Colour Design
Get help
with colour
Not everyone can be a design expert...
…but clients often expect you to choose and combine colours when decorating a property. If they don't like the colours, they won't like the decorating job, however professional the work is.
Your local DDC can help you with colour advice, but we've put together some hints and tips on this page to help you become more confident with colour.
Ready made colour solutions for professionals
Dulux Trade have produced a handy guide designed to take the hassle and the guesswork out of selecting and combining colours. To keep things simple,they've narrowed the vast array of over 12,000 Dulux Trade colours down to a manageable number. The guide is divided into two palettes and contains simple, detailed instructions on how to make the most out of them.
Pick up your copy in-store.
Top tip: find a starting point
It's often the case that your customer has a starting colour in mind. This may be an existing feature like a carpet, sofa or a wooden floor, or they might have decided that they want their child's bedroom to be pink.
Use stripecards from the in-store display or a fan deck to find the closest colour to this feature, and use it as a start point. See how the other colours on the stripecard perfectly tone with it, to make a classic, simple scheme. This is called a "toning colour scheme". Watch the colour scheming video on this page to learn about the different types of colour scheme you can create.
Test it first
It's often easier to judge colour with a larger sample as this will help to judge how the colour varies with lighting conditions. Most Dulux Trade colours are available in convenient 250ml samples that can be used to paint an area of wall or piece of board to give an impression of the colour.
Colour schemes
This video explains different types of colour scheme, and also how Dulux Trade have separated colours into four moods - Rich, Fresh, Warm and Calm - to help you find the right look for a room.
