Remember when as a child, you brought out your crayons, markers and colour pencils to colour in your colouring book and breathe life into the pictures? Coming up with colour schemes for the rooms in your house can be quite similar.

Colour can transform a room. Pale shades can open up a small room while giving it a sense of spaciousness.

Because light colours reflect light, they can also brighten dark hallways and rooms that would otherwise get only a little sunlight.

You can completely change the character of a place with colour

White ceilings seem higher because the colour makes them appear to recede.

On the other hand, dark colours make a room look cosy. Therefore dark colours are usually used in quiet places such as studies and dens. Dark colours can also be used to disguise architectural faults such as uneven walls, as well as signs of wear in heavy-use areas.

Blues, violets, greens and greys in any number of tints and shades give a cool, serene feel to a room. Intense cool colours are refreshing, while subdued cool hues have a tranquil effect. Reds, oranges and yellows warm a room. Intense warm colours create excitement; subtler hues, sociability.

Bright and intense colours belong in active spaces like recreation rooms. Bright accents, however, can also add excitement to soft colour schemes. For instance, you may have a white and grey colour scheme for a room and then you introduce a brightly coloured lamp or vase or a piece a furniture to change the ambiance of the place.

Published in Dawn, Sunday Magazine, March 13th, 2016