Understanding the Color Wheel

Okay, you’ve just moved into your brand new home, and the builder-white walls and neutral floors are staring you in the face.  Room after room of white and beige…your home is one big, blank slate just begging for some vibrancy, personality and contrast.  It’s screaming…give me COLOR!

But you’re afraid…sorely afraid.  In fact, you’re utterly paralyzed.  What if you make a mistake selecting color?  What if you (or your spouse) hate the new color scheme?  What if the colors just don’t blend, harmonize and flow well from room to room?

Don’t worry.  You’re not alone.  Of all the design issues that perplex my clients, fear of color is by far the most common.  How do you overcome color anxiety?  The best way is to start with color theory and go back to the basics of the good old color wheel.  In interior design, colors do not work in isolation.  Whether you’re selecting a color scheme for one room - or an entire home -it is critical to understand how colors work together and play off of one another.  Let’s start at the beginning.  Once we review the color basics, we’ll apply color theory and some simple guidelines to help with selecting a color scheme for your new home.   

The Color Wheel and Color Theory

“Part science, part art, the color wheel is our tool for understanding which colors go with what.”  Before & After magazine

Remember studying the color spectrum in elementary science class?  White light contains a spectrum of all visible colors (as in a rainbow).  And the color wheel is just the color spectrum in circular form. 

The color wheel offers the easiest way to visualize how hues relate to one another other.

The color wheel has 12 basic hues – the three primary colors: blue, yellow and red which are positioned around the wheel in thirds.  These colors are pure; they can’t be created from other colors, and all other colors are derived from them. 

The secondary colors: green, orange and purple, located half-way between the primary colors on the wheel, are formed by combining equal parts of two primary colors. 

The tertiary colors, which fill in the remaining gaps, are formed by mixing a primary color with one of the secondary colors next to it. With each blending - primary with primary, then primary with secondary - the mixed hues become less vivid.  For example, red plus orange (which is red mixed with yellow) makes an orange-red color; blue plus green (which is blue mixed with yellow) makes a green-blue. Color relationships built on these color groups form the basis of color theory in design.

Colors in Common

As you move around the color wheel, every color is part of the color found next to it.  Blue is the common hue to the three colors on either side of the primary, with green and violet as the secondary colors that contain blue.  Yellow is common to the three colors to either side of it on the wheel, with green and orange as the secondary colors that contain yellow.  Red is common to the three colors to either side of the primary color, with orange and violet being the secondary colors that contain red.  These commonalities in color are the basis for color relationships.  

Color Relationships

From the four most basic color relationships, we can create an endless number of color palettes:

Monochromatic – the light, medium and dark values of a single hue make up a monochromatic color scheme.  Think dark blue, medium blue and light blue.  This palette achieves contrast, but no color depth.   

Analogous – An analogous color scheme is made up of colors that are adjacent on the color wheel like blue and violet, red and orange or yellow and green.  Because analogous colors share strong undertones, when used together they create a rich, harmonious scheme with low contrast. 

Complementary – Colors that are directly opposite each other on the color wheel are complementary to one another (blue is the complement of orange, yellow is the complement of purple, and red is the complement of green).  A complementary color scheme has strong contrast which conveys excitement and high-energy.  Most often in decor, the complement is used in smaller amounts as an accent.

Split Complementary – Instead of the color directly opposite on the color wheel, look one step to its right and left (to its analogous colors), and you have a split complement color scheme.  This palette gives you the low-contrast, soothing blend of analogous colors with an added punch of the opposite color for accent.

Color Values

The value of a color refers to its darkness or lightness.  A shade is the color hue + black; a tint is the color hue + white.  The complete color wheel is made up of five concentric rings from light at its center to dark at its outer edge.  Tints are the two smaller inner rings, the hues are the middle ring and the shades are the two large outer rings.  The five steps on the color wheel from the inner ring to the outer ring represent a continuous gradient of color from white to black.

Color Intensity

Another aspect of any color is its intensity or saturation. The pure hue represents the most saturated and intense expression of a color.  Mixing in the hue’s complement will gray down or muddy the hue resulting in a more muted, less intense, softer color.  Logically, colors that are lower in intensity generally create a calmer, more serene and restful mood in a room.  Saturated colors are higher in intensity, so they generate a more energetic and dynamic feel in a space.

Creating Color Palettes

While the basic color wheel above shows the pure hues of colors, in decorating, often we select tints (lighter values) and shades (darker values) of a color. For example, instead of selecting the intense hue of pure blue as the basis for your bedroom color palette, you might select a tint of the tertiary color of blue-green (lightened with white) for the walls and the color navy blue (a shade of blue darkened with black) for the bedding or accent pillows.

The key to building any successful color scheme is balance. Colors strong in value and intensity call for equally strong color partners.  For example, navy blue walls demand an equally intense yellow or red to create a well-balanced scheme.  Remember when selecting colors for a scheme to keep color intensities equal or nearly equal.  Pairing colors of different intensities often creates a sense of imbalance in a room.

By varying the amount of the various colors used within a color palette, you can make a room feel warmer or cooler, stronger or softer, calmer or more lively.  Using both tints and shades in a color scheme will give a room contrast and add interest and depth.

How do you decide which range of colors to use in your new color palette?  And once you select some colors you like that work well together, how do you know which colors to use for the walls, floors, furnishings and accents?  Those questions just happen to be the topics for my next two posts on working with color, Finding Color Inspiration and Tips for Choosing and Using Color.

[tag]color,color scheme, color palette, color theory, decor, decorating[/tag]

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