Understanding the Rules of Color: Putting Color Basics to Work in Decorating
Heather M. Marlman
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Painting and decorating your home can be a challenge, and one of the major hurdles you will have to overcome is choosing the colors you want to use. Instead of running for cover at the mention 
of the color wheel, keep in mind that the choosing a color scheme is really nothing more than selecting a single color, and then choosing additional colors based on their relative placement on the color wheel.
Everyone remembers learning about the color wheel when we were children. But, when it comes to building a color scheme for your home or office, it's time to put the color wheel to work to come up with color combinations that will not only work well together, but also provide the effect that you're looking for.
By allowing yourself the freedom to be creative with your color options, a huge array of possibilities can open up with your creative efforts in choosing a color scheme for your home.
The first thing you need to do is to brush up on the location of colors on the color wheel. Many paint stores have color wheels available for you to look at when selecting the colors that you would like to use.
Locate the main color you would like to use in your color scheme on the color wheel and start from there.
Analogous colors are two colors that are adjacent to each other on the color wheel with one color being more dominate than the other. For example: blue and purple.
Triadic colors are three colors which are equidistant from each other on the color wheel. An example of triadic colors would be red, yellow and blue.
Monochromatic colors are shades or tints of a single color.
Complementary colors are two colors with are directly opposite from one another on the color wheel. An example of complementary colors would be red and green.
Another option is to use analogous colors with complementary accents. In order to do this, select two adjacent colors on the color wheel and then accent with the color that appears directly opposite either of the first two. Using this option can be really beneficial when trying to come up with the perfect accent color for throw pillows or rugs in your newly decorated room.
Everyone remembers learning about the color wheel when we were children. But, when it comes to building a color scheme for your home or office, it's time to put the color wheel to work to come up with color combinations that will not only work well together, but also provide the effect that you're looking for.
By allowing yourself the freedom to be creative with your color options, a huge array of possibilities can open up with your creative efforts in choosing a color scheme for your home.
The first thing you need to do is to brush up on the location of colors on the color wheel. Many paint stores have color wheels available for you to look at when selecting the colors that you would like to use.
Locate the main color you would like to use in your color scheme on the color wheel and start from there.
Analogous colors are two colors that are adjacent to each other on the color wheel with one color being more dominate than the other. For example: blue and purple.
Triadic colors are three colors which are equidistant from each other on the color wheel. An example of triadic colors would be red, yellow and blue.
Monochromatic colors are shades or tints of a single color.
Complementary colors are two colors with are directly opposite from one another on the color wheel. An example of complementary colors would be red and green.
Another option is to use analogous colors with complementary accents. In order to do this, select two adjacent colors on the color wheel and then accent with the color that appears directly opposite either of the first two. Using this option can be really beneficial when trying to come up with the perfect accent color for throw pillows or rugs in your newly decorated room.