Hi Julia. Apologies for the delay in getting back to you. With a South East facing room and your great neutral grey sofa, you could definitely use all the pastels you love and mix them all together. With the sofa as the base, you could either go for a soft grey on the wall and put all the pastels in lamps, rugs, cushions, chairs, prints... or you could go for a pastel pink or pastel blue on the wall. The colour trends for 2016 are apparently Pantone colour - Rose quartz and Serenity, so you are bang on trend. I would personally steer clear of pastel green on the wall. I would paint the whole room in the colour, not an accent wall as this will make the room feel larger. I would also use a soft white rather than a brilliant white (I dont think brilliant white should be avoided at all times;-) I have used Little Greene - Slaked Lime Mid 149 on a number of projects and as a very soft grey, it would potentially sit well with the sofa and then you can add every pastel colour in cushions, throws, chairs, lamps, accessories etc. Dulux has similar tones as does Farrow and Ball. You can always colour match colours too. See below

Alternatively, the room would look fabulous painted in a pastel pink or blue that is very on trend at the moment and would look great with the grey sofa. You may want to take a look at Farrow and Ball - Pink Ground or Little Greene have a fantastic selection of pastel blues that would look great. Once again, you would just add the other pastel colours you love in accents in the room and layer up the colours. For reference, as you do not have particularly high ceilings, I would be inclined to paint the skirting boards in the same colours as the walls to give the illusion of height. I would potentially suggest paintin the window woodwork, door and architrave in the room in the same colour too with a complimentary soft white for the ceiling i.e. Farrow and Ball - Pointing etc. If you choose not to paint all four walls, paint two walls. The window wall and wall facing as you enter the room, rather than one accent wall.

With regard to layering the colours in the room. I would suggest using metals i.e. bronze (I love this with pink and grey) silver, gold, chrome, copper etc. to give a more contemporary look. Black, white and shades of grey also look good with pastels.

If you are looking for a more country or scandinavian feel, textures are great to layer on the sofa and for rugs, pouffs , wood etc.

If you would like to create a more traditional look, florals and patterned accessories, i.e. cushions and rugs are great layered together. Aim not to match anything, to give a more relaxed feel. I have attached a couple of images below just to give an idea of the mix of colours.

With pastels being so popular at the moment, there is something at every price point and lots in between. If you let me an idea the style you like and an idea and price point, low, mid range or high, I will suggest products, sites and inspiratio that may be of use. There may also be some bargains in the sales at the moment.

Thanks. Susan