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Choosing Colours

The Colour Wheel
The colour wheel is the basis for all colour reference
By understanding the arrangement AND the terminology,you can get off on the right foot when choosing colour combinations.

Describing Colour:
Hue - Described as being in the same colour family.
Value - Relative lightness or darkness of a colour depending on a neighboring colour.
Intensity - The degree of colour.

Primary colours are the pigment colours that all of the other colours are made from. These colours are blue, red, and yellow.

Secondary colours are two primary colours mixed together.

Tertiary colours are a primary colour and a secondary colour mixed together.

Colour Families are groups of colours that are made from the same colours.

Neutral Colours are gray , white, and black, that contain no other identifiable colours.

Monochromatic colours on the wheel are one basic colour (hue), but have different values (lightness (tints) or darkness (shades)).

Adjacent colours combine two or more colours located next to each other.

Complementary colours are opposite each other. Red and green are complements, as are yellow-orange and blue-violet. Use a subtle colour and a dominate colour to avoid clashing.

Triad colours are three colours that are used together, with one being the dominant colour and the others being accent colours.

A four-colour combination of equidistant colours, such as green, red, yellow-orange and blue-violet, is known as a "tetrad."

Enough! I can hear you say,how does this help me pick a colour for my faux finishing technique!

OK, In practice, any colour that lies on the opposite side of the colour ring will balance and enliven your main colour.
Blue and orange may look harsh together, but blue works well with yellow, which is on the opposite (warm) side of the colour ring.
When you combine complementary colours, wander around the ring a bit. Sometimes it's more interesting when the colours are not direct complements.

Harmonious combinations consist of colours that lie side by side on the colour ring. Red, red-orange and orange are analogous (or related), and so are blue, blue-violet and violet. The key to an analogous scheme is a common colour,say Yellow and related colours of yellow-green and yellow-orange.

Another basic guide to use is stay with similar intensities to link different colours. In other words, use clear colours with clear colours and grayed colours with grayed colours.

One-colour combinations, referred to as monochromatic, may sound boring, but when planned well, can be serene and elegant. This is by far the safest approach when doing faux finishes. The complimentary colours can be used in your furnitue and other fabrics,art work etc.

A trip to your local paint store will be a big help in selecting your colours. The colour systems today are arranged so that all the working colours are grouped making it a lot easier to choose your colour schemes.

Remember to start with your basic colour,say you are stuck with canary yellow tile in your bathroom, or in the case of choosing a new wall colour combination for a room, or a colour that you like or need to work with.
Decide if you are going with a monochromatic, or one colour scheme, a Complementary colour for a little more dramatic effect, or a Harmonious colour combination, not quite as dramatic but more life than Monochromatic.

A nifty on-line tool for choosing colour combinations is Flex Bon's Java enabled colour selector. Although designed for exterior colour selections it is terrific for showing in real time different colour combinations.

Another Great Tool is on-line thanks to Benjaman Moore Paints. You can choose your base colour and your secondary colour side by side. Keep changing until you have the combination you like.

One More Great Place can be found here at Glidden Paint. It also comes with some fun ideas

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