This month, Home truths gets to grips with a spot of decorating

As well as how to hang wallpaper successfully, how to choose which brush and which finish, murals, and whether eco paint is worth using, we pick our favourite wallpapers. Turn to page 118 for more, or read on for a look at the poetry of paint names.

For most of us, description of colours stretches from ‘bluish’ and ‘a bit pink’ to ‘sort of off-white’, but to the paint-namers, these are translated to Alpine Frost (Graham & Brown); Wendy House (EarthBorn) and Clunch (Farrow & Ball).

While some of these are spot-on, helpful and often poetic, others are, frankly, baffling.

Try these:
Mizzle – a dullish green (farrow-ball.com);
Tracery – beige and Trumpet – yellow (littlegreene.com);
Smidgen – pale blue and Marbles – pinkish white (earthbornpaints.co.uk);
Wild Swim – murky brown and Buffel Tuft – cream (both paintbyconran.com).