You’re embarking on a new adventure and want to use your creativity to decorate your home with color. Whether your home is a house, apartment, duplex, mobile home, or even just a single room, color will add beauty to any space. It’s a known fact that certain colors stimulate the human brain more than others. Color is one of the major elements in interior design and can make a significant visual impact in a room. Keep in mind that light colors reflect light, making a room appear larger, while dark colors make a room seem smaller but cozier. The choice is yours.
If you’re unsure where to begin, I suggest purchasing a color wheel from your local craft or home improvement store. Investing in this small tool will be well worth its weight in gold and could save you tons of money in the long run by helping you choose harmonious colors—colors that look good together. A color wheel will make selecting the right combinations for your walls, accents, furniture, and accessories much easier. If you’re in an area without a craft or home improvement store, you can purchase a color wheel online at a reasonable price.
Interior designers have found that using a light color for the background of your room (such as wall paint), a medium color for major pieces of furniture, windows, doors, and closets, and a dark color for the room’s accessories works well. Lighter colors tend to recede into the background, while darker colors attract attention and seem to occupy more space. If space is an issue, using furnishings in the same color as your walls, with colorful accessories, works well. However, all that being said, this is your special area, and you can decorate it as uniquely as you like. Try to stick to the theory of the color wheel for beautiful results.
Understanding the Color Wheel
Perhaps you’re not familiar with the color wheel. It’s fairly easy to understand. The color wheel is a circular diagram that shows how colors are related to each other. To understand how to use the color wheel, you must first learn a few important color terms.
Five Color Terms Defined
a. **Hue** – Sounds important, but it’s just another word for color. b. **Tint** – Describes a color with white added to it. c. **Tone** – A color with grey (a combination of white and black) added to it. d. **Shade** – A color with black added to it. e. **Value** – Describes the lightness or darkness of any color.
Pretty simple, right?
How the Color Wheel Works
On the color wheel, there are three primary colors: red, blue, and yellow. Next, we have three secondary colors: purple, orange, and green. We get these secondary colors by mixing the primary colors: red and blue make purple, yellow and red make orange, and blue and yellow make green. There’s a step further on the wheel where a primary color mixes with a secondary color to create a tertiary color. This results in colors like red-orange, yellow-green, and blue-purple (or violet). When mixed with pure white or pure black, these colors produce numerous tints and shades. Sounds a lot like a rainbow, right?
The Four Basic Color Schemes
Color schemes help determine the harmony between colors, which is especially important in home décor. When you’re ready to begin decorating, decide which room you want to focus on and choose the color scheme you want to use. A color scheme is simply a combination of colors that harmonize well to give the room a complete, cohesive look. You can choose from the following four color schemes. The most popular ones in interior design are either the monochromatic or complementary schemes.
1. Monochromatic Color Scheme
A monochromatic scheme means using one color in your room, but in various tints, tones, and shades of that color.
2. Complementary Color Scheme
A complementary scheme involves using two colors that are opposite each other on the color wheel. Again, you can add varying tints, tones, and shades of these two colors.
3. Analogous Color Scheme
An analogous scheme means using three colors that are next to each other on the color wheel.
4. Triadic Color Scheme
A triadic scheme uses three colors that are equally spaced on the color wheel.
Once you’ve chosen your color scheme, visit your home improvement store and pick up cardboard samples of the colors you plan to use. Keep these samples with you, as you never know when the perfect item for your room will pop up. Professional interior designers like to plan the room on paper by assembling a sample board containing the fabrics, colors, and textures they plan to use. Seeing it on paper can be much easier than picturing it in your mind.
Once your decorating project is complete, you’ll understand why the color wheel was so vital to the process. Your hard work and diligence will result in a space that’s uniquely yours, showcasing your colorful personality. Welcome to the world of color and beauty!
