by Carmen Maria Natschke, The Decorating Diva
With a little color theory know-how, a few color swatches and plenty of visual inspiration from Pinterest, Instagram and your favorite design blogs and magazines you have everything you need to decorate with color successfully.
In this post, I will share some basic color principles to get you started on you color-rich home decorating adventure. The focus will be on the following color schemes:
- Monochromatic and Analogous color schemes which are two elementary and easy to implement color palettes.
- Split Complementary color scheme which is a bit more advanced color scheme but with the lessons from this post, you'll be able to create it like a pro.
Monochromatic Color Schemes
Palettes of soft blues ranging in color from dark to light combine to create the serene and peaceful bedroom design pictured below.
Monochromatic Color Recipe: Select a base color and then extend it into a monochromatic scheme by blending it with white (tint) to lighten the hue and black (shade) to darken the color.
Photo: Bedroom designed in a monochromatic palette. Design Resource: Carpet One Floor and Home Resista Carpet
Analogous Color Schemes
A balanced used of the analogous hues: yellow, yellow-green and green, serve as the color foundation for creating this bright, warm and inviting bedroom.
Analogous Color Recipe: This color scheme is composed of three colors that sit adjacent to each other on the Tertiary Color Wheel. The color science behind this is simple - in this case the middle color is yellow-green and is created by mixing the primary color of yellow (Primary Color Wheel element) with the secondary color of green (Secondary Color Wheel element created by mixing primary colors blue and yellow.). You will note that this color scheme also utilizes addition of white and black to create variations of the base colors as in the monochromatic recipe.
Photo: Cheerful and sunny bedroom designed in an analogous palette. Design Resource: Carpet One Floor and Home Resista Carpet
Split Complementary Color Schemes
This beautiful and colorful outdoor space characterized by splashes of dynamic bold color was designed using a complementary color scheme in combination with a palette of earthy neutrals to ensure the overall design remained grounded and evokes a sense of a tropical sanctuary.
Split Complementary Color Recipe: In this contrasting, yet balanced color scheme the color orange is paired with blue and green hues which happen to be the neighboring colors of orange's complement on the color wheel. As in the previous color examples, the Split Complementary color palette seen here includes a monochromatic interpretation (using white and black to extend the color range) of the base colors of orange, blue and green.
Photo: A vibrant complementary color scheme teamed with organic neutrals creates a striking outdoor living space. Design Resource: Carpet One Floor & Home.
About Carmen
Carmen Maria Natschke is a freelance writer, speaker and the founder of the internationally acclaimed blog, The Decorating Diva. Her passion for design has her traveling the globe as a lifestyle and design expert sharing her love of art, architecture, design, and trends.
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