I have a purple wall in my small sitting room, the rest are cream, as are the curtains. The colour is a feature wall paint from Crown and a beautiful quality paint - I always find its much better quality than Dulux myself. My husband was not sure at first, but when we moved in it was so bland. The mismatch of gold picture frames/large mirror I had packed away from the late eighties/nineties came out again and really work on this wall! When we move to our new house, I plan to have at least one aubergine wall, as the fabric I've selected has some of that shade in it (I bought a 40 metre roll of overstock designer fabric on ebay at a fantastic price). At the moment I'm thinking aubergine in the hall perhaps as the floor is grey slate and the trim is all natural waxed pine, but we'll see if I'm that brave.

In the right setting, a one-off feature item in a gold colour, such as a marble fireplace looks stunning! Or for a more subtle look, why not have a bespoke made table top or vanity top in a pale marble with gold coloured veining such as the Calacatta Oro? Let us know what you think! Helen

I adore red, it's my favourite colour by far and is all over my wardrobe. I even have red glasses, it's kind of a signature thing of mine. When my partner and I recently bought our first flat we had to redecorate it all very quickly and went with quite neutral shades throughout: oak wood, white, black and grey. We then added touches of red in kitchen accessories, curtains, cushions and finally red carpet in the corridor, staircase and landing to tie it altogether. The only rooms which have no red are our 2 bathrooms as I like them better crisp and neutral.

After all this information about houzzers' various likes and dislikes, can I do a bit of summing up? Different people like different foods and drinks and are fully entitled to make their choices. Human beings have evolved as omnivores to eat both animal and vegetable foods. Everyone needs a balanced diet and this can include both kinds of food or, generally with a bit of planning, vegetable only. Too much of any one food is not advisable even if it is something "good for you" like spinach. [The person who noted that spinach contains oxalic acid, which is an alkaloid, is quite correct but you would need to be eating Popeye quantities of it for it to do you harm. All green vegetables contain various alkaloids and lettuce contains an opiate - remember Beatrix Potter's Flopsy Bunnies falling asleep after eating a surfeit of Mr McGregor's lettuces.]. Some people are allergic to or intolerant of certain foods, lactose (which generally means cows milk lactose but all animal milk , goat and sheep as well as cow, has lactose), gluten and peanuts are the best known. You can become intolerant of things you like [I have a friend who is lactose and gluten intolerant and dreams of cream cake!]. Whole milk has on average 225 calories per pint, semi-skimmed about half that. A sedentary adult woman has a daily calorie requirement of 1800 to 2000 calories depending on height. If you drink half a pint of milk a day in tea, coffee on cereal etc. you are not saving many calories by using semi-skimmed, especially if you find yourself putting more of it into the coffee. Sugar about 20 calories per teaspoonful (5 grams). There are no brownie points in heaven for consuming processed milk substitutes or similar stuff but their manufacturers might give you points to collect to buy more of it. Remember that their main interest is selling you goods with the greatest value added factor. [You can make your own soy milk from the beans if that is what you like. Internet search will produce several recipes.] If you are interested in what I eat and do not eat: I am mostly vegetarian by taste rather than conviction and I almost always prepare food from fresh raw ingredients. The less it has been processed before it gets to me the better. There are things I do not buy because I do not especially like them and there are plenty of alternatives around which I do like. I have a very short list of foods I will refuse if presented with them by a host. Principal among these are factory reared chicken (because of the cruelty of its production and the antibiotics used) and sweet potatoes (because they invariably make me vomit within 5 minutes of swallowing them). I am a fanatic on not wasting food or putting anything biodegradable into refuse that will go into landfill.