A paint colour tool so that you'll never pick the wrong one again!

I see a lot of products in my line of work. Lots of PR people coming in to show me what they think is the latest and greatest, so I'm often a little skeptical. And when it comes to paint colours and colour trends, well, let's just say that it takes a lot to convince me. Colour just seems like such a personal thing—what one person loves may appear horrifying to another.

I'm originally trained as an interior designer, and  have always thought that one of the most useful services that decorators and designers offer is helping with paint colours because they have an ability to see colour in a way that other people don't. Turns out, that skill is not all that special! There is an actual science to picking colours, based on the colour wheel and light/dark colour ratios. And Dulux has developed a nifty tool that will give you paint choices that are guaranteed to "go" with whatever you already have in your home. The subjective part comes from choosing the actual hue you want to work with, but this is truly a no-fail colour picking system. Guess that puts some designers out of work!

Here's how it works: Place the matching device on whatever surface you want to match—fabric, flooring, tile, paint—whatever. It will give you the closest paint colour.

Next, it gives you a choice of eight colours to coordinate with your original pick. From there, you can choose lighter or dark colours that are definitely, without a doubt, going to match. Truly and honestly, this is a colour revolution. And the device really shines when it comes to picking light and muted colours—colours that are hardest to match with the naked eye. No more weird green undertones to the warm cream you meant to choose. No more hating your flooring simply because you chose the wrong wall colour to go with it.

So if you're re-painting, run, don't walk to the nearest ICI, Glidden or Colour Your World to have a store assistant help you make the perfect choice.