What Sunbrella Fabric Will Go Best With a Gray House?

Complementary Colors

• Using a color wheel can help you choose colors that go well with one another, and there are three basic ways to do this. The first is to use complementary colors. These colors are opposites on the color wheel and therefore play off one another very well. Blue and orange or yellow and purple are two examples of complementary color sets which go well together. Gray is most often in the blue range, but it can have other undertones depending on the shade of gray. Find the undertone of your gray, and use its complementary color to make it pop against the gray, creating what decorators call "drama." For instance, with a blue-gray, you might use a Sunbrella fabric that incorporates orange tones, such as Bravada Salsa, Canvas Tuscan, or Pumpkin.

Monochromatic Schemes

• A monochromatic color scheme incorporates varying shades of the same color. The overall effect is more soothing and restful than a complementary color scheme because you're not pairing "opposites" to create drama. Of course, a monochromatic red scheme will also have more energy than a monochromatic blue scheme. When using a monochromatic scheme, you add depth and texture through other means, such as using patterns to provide interest. For a monochromatic color scheme, you would use shades of gray or of the undertone color in your gray, and layer them so that each shade stands out against a light or darker shade, or against a pattern. For such a scheme, you might use the Sunbrella fabrics Silver, Slate or Shadow Charcoal.

Analogue Colors

• Analogue colors are those that are adjacent to one another on the color wheel. For instance, yellow, light green, and green are an analogue color set. Yellow is next to light green, which is next to green. Using three such colors together provides something between a complementary color scheme and a monochrome scheme in that, while there are contrasts among the colors, they work together rather than playing off one another. You have less drama than a complementary color scheme, but more varied contrast than a monochromatic scheme. With gray, this can be expressed through the undertone color, or through using black, white and gray together, and you might use Sunbrella fabrics such as Baycrest Sky, Cadet Grey or Charcoal Tweed.

Using Patterns

• Patterns can provide depth and texture as well as bring together other solid color elements into a harmonious whole. Sunbrella patterned fabrics such as Parade Seagull, Pango Fossil, or Leigh Lemon all incorporate grays and yet add in other colors which can then be added to your color scheme. Different patterns can be layered, but this works best when they contain other harmonious elements, such as color, and the shades of the color should be very similar so as to draw focus to the similarity.