True colours: Find out which colour combinations please you and why, advises Mary Gilliatt

摘要

Colour is as essential to room decoration as light and lighting and, as with light, the way it is used can make a room look entirely different. Various colour combinations can make the same room and furnishings seem warm or cool, restful or stimulating, harmonious or jarring, welcoming or impersonal. Like lighting, colour cleverly used can even alter the apparent proportions of a room, disguise ugly details and turn an everyday room into a festive Christmas or party room.