Decorate with watercolour brights this summer

Start with a white backdrop, add a bold, painterly print and pops of co-ordinating colour- then stand back and admire your work of art

Contemporary all-white kitchen-diners can look flat and sterile, so bring life and energy to a space with bright pattern and use colours from it as spot colour for furniture and lighting

IDEA: Start with a wallpaper panerl- this is Amrapali, £194 fro 3mx1.8m, Designers Guild range, Wallpaperdirect

THE ESSENTIALS

1. White surfaces. Start with a stark pure-white backdrop on walls, flooring and most furniture

2. Look-at-me pattern. Choose modern florals, stripes, watercolour abstracts and sharp geometric prints for wallpaper, fabrics and artwork.. Avoid a palette of primary colours, unless you want your room to look like the set of a children's TV show.

3. Contemporary furniture. Go for ultramodern designs with a futuristic feel in white gloss, glass and metal.

4. Colour-pop pieces. Work in furniture and accessories in several blod colours and your main pattern.

5. Modern details. Look for colourful glassware and white china in minimalist designs, contemporary lighting and short-pile statement rugs

Get the look with a pinboard made using a painterly fabric, a strip of paint-effect wallpaper and a statement rug, repeating the colours on accessories

Use framed prints (or sections of wallpaper or fabric) to kick-start a blod living-room scheme. Mix modern florals and geometrics, all in a matching palette of white and brights

IDEA: Start with artwork: these prints, £65 each, Bluebellgray, stand out in simple frames on a white wall

Give your white bedroom a fresh face-lift with painterly design bed linen and super-bright upholstery and accessories in colours take from it

IDEA: Start with colourful bed linen: this crisp white-and-brights double duvet cover is £90 from Bluebellgray

Keep the majority of your scheme white, so the pops of bright colour have impact without feeling overwhelming

Use a bright paper to zone a dining area in an open-plan kitchen/living space