Palest Green Creates at www.japanese-home-gardens.com

A high dado rail around the room - a classic Thirties feature - divides up the walls, and different coloured paints draw attention to it. Above, the walls are white, while below a thin strip of palest green creates a pretty border around the room. Thirties interiors often features borders and lines of paintwork, which have the effect of framing a room. The green chosen here matches the green on the original Dresser -a nice touch. Below is a soft cream - warm, sunny, practical.

Three key colours combine in this room. The warm olive green of the walls creates a soft, natural backdrop, perfect with all the golden wood that's set against it. Touches of cream add freshness without jarring or losing the soft, inspired-by-nature feel.

Complementary colors - those on opposite sides of the color wheel - can be mixed successfully, too. Although such combinations usually clash, they can work if they are less "pure." For example, juxtaposing tones of warm reddish green alongside dark, slightly greenish red creates very pleasing harmonies. Another way to mix contrasting colors is to start with just a few closely related.