Want to match your wall colour to your outfit? Might be a little bit extreme, not to mention costly when you change clothes, but if you wanted to you could, using the new Dulux MixLab system.

I’m spending way more time in DIY shops since buying a flat and the big Homebase on Croydon’s Purley Way is a big favourite. There I discovered the MixLab, above, which looks a bit like the inside of a space ship. Clutching a fabric swatch from my new sofa (you can see it here!), I handed it to the man in charge of the MixLab controls and he scanned it to get the colour. My lovely silvery grey sofa fabric showed up a murky coffee brown on the screen but he told me not to worry. I was dubious.

He then took the lid off a tin of white paint, placed it in the machine, pressed a button and a few blobs of red and blue paint squirted out into the tin. I was even more dubious. He said it would all be fine.

Then, after putting the lid back in the tin, he put it into another part of the machine, where it rocked violently for about half a minute, then stopped. He took the tin out, opened the lid and …. it was magic, the colour was the exact shade of my sofa! We beamed at each other.

But it turns out that actually I don’t want to paint my walls the exact same shade as my sofa. Apart from potentially camouflaging it in the room, the colour was a little too dark I realised when I saw it. So instead we selected a colour, from the hundreds of colour cards available, that is several lights lighter but still has a nice hint of silver, and he mixed me a tester pot. Once I’ve tried it, I’ll be able to select the colour in one of a range of finishes, with a variety of sheen choices. Brilliant. If only actually painting the room was as easy …

Dulux MixLab units are now being introduced in Homebase stores throughout the UK. For more information or to find your nearest Dulux MixLab, visit www.dulux.co.uk/paintmixing

New home makeover

Week 1 - getting to grips with the garden jungle

Week 2 - er, is this how far we've got ....?

Week 3 – uncovering the Acropolis in the garden

Week 4 - buying a sofa on a budget