Tip 1 Do your homework! "Inspiration can be found in many ways. Create your very own 'lookbook' of ideas, furniture, tearsheets, fabric swatches and of course, colours. This will help build and consolidate your ideas and give you colour confidence. Test the colour on large areas of walls, or paint a swatch on a big sheet of cardboard that can be moved around. Understand the colour intensity will change subject to the amount of natural light a room receives. The colour will also change throughout the course of the day with different levels of light."

Tip 2 How do you want the room to feel? How does the room need to function? "Color can manipulate the sense of space," Jacinta continues. "It can make large rooms cosy and inviting, and small rooms appear light and airy. Colour will affect your mood and the creative opportunities are limitless. So really examine how the room or space needs to function and this will help inform your colour selections."

Tip 3 Be brave "Painted colour is easily the most cost-effective way to experiment. Have fun be bold. Colour has the capacity to completely change our environment and how we respond to the people and possessions in it. The use of colour enables us to revive, recycle and renew our homes."

Colour and charm
This charming home shows how successfully colour combinations, and patterns, can work. Melanie Parker, interior designer and partner in homewares brand and online magazine Ivyandpiper.com.au, loves combining pattern and colour and also mixing styles: vintage furniture and artwork with chinoiserie and industrial elements. Here Melanie relaxes in a vintage chair that was custom-painted by Black & Spiro, with her golden retriever Nellie, who's all smiles! Melanie chose the black and white striped fabric for the outdoor sofa and added bright pops of colour through accessories to link back to the colour palette inside her cottage.

Bright and bold
Melanie has embraced colour in her bedroom, too. The cushions and blanket on the bed reflect the vibrant colours in the striking abstract above - an untitiled acrylic on canvas by New Zealand artist Russell R Kereama. It creates a bold "bedhead".

Pretty palette
Melanie's home office doubles as a display area for her latest range of soft furnishings from homewares label Ivy & Piper, which she founded with designer and good friend Elizabeth Raptis. Cushions and lampshades with their pretty patterns and soft pastel shades give the work space a touch of girly glamour. All interior designers need an inspiration board. Melanie's is an everchanging mix of fabric swatches, pretty ribbons, magazine tearsheets and wallpaper samples - inspiration for Ivy & Piper.

Look in the Christmas 2010 issue of real living for lots more colourful ideas!