So, you’ve decided to take the plunge and add some color to your home décor. Now, all you have to do is choose which colors to use. It’s not as tricky as you might think if you follow some basic guidelines.
Start by getting a better understanding of colors:
The Primary Objective
What is a primary color? This is the simplest one to answer. Primary colors are pure colors, blue, red, and yellow, as opposed to those made by mixing two or more colors.
Secondary Protocol
Secondary colors are those made by mixing two colors. They include orange, green, and purple. Primary, secondary, and tertiary colors can each be changed to lightened by mixing with white or darkened by mixing with black.
Tertiary Principles
This one isn’t complicated. Tertiary {‘ter-shee-air-ee) simply means something ranks third. When it comes to color, tertiary is used to reference colors made by mixing primary and secondary colors, usually in equal parts. Commonly known tertiary colors include blue
Other Things You May or May Not Know:
1. For example, pastels contain a great deal of white, and may be made of mostly white with just a slight tint of another color.
2. Coordinating colors are those that blend well together and are close to each other on the color wheel.
3. Complementary colors may seem a bit confusing. They are directly opposite each other on the color wheel, which means they are basically nothing alike. How then can they be complementary? It is because one is primary and the other is secondary, but made of the two remaining primary colors. When complementary colors are mixed together, they make gray. When complementary colors are placed beside each other they often become so intensified that they appear to move.
4. Contrasting colors are distinctive from each other and their contrasting values make them stand out from each other when placed side by side. A good example is black and white.