Shopfront: Interior trends may change slowly but grey has been popular for a while now so it's quite easy to find "grey" anything - furry bed-throws in slate and dove grey, lined with felt, at Brown Thomas; light grey jersey bed linen at Muji; every wall paint shade of grey at MRCB on Thomas Street; black-grey Casa Milano tub chairs at Minima.

Yet the colour doesn't seem to be everywhere, which makes it all the more attractive. What's the fuss?

Grey has to do with stripping away the superficiality of pattern and combined colours and getting back to principles of purity. This makes it sound serious and sombre, when in fact it is one of the easiest colours to have in your home.

Like blue, grey can be a pacifier, a soothing tone. Grey is a city colour: it's not for those trying to create a country look. However, grey in poor materials can look dry. The touch of grey is as important as the shade. It often works best with black, white and almost any shade of blue.