Put bluntly, your bathroom can carry more blue than it thinks. This retro swim scene — deep blue waves, a pale sky, a yellow sun and a tiny figure in red bathers — gives a small room something to look at without shouting.

Up on the wall, the room reads cooler and calmer, with one warm dot of red and yellow stopping it feeling clinical. The waves break the eye gently, which suits rooms where you want quiet rather than drama.

It hangs well above a towel rail, beside a roll-top bath, or in a coastal hallway between coat hooks. Portrait shape, so it likes a narrow wall.

Pair it with pale oak, white tongue-and-groove, linen, rattan and warm brass. A single ceramic vase nearby is plenty.

What not to do: don't crowd it with other beach scenes, shells or rope-framed mirrors — the seaside cliché will swallow it. Stretched over a wooden frame and ready to hang straight out of the box.