Tricia Guild's tips for living with colour

Images from Designersguild.com

A few weeks ago I interviewed Tricia Guild OBE, whose colourful shop and design business Designers Guild, has been going for 40 years. Chatting with Guild over coffee at the King's Road showroom in London was hugely inspiring (I posted some snaps of the shop at the time) but, as I am still haunted by the garish orange I once painted the front room in my first London flat, wanted to ask the expert for her tips on getting some colour back into my life without creating a headache-inducing mess. Here's what she said...

• White is fine if you’re decorating somewhere dark – but if it’s dark it’ll still be dark afterwards, just whiter than it was. But it might be wonderful painted a bright colour
• There’s an idea that in a small room you shouldn’t use pattern. Why? It can be like a little treasure box
• Don’t use colour on absolutely everything – perhaps have a neutral wall, bricks, an organic sofa, or sisal floors. I usually have pale ceilings – and I do like height and I think it does help the space
• Using different patterns doesn’t equal clashing – but make sure the colours work between one pattern and another
• Having said all that, I really don’t like rules, because you can always find a way of turning them on their head

Tricia's new book, A Certain Style is £27.47 from Amazon and features 14 of her interior design projects, all vastly different - but all exquisitely colourful. Really makes you look at things differently at home - or it did me, see below...