Working with colour when I am painting or making digital works is usually intuitive. I can get inspiration at the drop of a hat and I love the process of mixing, testing and resolving colour ideas and issues.

But I’ve always found choosing colours when we are renovating quite tricky. Perhaps it is because I can find domestic inspiration in almost any colour scheme. Except green and gold.

I’ve posted this image of a painting by Juan Gris because it is somewhat close to colours that we will be working with, i.e. warm and cool browns, the tertiary purples and greys, the strong teas and weak coffees and the off-whites and off-blacks.

I created a palette in COLOURLovers and have been testing some colour accents against the ‘neutral’ scheme (see below). We’ll have a dark floor, mid tones in furnishings and lighter tones in walls. I feel pretty happy that the scheme can handle most colour accents so I can change the look over time. I have no real idea what is trending in interior design but this is warm and a bit eclectic—and we can agree on this, which is the most important thing.

Anyone might think that I have time to write a blog post, but really I don’t—I am procrastinating—off to pack up the kitchen!