Should you choose your paint color or your furniture first? Trust me, there is a right order if you want a cohesive scheme

A country living room with a wood burning stove, two sofas opposite one another and two pink patterned armchairs in the foreground. In the middle of the room is a large yellow upholstered ottoman with a tray on top filled with books and plants. .

When approaching a renovation project, or even just refreshing a room, it can be hard to know where to start and where to end. What is the necessary order of proceedings? From conception to production, imagining, planning, and sourcing, it can become somewhat overwhelming. The biggest, earliest question homeowners find themselves inevitably asking is: What should I choose first, the paint color or the furniture?

Part of the process of creating a scheme includes flicking through magazines, scouring the web, and rummaging through antique markets for furniture ideas that you can envision in your space. It can also be tempting (and fun) to start with room color ideas, and then source the furniture to work with your winning color, but after speaking with several interior designers, the memo is clear: identify the key pieces of furniture for a space, and the paint color that best suits will surely follow.