There are many starting points for choosing room colors, all equally valid. The easiest way is to take your cue from paint manufacturers, who offer brochures and color chips with specific suggestions on which colors to use together. These color choices needn’t apply only to paint; use them to choose fabrics and accessories as well.

Or, begin with your favorite color, adding large doses of white or off-white, and perhaps using smaller amounts of one or two accent colors. Choose slight variations of the main color for a monochromatic room, or choose accents from the complementary color palette for more excitement.

A good rule of thumb is to use warm colors with warm and cool colors with cool. If you want to modify the color temperature of the room, however, choose from the opposite side of the color wheel.

Another way is to begin with a favorite fabric, rug, or object, drawing your colors from those chosen by design professionals. If the color combination seems overly bold for an entire room, vary the proportions or use paler shades to suit your tastes.

Some combinations are tried and true: one color plus white; blue and yellow; or red, white, and blue. These color schemes never seem to go out of style, even though specific shades may vary in popularity from year to year.

Professional interior designers have a way with color, producing attractive rooms time after time. This is because they employ the principles of color and adhere to some easy-to-follow color tips:

Pull rooms together with a thread of color. If you use a color in one room, then use at least a small amount of the same color in the next room. The entire house will be cohesive if varying proportions of the same color palette are used in all the rooms.

Use neutral shades for permanent features. Save bolder colors for walls or accents that can be repainted or replaced when you tire of them.

Don’t try to match shades exactly. When colors in a room share the same underlying tones, they are often more interesting if they almost, but not quite, match.

Balance the accent colors in a room. Complementary colors, in particular, look best when they are roughly equal in intensity. Use bright with bright, pale with pale, and dark with dark.

Think of contrast as well as color. Choose one predominant color, and select contrasting colors to serve as accents.

Use large doses of light or neutral colors. Let them separate the smaller and more vivid accent colors.

Enhance dark or bright walls by painting the trim white. The reverse holds true for light-colored walls. If woodwork is unimpressive, have it blend in by painting it the same color as the walls.

Group accessories in the same color for more decorative impact. If displayed together, they form a collection and will seem more important than if scattered around the room.

Draw attention to artwork by displaying it against a deep-toned wall. Choosing a color drawn from the painting will enhance the effect.

Keep pastel rooms from seeming overly pale. Throw in a bold dash of a deeper or brighter color to serve as an accent.