Recommended color combinations for interior design
Most likely, you have explored images of interior design ideas for different rooms such as bedroom, living room or kitchen. In those images, the colors blended harmoniously, resulting in a space that simply caught the eye with its well-chosen color palette. Nothing was accidental.
Every interior designer uses a color scheme for arranging the space, and one of the most common is that of complementary colors. In short, this principle involves combining a primary color (red, yellow, blue) with a secondary one (green, purple, orange).
This article will give you a better understanding of how the principle of complementary colors applies in interior design.
What do you need to know about the color wheel?
All color schemes used in interior design and other creative industries are based on the color wheel as shown in the image above. This is divided into warm and cool colors, and helps you select the right color combinations that are pleasing to the eye.
Color theory is based on this wheel, and artists use it for their paintings, while interior designers use it as a reference for their color schemes in the rooms they design. Thus, the color wheel is essential for establishing a color palette for interior paints and, implicitly, for the association of colors between furniture and the walls of a room.
The 60/30/10 rule and its role in color matching
The 60/30/10 rule is one of the most popular color matching rules and involves using three primary colors in proportions of 60%, 30% and 10%. It is a rule frequently used when matching colors in the house, such as the colors of the living room, the child's room, the bathroom, the kitchen and the colors of the bedroom interior.
The easiest way to apply this rule in home interior design is to use the dominant color (60%) for the walls, the secondary color (30%) for the furniture and the accent color (10%) for the decor items and fabrics.
It is recommended to choose a neutral dominant color, as it can be associated with strong shades. Some examples of color combinations that follow this rule are:
- beige – turquoise – green;
- gray – blue – yellow;
- white – green – blue;
- brown – orange – blue;
- cream - olive - purple.
Color schemes to consider in interior design
Complementary colors
Before understanding what complementary colors are, it is important to know what primary and secondary colors are.
- Primary colors: red, yellow and blue; they cannot be obtained by combining other colors;
- Secondary colors: orange, purple, green; can be obtained by combining primary colors;
Complementary colors are placed opposite on the color wheel.
The most common ones consist of a primary and a secondary color:
- blue - orange
- yellow - purple
- red - green
The combination of complementary colors results in the color gray. In other words, they neutralize each other, so complementary colors create harmony and balance in an interior.
