1. Get rid of Mission Brown. Try charcoal, stone or taupe.
2. Don't attempt to make a Cal. Bung. or 60's cream brick veneer into a mock-Victorian by using red, green and cream. Understate your colours. Drive around and see what others are doing.
3. Consider painting your tired exterior brick walls to freshen up the house. Sure, it's a cost every ten years, but you'll appreciate the difference.
4. Plain house: one or two colours - put your effort into the garden. Imposing house (Georgian?): one or two shades of the same colour. Detailed house: three to five colours or shades thereof.
5. Take note of the colours of the houses either side of you. Complement them.
6. Medium depth (sky) blue or bright blue on the trim of a red, brown or cream brick house is a shooting-at-dawn offense. Dark navy is okay, otherwise try green, cream or stone.
7. We tend to think pure white is right. Wrong! Use off white, eggshell or cream. Or green or stone or blue, or grey, taupe or charcoal, or red, or terracotta or ...... get the picture?
8. Solid window frames (e.g. Cal Bungs) painted one strong colour tend to be intrusive. Opt for two colours - one (usually the lighter, but can be the darker) on the glass frame (the "sash"), the other on the frame or surrounds.
9. If installing "Colorbond" (or similar) on your roof and spouting on period homes, avoid matching them. Make the spouting a different colour. Your overall scheme now has a chance to work.
10. The front door: it's a focal point so be generous with colour. Draw attention to it.
11. Modern, water-based acrylics are, in most cases, now superior to enamels for exterior painting. They last longer, are elastic, user and environmently friendly.

OUR TOP ELEVEN INTERIOR RULES

1. Avoid pure white - it is cold, creates glare and is difficult to decorate around traditionally. Use Off-White. Put white with brights, of course.
2. Yellows are lively and warm, lemons are cold. Pinks are pleasant and warm, greens are soft and livable. Blues are cool and calming, cream is safe, beige is boring, eggshell is universal.
3. Avoid clear or sharp paint colours. Look for muddied, creamy, murky, dirtied shades. They're warmer, stay in fashion longer and simplify decorating. Unless of course you want bright, electric, iridescent, vibrant colours and you decorated accordingly.
4. What to do with architraves, skirtings and doors? Consider a strong colour in a cottage (blue, green or golden yellow), a neutral shade of cream or wheat in medium and large homes . Take the one shade throughout for continuity and practicability.
5. Ceilings: not white (see #1 above). Use off-whites such as milk or chalk. Safest is a lighter tone of the wall shade, but to show you have flair try ceilings of muddy blue,green or peach in certain rooms.
6. Avoid one solid block of colour on the ceiling cornice and/or rose. If you want only one colour, soften it a few shades, or consider sponging over with a cream.
7. Bathrooms: Oh, my goodness, everyone's is different. Make use of warm colours, such as cream or corn. Purchase bright towels.
8. Re-juvinate dated, but perfectly sound, kitchen laminated cupboards and ceramic wall tiles by painting them in enamel. Certain modern undercoats now make this possible (See "Zinsser" under "Preparation".)
9. Dining Rooms: Now's your chance to be a perfect decorator in addition to a perfect host. Consider walls of scarlet, wedgwood, burnt terracotta or sea green. Cream ceilings, eggshell trim.
10. Sure, light colours make a room appear larger and increase light. But they can also make life dull and boring. Try muddied pastels or medium colours for atmosphere and style.
11. Acrylics are now recommended for most situations inside - walls, ceilings and trim, including well ventilated wet areas. Enamels may be best where mould is prevalent, and wear and tear areas such as kitchen cupboards.

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