How to work with colour?

As Cliff & De Chabaneix (2008, p.8) state “In the fashion industry …[a] consultant can tell you what colour suits your skin tone, your hair, your personality, and so on”; however, in interiors, which reflect the lifestyle choices, colours are not usually matched based on any of the above, and should be selected even more carefully, as they directly affect people and can evoke a range of emotions and trigger different behaviours.

Designers use a colour wheel to illustrate the colours of the visible spectrum. Using the colour wheel can be particularly helpful when selecting a colour scheme for any space

The RGB colour model is split into two halves, a warm half and a cool half. The warm half runs from red through orange and yellow, until green. The cool half runs from green through red and violet. This colour wheel represents the primary colours, i.e., yellow, blue and red, and secondary colours, i.e., orange, green and violet. The primary colours take their name from the fact that they cannot be produced by mixing other hues. The secondary ones are made by intermixing primary colours. The colors in opposite positions on a colour wheel are said to be complementary colors, because they work well together. For example, red and green are opposite each other on the wheel, so they are complementary colors. Though they remind most people of Christmas, that need not always be the case.

Here, by painting the walls olive green and cabinets bright red, a successful complementary scheme has been achieved.

Orange and blue also are at opposite points. In using them, an instant complementary color scheme can be achieved.

Here, tinted orange has been surrounded by delicate tones of light blue and turquoise.

A colour scheme that combines three colours equally spaced on a colour wheel is called a triad. The simplest triad is red, yellow and blue, formed of the primary colours. An interesting variation of the triad is the split complement. The latter uses one of the primary colours, for example green. Directly opposite green on the wheel is red. But if we veer to the right and to the left of green we get orange and purple. Green, orange and purple are a split complement.

For a successful triad scheme, one colour should be dominant, and two others should be used for accent. The split-complimentary colour scheme offers the same strong contrast as the complementary colour scheme, but has less tension.

Combining different colours is not always necessary to achieve a successful colour scheme. If one decides to use just one colour, and any of its shade, tint or tone, it is important to use different finishes, such as high gloss or matt, and different textures, to ensure a successful, interesting monochromatic scheme. Shade refers to a hue (colour), achieved by mixing a pure colour with black. How dark the hue is depends on the amount of black used. Tint describes a hue which is a result of mixing pure color and white, while tone refers to how light or dark it is after adding grey.

A monochromatic, scheme has been chosen for this bedroom. We can see different shades, tints and tones of blue.

Here more successful examples of monochromatic colour schemes for a mysterious and elegant living room and a child's bedroom.

By using colours that sit next to each other on the colour wheel, a harmonious, known as well as analogous colour scheme can be achieved. By using two hues similar in tonal values, one can prevent one colour from dominating and disturbing the balance in any space.

The picture above shows how well turquoise and purple match and create a comfortable design.

Below, serene, pleasing to the eye schemes using different tints and shades of green and blue, often found in nature, are presented.