Getting it right is a complex business, colour specialists admit. But here are some hints from the experts in how to courageously dive in to a polychromatic relationship, without getting hurt.
Trust in nature.
Nature never makes a mistake with colour, Sandford says, so trust in that palette. "Want to know the best green to mix with purple? Look into the garden at lavender or lisianthus. Take colours from the outdoors and bring them in."
And it would be unwise, she warns, to paint an inner-city apartment in greys and blacks "if you don't have a view of nature's blues and greens to escape to sometimes".
Turn your home into a work of art.
Make an impact by creating art out of the traditional features of a house, suggests colour and design consultant Peta Tearle, like painting one half of a window frame yellow, or a skirting board and a few centimetres of wall above it in red. "I like to paint two wardrobe doors in different colours. It doesn't intrude on the room too much, but still makes a statement." Coloured ceilings, harking back to Victorian times, are courageously cool.
While papering one wall is in vogue, you can make another statement with one drop of wallpaper alongside a daring stripe of colour.
Invest in good colour.
Spend the most on things that will last the longest, says Sandford, like horizontal surfaces - flooring, tables and sofas - and be more frivolous with the vertical.
"Paint is the most versatile medium; you can change a room in an afternoon. If you don't like it, it's not too expensive to change it." For even less of an outlay, add accessories like cushions, a vase and a rug.
There are no rules.
Our grandmothers may have said blue and green should never be seen, unless there's a colour in between. But today, there are no hard and fast rules on hues.
Tearle has developed a "Colours with Love" tool, combining palettes for those unsure of what goes together well.
"You need to physically put colours together and see for yourself whether they look right; it's impossible to carry colour in your head." And if it makes it more palatable, separate saturated colours with white (your grandmother would be appeased).
Take inspiration from something you love.
"I always work with things that people love," Tearle says, "pieces of furniture that are sustainable, that they will always keep." Those pieces will provide clues to contrasting or complimentary colours. Or if you're cautious, start with a hue that you absolutely love. "There's nothing wrong with taking your neutral backgrounds that are relaxing and easy to live with, and use them as a canvas to place your favourite colour on."
Don't be afraid of black.
Although it's scientifically an absence of colour, black helps to clarify and enhance other colours in a room. Sandford swears by black carpets as the perfect backdrop. "For 20 years I've had a black bedroom, with beautiful white linen, pewter lamps and a big mirror headboard. I find it makes a comforting atmosphere at night, to embrace and soothe you."
Get a neutral backbone.
It's easiest to play with colour in enclosed rooms; open-planned spaces are more challenging. The trick, says Sandford, is to have a neutral continuity colour throughout. She employs white as her continuity colour on the basic structures of the house - scotias, ceilings, window and door frames.
"A white hallway is the backbone of my house, and the colourful rooms off it are the limbs. White connects them all."
Don't go colour-blind.
A patchwork of slapped-on sample colours from myriad test pots could only complicate matters. Tearle takes A4 sheets of a colour and gets clients to move them around the room, studying them in different lights. If you're making your own test sheets, be sure to paint on two coats.
If you want a new textile to breathe life into a tired chair or drapes, ask to take a fabric sample home and let it sit in a room for a few days.
Look at colour in a new light.
All homes have a dark side and a light side - and while you may be tempted to lighten up that small dark room, it will better suit darker colours, Sandford says. "I have a library painted in Resene Eternity [a black-green] and it wraps around and nurtures you. Light, airy rooms look best with light, reflective hues."
Artificial lighting manipulates colour - what you see in daylight will almost certainly look different at night. Mirrors are a good tool to open up space, and reflect an outside vista. "If you've got a big wall of purple, a large mirror will soften the impact."
A pop of colour can be a bad thing.
People can make mistakes with a simple "pop" of colour. "It creates a contrast, but it can really stand out in a bad way," Sandford says. A contrasting colour needs to be introduced in threes - a red chair, red cushions and red flowers in a vase - placed in a triangle around the room.
Remember the 90s craze for painting a feature wall? "The psychology of a feature wall is the moment you walk in a room, your eyes are drawn to it. But if you're brave and put a strong colour on all four walls, it's not as conspicuous."
Don't get the blues.
It pays to be colour-sympathetic with others who share a home with you. Plenty of research indicates colour vibrations influence moods and emotions. "You won't get much sleep in a fiery red bedroom," says Sandford, and an active child will rest better with softer hues. And if you're seeking advice from a male in the household, just remember that one in 12 men are colour-blind, so they might not see just what you see.
