Note:  I asked my father in law, Joe Martin, to take a whack at explaining one of the most confusing concepts in interior design.  There are lots of explanations, but I have been unable to find many practical applications.  In fact, if you haven't looked at our book excerpts, be sure to check out the ones on "Color and Color Flow".  - True

The Color Wheel Made Simple

by Joe Martin, ASID

Let's face it--  there are only three colors: red, yellow and blue.

We have all experimented with easter eggs or water color paints and seen that:

- Red and yellow make orange,
- Yellow and blue make green,
- Red and blue make purple.

All of a sudden we have six colors.  Some people like to add

-Green and blue to make aqua,
-Yellow and green to make chartruese,

and so on.  If you proceed with this mixing process, you'll end up with an array of 800 to 900 colors, and this, sadly, is what most paint companies display: as a selection of colors, with very little guidance on what colors will do in your actual home.  Things can begin to get real confusing, real fast.  All you really need to know is that many top students coming out of design school go to work for the fabric and wallpaper understand the color wheel real well.  When a fabric has a big pattern with two, three, or even four colors in it, just know that these colors work together in the fabric, or the designer wouldn't have put them together in the first place. 

Different types of color combinations

The only time you really need to understand the color wheel is when you get into a "jam", and need to pull out a second or third color from different materials.  So find a fabric with the main color you like, and the other colors in the pattern are almost guaranteed to work together (even if you don't like the pattern itself-- that's another issue altogether!)

Here's the deal:

Use secondary colors when you want a color to blend with two primaries.

Use tertiary colors when you need a color to go with a primary and a secondary.

Use a complementary color when you need a contrasting color.  Finally, we have split complementary colors.

Use a split complementary when you need two colors to balance out a primary or secondary color.  Whatever combination you end up with, you will end up with a version of each of the primary colors.

Now, I'll bet you're asking, "so what? What do I do now?"  Exactly.

Why this is important

Decorators and designers have their own pet color theories.  These questions help us select the colors that get the effect the client wants.

Where is the sun when you use the room the most?

Taking into account your room's exposure to sunlight is the least expensive way to design.  The color you select can make a huge impact on your neet to control the sunlight or add artificial light to a room. 

Is your color cool or warm?

First, you need to know the percentage of primary colors in your color.  The percentage of blue/yellow/red will tell you if your color is warm or cool.  Colors that are mostly yellow or red are warm, colors that are mostly blue are cool.  Coolness (or coldness) and warmth are the two most important properties you'll need to know about.

Cool colors recede and make a room look bigger.  Warm colors advance and make a room look smaller.

What intensity of color do you like?

Try to keep your colors in the same intensity and value.  By that I mean about the same amount of pigment and the same amount of black or white in it.  By varying the mix of color, black and white, you end up with three main variations of a color: pastels, mid-tones, and "jewel-tones".  For example, a "sapphire blue" and richer than a pastel blue.  Know which of the three main variations you're comfortable with before you start selecting different colors.  Think of it as "watering down" a color with white, or "bumping it up" with pigment, or "dulling it down" with black.  A practical example would be a calibrated paint chart, with different shades of the same color on the same page of the color deck.

What colors go with my main color?

Let's make this real simple: if you use the charts above as your guide, you can't go wrong.  Still confused?  Let's talk about an entirely different way to answer this question, by using what I call collective colors.

Collective colors

Collective colors are the backdrop of nature: earth, grass, and sky.  Anywhere in the world you live, you will see a version of blue, green and brown in your environment.  We're completely used to seeing these colors together.  Don't believe me?  Ever seen flowers in a garden clash?  Why?  Because nature's canvas always contains blue, green and brown.  They can't clash with each other, and work with every other color on the planet.  However, the shade or value of a blue, green, or brown is entirely up to personal taste.  That's where the intensity of your colors will come into play.  If you don't like a lot of drama in your design, remember to keep your colors in about the same intensity (pastel, mid-tone, jewel tone).

Collective colors are as close to "goof proof" design as you can get.  If you can understand the idea of collective colors, along with the coolness or warmth of a color, you're well on your way to picking the perfect colors for your home decorating project!

For an easy way to understand the color wheel, primary colors, collective colors, warm and cool colors, take a look at the excerpts from our book, "Decorating from the Inside, Out!"  (click here)

I'll be putting in the most commonly asked home decorating questions and handiest tips from the top!