Are you a shade wary of colours? Here's how some people chose their's.

Amanda Pratt of Avoca Handweavers painted a bedroom in her Monkstown home with a purple-mauve paint. A relaxing colour for sleep, it works in this romantic setting. A new Irish brand, Devine Paints, is particularly good for such soft colours, devised - we're told - to be "fail-safe" by an American designer.

Its Fashion Bean line has a shade similar to this and is available at Paintrite in Galway and Coakley's in Bantry.  For stockists in Dublin call 01 6303669. Five litres is €38.

Furniture retailer Helen Kilmartin of Minima put together this apartment in Dublin and painted the walls of the living area a shade of grey. White always looks well against grey and here shelving and artwork stand out cleanly.

Although associated with traditional interiors, Farrow & Ball produces a shade of grey paint called Hardwick White that has impact without looking dull, as can sometimes be the problem with this colour, and Lamp Room by the same company is little warmer. Both are available at Farrow & Ball stockists countrywide, including Maison in Navan. Five litres cost €68.

Christian Liaigre may be a designer famed for dark wood and a palette of creams (seen most recently in Rupert Murdoch's New York apartment) but for his own home in le Marais in Paris, right, he uses red as a backdrop to display books and other objects.

Finding the right red can be hard: most people want a warm red but many reds can be too stark and lighter tones can look closer to pink.  So go for an orange red as opposed to terracotta red.

A good one is Farrow & Ball's Blazer Red. It is intense without being overpowering. Five litres costs €68.

Writer Colm Tóibín, with the help of  his interior designer friend Lizzie Van Anerongen, decorated his home near Fitzwilliam Square and used a royal blue paint on the walls of  the bathroom.

While blue may be a conventional bathroom colour, this shade is stronger than the paler tones more frequently seen and the result is richer and more striking against white sanitary ware.

To achieve something similar, MRCB Paints suggests using Colourtrend's "Ship Ahoy" or the slightly lighter "Delphinium". Five litres cost €46.

Address Book

MRCB Paints. Dublin, Kildare and Waterford. 01-6798755
Maison. Navan. 046-9066226
Paintrite. Galway. 091-562394
Coakley's. Bantry. 027-51639