If you have pale walls and pale flooring in your front room then it’s only natural to be drawn to further decorative options that increase the richness of your interiors. The fact is that richness often comes from using deeper colours and this means shopping around for rugs and other items finished with attractively dark shades.

Dark shades that are particularly good at making interiors richer include deep reds, purples, oranges, browns and greens. Those deeper tones are superb because they raise the style stakes but they also have a positive effect in terms of the warm environment of the room – an especially important consideration as the year draws on and winter approaches.

The danger of going for rugs that are much lighter in tone is that the room may become a little washed out and its brightness may actually become a negative attribute rather than a positive attribute, sapping the life out of it somewhat and preventing you from being able to get truly comfortable in your surroundings. This delicate balance between light and dark is one of the central principles of interior design.