After the warm afternoon light shifts, the living room suddenly has a pulse. The balloon cluster acts like a bunch of fresh flowers that never wilts pink, red, orange and yellow washes floating on an off-white ground, with thin red strings trailing down to a quiet corner of the picture. Hang it on a plain wall above a sofa, a sideboard or in a bright hallway where you pass it often. Keep the surroundings simple: cream or white walls, pale linen, light woods, a few white ceramics. Avoid competing patterns nearby bold wallpaper, busy cushions or a second colourful piece will flatten the effect. As a canvas the brushy washes read as paint on a wall, with no glazing between you and the colour.