A Dulux Colour Consultation + Giveaway!

{Sponsored by Nuffnang}

Paint colours can be one of the most difficult choices to make when renovating a home I have found. Take the colour white for example – there is a myriad of choices and it can get very confusing. Dulux offer a colour consultation service where a professional will come to your home to advise you on the best colours to use. I was lucky to have been offered a consultation just recently and if you continue reading, you can enter for your chance to win one!

The consultation took approximately 1 hour and I met with Odette who arrived carrying colour charts galore. You may know by now how much I love looking at colours so I found it hard to keep my paws off her charts.

I gave Odette a tour of my house and briefly explained the function of each room and what I was hoping to achieve in terms of design and colour. Currently all walls are painting in Dulux China White (1/4 strength) and the trims in Dulux Antique White. My house has a lot of natural light, particularly in the living and dining area and Odette felt keeping the colour scheme light was the way to go. She began by narrowing down the choices for the main walls throughout the house by pinning a selection onto the kitchen cabinets and editing down from there. The winning colour was Hog Bristle (1/2 strength) which incidentally was Dulux’s most popular colour in 2011 because of the versatility of the colour.

For the hallway, Odette suggested a feature wall in Dulux Western Myall, a dark grey colour which is absolutely beautiful and will create depth to the space. I have wanted to create a feature of this wall and the grey colour will work well with the mirrored table and vases.

For the master bedroom, Odette suggested Dulux Russian Toffee, a deeper shade than Hog Bristle to make the room feel cosier. The room has morning sun and I find it can be rather bright in the morning and so a deeper shade makes sense to use here. It matches beautifully with my bed and the framed wallpaper.

Robert’s bedroom has an existing circus wallpaper feature wall and Odette suggested painting the remaining walls in a pale blue shade. The colour suggested is so sweet! We moved the colour sample around the room and it worked with all of his existing furniture and the colours of the large David Bromley print in his room.

Next up was the studio. Currently there is a leftover exterior paint slapped on the walls. Odette suggested a deeper shade, Dulux Rich Mocha, for the main wall where I have hung framed wallpaper and prints and a lighter shade, Dulux Russian Toffee for the remaining walls.

Do you remember the stairway that I have been stuck trying to decide on a colour to paint? Odette helped me here too. She suggested the same colour as the hallway feature wall, Dulux Western Myall for the left and far wall and Dulux Hog Bristle (1/2 strength) for the right wall. Odette advised that painting only two of the walls in the darker grey shade will not darken the space overall and will allow light to bounce around the walls.

Odette completed the consultation by writing down each colour choice complete with diagrams on a specification sheet for me to keep. She also left me with colour chip samples to refer to. Overall I am very happy with the service provided and finally feel confident in the colour choices for my home, in particular the stairway, master bedroom and hallways which have haunted me for a long time! I may hold off changing the main wall colour throughout the house for now but I know what to choose when the house needs repainting in the future. The service is recommended if you are having difficulties too choosing colours for your home.

And I have something exciting to share with you! Dulux have kindly offered one ish and chi reader with the change to win a Dulux colour consultation. All you have to do is answer the question in this question in the comments field:

“What Dulux colour would your choose to repaint one of your rooms and why?”

Entries close next Wednesday 19 October 2011 and only one entry per person please. Good luck!

PS. Please see terms and conditions of competition here.

AND THE WINNER IS.....

KL! Congratulations!

(Unfortunately I didn't hear from the previous winner and so I've redrawn the prize)