have ugly doors, don’t highlight them by painting them a different colour to the walls in a neutral or tonal scheme. Use a gloss change instead (such as gloss Resene Enamacryl or semi-gloss Resene Lustacryl). It will appear slightly paler as the gloss reflects more light, but it won’t draw attention to itself. If you have a low ceiling height, painting the skirting and scotia in a different colour will create two horizontal lines, sandwiching the space and making the ceiling feel even lower. Resene Hawkes Blue | 67