Step one: Watch the light!

For the first step, you don’t need to even get up off your chair! So, sit yourself down – preferably at different times of the day – and make a note of when the sun comes in to the room you want to decorate. Does it get most light in the morning or later in the afternoon? Watch how it moves around the room, as this could affect how you light it and which colours you eventually choose. A shade that looks fabulous in a bright room with lots of natural light could look as dingy and unappealing as the inside of a skip if your room is on the dark side.

Step two: Find your direction

If you've not got the time to sit around and watch the sun move, a quick and easy way to determine which direction your room faces is to use a compass. Lucky you if it faces south, as you can use almost any colour 'group' – just remember, before you go mad for that that zingy yellow, that colours appear brighter in strong light (not great for hangovers). North-facing rooms have a well-deserved reputation for feeling nippy as they get the least light – so avoid chilly blues or frosty whites, as your room will never feel welcoming. East-facing rooms get the warm morning light while west-facing ones bask in it during the afternoon. The secret to being colour-smart with these is to consider when you use them most. If you tend to be in your east-facing room during the first half of the day, treat it as a south-facing room, but if you use it mainly in the evenings, you will want to warm it up as you would a north-facing one. And if your room is west-facing? Simply switch this rule around! Still confused? Try this: Planning a colour scheme

Step three: Use a colour wheel

Haven't a clue which colours go together? A really useful device is a colour wheel. This is a circle of 12 colour segments containing variations on the primary shades of blue, red, green and yellow. Colours within the same 'group' work well together, as do colours separated by a 'group'. Those opposite each other should work in harmony while shades in the group next door create a clash. Feel like you need some more help with all this? Companies such as Crown and Dulux have nifty tools on their sites where you can 'paint' rooms to see the effect.