The three properties of a colour
- Hue — the colour family: red, blue, green.
- Value — how light or dark it is.
- Saturation — how intense or muted it is.
Rooms usually feel calmer with muted colours and varied values; strong saturation works best in small doses.
Classic harmonies on the colour wheel
- Monochromatic — one hue in several values. Calm and elegant.
- Analogous — neighbours on the wheel, such as blue, blue-green and green. Harmonious and natural.
- Complementary — opposites, such as blue and orange. Lively; let one dominate.
- Split-complementary — a colour plus the two neighbours of its opposite. Contrast with less tension.
- Triadic — three colours evenly spaced. Vibrant; use muted versions indoors.
Warm and cool
Reds, oranges and yellows feel warm and seem to come forward; blues and greens feel cool and seem to recede. That's why cool colours can make a small room feel larger.
Putting it to work
Pick a harmony, then apply the 60-30-10 proportions: 60% main colour, 30% secondary, 10% accent.
Tools for this
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Zinat — a free reference to beauty and decoration, part of the ZIBADIS network founded by Masoud Moghaddam, designer and developer.
