Great rooms may feature similar colors, or highly contrasting colors. Your goal in the planning process should be to come up with colors and textures that evoke the ambiance you want, while working well with your space and architecture.
Complementary colors are those that sit opposite each other on the traditional color wheel: purple and yellow, orange and blue, and red and green are the basic complementary pairs. Just a dash of one complementary color enlivens a room.
For other contrasting colors, look for combinations that work within the same color family – for the most part. Just like any number of pastels can be used together, you can also create a color story of rustic Mediterranean hues, bold retro ‘50s colors, or other such like colors.
Subtle variations through monochrome motifs or analogous colors (those next to each other on the color wheel) can also create interesting visual and textural results. Similar colors create movement by building a three-dimensional effect with depth. Bump your colors one notch further apart if you feel that you need to shake things up a bit.
Of course, don’t be afraid to go bold. It’s your house, and the colors you love should be what gets painted. Browse some “outrageous” color schemes here and imagine how much you’d enjoy a statement-making color scheme in your favorite room.
When in doubt about color combinations, it can be helpful to refer to the “60-30-10” rule. This means that you should limit your color story to mostly just three colors, and you should break them down in that ratio. Two main colors should mix with one being clearly dominant, and a third color can be used as a notable accent.