2016 home improvement

A FRESH coat of paint is still one of the easiest ways to jazz up a home. But what colours to pick is the perennial dilemma.

Paint companies do their bit by picking out what they think will dominate colour schemes each year. For Dulux Paint, Monarch Gold - that hints at opulence without being over the top - is its pick for colour of the year.

Jeremy Rowe, managing director of AkzoNobel Decorative Paints, South East & South Asia, Middle East - the organisation is also Dulux's parent company - says: "It's a gold-influenced ochre, which is bright enough to attract attention but combines well with other tones."

Gold and gold tones are currently on trend in the design world, he explains. It's all the rage at design fairs an…