Did you know that the colour orange is named after the appearance of the ripe orange fruit? Before this word was introduced to the English-speaking world, the colour orange was referred to as 'Geoluhread' meaning yellowish red. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, it was not until 1512 that the word orange was used by someone in his will to describe that ruddy shade between red and yellow. He supposedly spelled it 'orenge.'

You may have seen a lot of information crammed onto food packaging these days such as nutritional data and ingredients. Here's a fun fact about the colour dots on aluminium soda cans. These mysterious, multi-coloured rows of circles or squares serve an important purpose for the printers. The colour dots found on aluminium soda cans close to the nutrition information consist of all of the colours used in the can design. If a can makes it through production and its red dot, for instance, is faded or absent, then the factory will be able to trace the problem to the single machine applying the specific colour, in this case the red colour, without shutting down all of the machines!

Were you aware that horses have the largest eyes of any land mammal? They have excellent day and night vision, but they have two-colour, or dichromatic vision. Their colour vision is somewhat similar to red-green colour blindness in humans, where some colours, especially red and related colours, appear as shades of green. Fascinating, isn't it?

Did you know the 'same' colour of paint can sometimes vary between cans? The difference can be obvious if you pop open a new gallon halfway through a wall. To make sure that the colour consistency remains the same from start to finish, you need to make sure that the cans of paint are mixed well in a 5 gallon bucket. This process is called 'boxing'. Once everything is stirred well, the paint can be poured back into the original containers and used.

Colour blocking and vertical stripes are the oldest tricks when it comes to streamlining silhouettes. You can try something unique for your walls such as horizontal stripes. Pick one or two walls to stripe to create an optical illusion, making them look elongated. In addition to that, contrasting colours will create the illusion of depth. Just remember to measure and tape carefully.

It is necessary that you paint a white background on your painted or raw plaster wall when painting colour samples to figure out the true colour. It is highly recommended that a primer or an undercoat be used depending on whether it is a new or painted wall. Make sure to allow the colour to settle for at least 2 to 3 days and see the colours at different times during the day.