Learn About Paint Colors

And Let Color Work For You!

Decide how adventurous you want your room color schemes to be. You have several choices. Most color schemes are built around 3-5 colors. Too many colors becomes chaotic and it won’t look pulled-together.

Here are the basic paint color schemes:

Monochromatic color scheme.

A monochromatic home decorating scheme uses one color, but in many shades and different hues. This tends to be more relaxing, calm, harmonious and flows well. This pale aqua bathroom is serene and calming.

Monochromatic Bathroom

Analogous color schemes use colors that are next to each other on the color wheel. This allows you to bring some other colors for a more exciting color scheme, but it is still easy to work with and you can add a third color in small amounts to spice it up.

Analogous Colors

An analogous color combo combines neighboring colors such as: blue, green and aqua. Or gold, green and brown work well together. Another pleasing combo would be: rich red, soft brown and gold. Work with an analogous scheme if you want more color richness and depth but want tried and true combinations in your home decorating.

Complimentary color schemes use colors that are opposite each other on the color wheel. These are bold and exciting combinations but can be tricky to work with. Use one color as your main color and the other for “pops” of accent color. Combining these with neutrals gives your room a pleasing look while still using energetic colors.

Complimentary colors

Complimentary colors in nature

These are examples of complimentary color schemes. As you can see, Nature combines these colors all the time. The purple and yellow are opposites and the green is the base for the whole thing.

Neutral room color schemes make it very easy to change your room colors at a whim! By keeping the paint colors neutral, as well as the flooring, you can easily change the overall look and mood of the room by adding color with furniture, accessories and artwork.

Neutral colors

Neutrals are ranges of white with other colors in them. They contain small amounts of brown or tan; gray and blue; green and yellow; or red. Since they are in small amounts, the overall look is very subtle and muted. Work with neutrals to give you flexibility and change your look more often.