When choosing colours and schemes for your rooms, it is well worth first ascertaining which direction your room faces as the light can make a huge difference on how those colours will actually look once on the walls. Using paint with high pigments of colour does help keep the colour more consistent, but it will still be affected by the light direction. One tip is to paint large boards (A4 or even A3) with the colours you want to use and move them around the room at different times of the day to see how they react to changing light. As well as doing that, here is our guide for the best approach for each room direction to make the most of your light. 

North-facing rooms are quite difficult to decorate if you want a light, bright room. These rooms are never flooded with direct, warm, natural light and are colder in feel, even if they have large windows. It would be our advice to either choose slightly warmer tones to counteract the colder feel, or just embrace the fact that these rooms will always be darker and choose colours that celebrate this, as shown below; these spaces make perfect snugs and TV rooms.

 Image from Historika Hem

South-facing rooms - these are probably the easiest rooms to decorate as they are flooded with warm light all day long. Go light, go dark, or somewhere in between and you won't be disappointed, as the rooms below show. The only watchout is that because the light is warm, be careful of choosing warm whites which may end up looking cream.

Image via Pinterest

West-facing rooms change dramatically during the day - cooler in the morning, and warmer and brighter in the afternoon. So it depends on what time of day you will be in that room. For a living room where you'll be in the afternoon and evening, choose light colours that will bounce the light around. But for a breakfast room, for example, we would advise using a mid-grey as it won't be bright in the morning and so would be better to create a cosy feel. 

Image via Pinterest

East-facing rooms are the same as west facing but in reverse, although the light from the sunrise will be weaker and cooler than the afternoon light in a west facing room. Warm colours tend to look a bit dead in east facing rooms (like north facing rooms) so choose tones in neutral or cooler shades.

Image from Homes & Gardens