How to Decorate With Color Combinations

Determine the current color scheme of the room you wish to decorate. Colors are either warm or cool while black, white and gray are considered neutral. Typically, blue, green and purple are cool while red, orange and yellow are warm. However, some shades of purple and green appear warm. For instance, if your room has a blue couch and white walls, it is cool in tone and makes use of blue.

Add another hue of the currently dominant shade. For example, if your touch is a light blue, add a dark blue rug. Using different hues of one color creates a simple, clean design may be overwhelming if you do not love a color or want to feel the emotion the color portrays. For example, an all yellow room feels very cheerful while an all blue room feels very calm. Include some neutral colors to help break up the domination of one color.

Create a complimentary color combination by adding the color that is opposite on the color wheel. For example, add orange cushions to your blue couch, since orange and blue are opposite. Use a color that is similar in tone. For example, if your blue is very dark, use a dark orange rather than a bright orange.

Create a triad combination. For example, red, blue and yellow make one triad while purple, green and orange make another triad. A room that uses all primary colors may feel very child-like while a room that uses tertiary or secondary triads looks more mature. They key to a triad is that the colors are evenly spaced when you pull them apart from a color wheel.

Add warm colors to a room to create a feeling of warmth. Add cool colors to create a peaceful feeling.

Balance a room with neutral colors. White blends with every color while black blends best with darker colors. Since many rooms have white walls, people are typically used to large amounts of white in a room. You may wish to avoid adding black to orange rooms to avoid the feeling of Halloween.