How to Create an Interior Colour Scheme
Whether you’re moving somewhere new, renovating your home, or just updating a single room, choosing a new colour scheme can be a lot of fun, but it can also be daunting.
Here, we’ll look at the rules that govern colour schemes, the practical ways you can apply those rules, and some fun experiments that will help you uncover your own tastes when it comes to colour.
Create the Colour Scheme that’s Right for You
Start by assessing what’s already there. Think about the flooring, the benchtops in kitchens and bathrooms, soft furnishings, etc. Will you be keeping existing furniture and blinds, or are you creating this colour scheme with the idea of starting from scratch?
Flooring typically makes up around 30% of a room’s colour scheme, so don’t forget to look closely at the carpet, timber, or tiles.
Make sure you plan around anything that is staying, or that will need to be added to the space later. Think outside the box (and outside the windows). Is there a window facing a fence or exterior wall? If seen clearly through a window, these outside colours will effectively become part of the inside scheme. Keep looking until you’re sure you have taken it all into account.
Now comes the fun part. Look for inspiration in things you find beautiful and interesting. You could build the colour scheme for a room around an artwork, fabric, or rug that you want to use in the space. Or you could search for photographs with pleasing colour palettes, then break down the different hues and proportions that make the image so appealing. Everyone sees and responds to colour differently, so while there are rules of colour that you can follow, this step will always be deeply personal.
Think about the mood you want to create in the room or throughout your home. You can use colour psychology to create a space that feels vibrant and energising, calm and relaxed, or something that is more neutral to allow for different moods.
You can use images to help you find colour combinations (and even textures) to use in your home. Mood board by ISCD student Karen Muller.
Get to Know the Colour Wheel
When creating colour combinations that are compatible and harmonious, we often refer to the colour wheel because of the way it describes and helps us to visualise colour relationships.
We use the colour wheel to describe colour schemes by taking two or more colours and thinking about their fixed relationship on the colour wheel.
Colours that sit opposite each other on the colour wheel are described as contrasting, while a family of colours sitting side by side on the colour wheel are related.
Monochromatic Colour Schemes
A monochromatic colour scheme is created using a single base colour. From this one basic colour you select various values, so that these tints, tones, and shades provide depth and balance.
By reading inwards and outwards on the colour wheel, not side by side, you can achieve a pleasing monochromatic scheme. This is essentially a slice, or segment, of the colour wheel, but if that’s feeling a little bland, then don’t be afraid to introduce a neutral (black, white, grey or an off-white) and a contrasting colour for accents.
Analogous Colour Schemes
Analogous colour schemes are often found in nature, and as such, they create a sense of serenity and are considered to be very pleasing to the human eye.
They are also easy to match, as this style of related colour scheme takes three to four adjacent hues, such as a combination using yellow, yellow/green, green, and blue/green.
The colours can be broken up with the addition of some neutrals, and opting for a single dominant colour can help to create balance.
Complementary Colour Schemes
Complementary colour schemes are a dynamic type of contrasting colour scheme where the two hues are found directly opposite each other on the colour wheel. Think red and green, blue and orange, yellow and purple.
Because the colours are taken from opposite sides of the wheel, complementary schemes provide a natural balance of warm and cool hues. By choosing one colour to predominate, you will further balance the scheme and avoid a look that is too overwhelming.
You can also play around with different tints, tones, and values of the colour to soften the look. Try turquoise and terracotta, rose and sage green, dark olive with crimson, pale green and soft pink, or primrose and lavender.
Triadic Colour Schemes
Triadic colour schemes bring any three equidistant (equally spaced) hues on the colour wheel together for a truly dynamic look.
The most typical triad colours are red, yellow, and blue, although you don’t have to use these hues at their full primary colour depth.
Using a triadic colour scheme, ISCD student Alexandra Cullingford has created a playful concept board for a child’s bedroom.
Tetradic/Square Colour Schemes
For the brave, a tetradic (or square) colour scheme provides a true challenge in colour balancing.
This scheme takes four equidistant hues on the colour wheel, comprising any two pairs of complementary colours.
How to Find the Right Colour Scheme
There are lots of fun tools to use online, and this can be a great way to start discovering the different colour schemes that you love. Just remember that most of these programs will be optimised to show colours digitally, so it’s important to always have a look at your chosen schemes off the screen as well.
To avoid a paint job that you regret, grab some paint chips or sample pots of your chosen colours, and try them out in situ.
Don’t forget to look at these samples in different lights at different times of day. In proportion (and in relationship) to each other and to any other significant features of the room.
Have fun scheming!
Colour Resources
Coolors – Upload an image and use it to create a colour scheme.
Adobe Colour – Create different colour schemes and see their relationship on the colour wheel.
Style Sourcebook – Mix and match paints and products to create a mood board.
Further Reading
I Want to Paint My Walls in Colour… But I’m Scared
Help! I Loved the Paint Sample in the Store but Now It’s on My Walls and I Hate It!
4 Tips When Creating a Mood Board