The Color Wheel

The Color Wheel Decoded

from Simply Stated By RealSimple.com by Nykia Spradley

So based on the great comments left on my last post, I was able to get a better understanding of what some of your biggest design dilemmas are. Choosing colors (whether it's for paint, fabrics, or accessories), seems to be at the top of the list, so I thought I'd do a little primer on how to use a color wheel.
There is nothing worse than tirelessly painting a room only to have an "eh, it's okay" reaction when completed. Or to use an accent color that only brings out the worst in a wall color. I never even thought to use a color wheel until Wendyloohoo commented and suggested it. Where have I been??!! It makes so much sense to use a tool that was created for the purposes of showing what colors should be paired together.
So rather than standing in front of a muddle of color chips at the Home Depot until your eyes glaze over, try these simple tips that I found on the Behr Paint website. They may seem basic, but for those color virgins out there, it can really clear things up and and take the dread out of making annoying color mistakes.

Will you try using a color wheel for your next painting project?

The Color Wheel Rules

Rule One: Family is Always Welcome. Most colors look great with shades from the same family as themselves--reds go with other reds, greens with greens. These are the popular monochromatic schemes, all drawn from a single color.

Rule Two: Next Door Neighbors are Friends. You can also use colors from next door on the color wheel--in the case of red, that's orange and violet. These are called analogous schemes.

Rule Three: Opposites Attract. Every color has a natural complement on the opposite side of the color wheel--that's why red and green look so good together. These are complementary color schemes. Warm colors have cool complements while cool colors have warm complements.

(rules taken from www.behr.com)

(image courtesy of realcolorwheel.com)