After five long months of renovations at our little London flat, the time eventually came to start putting paint on the walls. The moment I had eagerly awaited quickly became one of dread when I realised I didn’t have an ounce of energy to look at paint charts. Let alone an idea of how I should choose a tone to counteract the cool light of the north-facing sitting room. Did the fact I liked the colour of the raw plaster on the bedroom walls really mean that I should opt for the ever so trendy dusty pink? Or was that a lazy choice? What about the woodwork? And what would I do about the fact the painters were booked in and I hadn’t made a single decision? This didn’t feel like the kind of muddle that I should really be in, having worked at House & Garden magazine for the best part of ten years.

It was at this moment that I realised why colour consultants are all the rage. It is something that many paint brands – Farrow & Ball, Edward Bulmer, Little Greene to name a few – offer. Prices start at around £200 and you can generally opt for at-home, in-store or virtual consultations. Not only can colour consultants be a sounding board, but they also have a deep understanding of colour, what works and the rules that you should – and sometimes shouldn’t – follow. ‘It’s a good place to start if you don’t have the budget for an interior decorator, but want to be guided in the right direction,’ explains Farrow & Ball’s International Brand Ambassador, Paddy O’Donnell. As his own 1930s house proves, he is no shrinking violet when it comes to colour and, as I experienced first-hand, he is the kind of man who can take one look at a photograph of a room and, with an encyclopaedic knowledge of Farrow & Ball’s current and archive colours, point you in the direction of the perfect colour. ‘Choosing colour can be daunting, so our job is to take into consideration existing features, flooring and artwork to help you choose colours that are appropriate for your surroundings,’ explains Paddy, who runs regular colour consultancies, along with a team at Farrow & Ball, with prices starting from £140 an hour.

And so it was that I booked in for a 60-minute showroom session at Edward Bulmer Natural Paint on Ebury Street. I immediately realised the benefit of being in a showroom: there is plenty of paint on walls and woodwork, which not only provides good inspiration, but also a visual aid if you’re struggling to articulate exactly what you’re after. Emma Perry, the store’s manager, started off by asking me about our flat and looking at pictures of each room on my phone. ‘It’s all about using paint to create a flow between the rooms,’ she explains. She also made another excellent point, which is worth remembering when it feels like all you can think about is paint colours: ‘paint should provide a backdrop and the art, furniture and curtains are what should be doing the talking.’ Once Emma had got an idea of what I was after – elegant, but with a bit of earthy richness – she started pulling out A5 colour cards to show me how certain colours might work together. ‘The paints on a paint chart will often appear darker than they do when they’re up on the wall,’ she explains, proving her point by pointing out the ‘Wainscoat’ tone that has been used for some of the woodwork in the shop and looks entirely different to its little tile on a paint chart.

The session gave me a clear sense of the colours that may work and I left with A5 card samples for each colour and a few sample pots. For the kitchen-living area, a space that we felt would take an off-white well, Emma suggested going for something that has a bit of warmth or red or yellow in it. ‘Something like ‘Milk White’ or ‘Spanish White’ should feel elegant but warm in the north-facing light,’ she explained. My idea of a pink for the bedroom wasn’t a bad one it turns out and Emma suggested ‘Jonquil’ or ‘Lilac Pink’ could work well. She suggests that I may want to benefit from the fact they offer shades in different intensities (60%, 40% and 20%), which I’d seen on their website, but didn’t quite understand until I saw them painted out side by side on the walls. Another benefit of going into a showroom.