If you have read my “about me”… you’ll know I don’t have a favorite color.
I have just one color that I don’t care much about… I am not a big fan of purple.
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I believe most of us love color, I believe most of us are a little bit uneasy or perhaps don’t know how to use it. So today I am going to share with you some great color combinations that simply work!
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In order to use color we need to UNDERSTAND color.
First let’s take a minute and look at the color wheel…
If you don’t want your space to be SUPER HAPPY but you don’t want it to be SUPER PEACEFUL you can even mix the emotions that both colors bring… and have a perfect fresh and cheerful space.
I think somewhere around here is where most people get lost. Do you?
They know how they want the room to feel they just don’t know how to translate that to color.
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Well, now that you have the warm and the cool down lets talk about how to use it.
To do this let me give you four basic tricks from the color wheel…Thank goodness I don’t do Interior Design anymore since I’m sharing all of my secrets 😉
Basically this is when you put 2 to 6 { I like to keep it under 4} neighbor colors of the wheel together. . That many? Well yes! . Think about having a big family color reunion. These colors will look different from each other but at the same time they have common resemblance. At the end they will look GREAT together.
Personally I consider this scheme still part of the safe zone. It will give the space a clean feeling. Not too plain not too explosive, but gives you the opportunity to highlight some areas as accessories in a different color without being over powering. . Here is a Navy Blue, Teal and Green example. I love these colors together and I want the chair and the shoes.
.Now you are far from the safe ZONE you are not entering the bold ZONE either you are right in it!A triad scheme is bold but more importantly, it’s balanced…like sweet and sour.
It’s made up of any three colors that form a triangle in the center of the wheel.
Again if you follow this rule as bold as the look will be, it will work!
Just got home from a friends new “beach house” in Sewalls Point, Fl. I said I’d go on Pinterest to find some “color ideas” before she buys a thing & some not so “beachy looking homes”. Boy am I glad I stumbled upon you. What wonderful lesson on color. Thank you so so much! subscribing now!
What a terrific site. I love color but am not great at putting it together for the home. Appreciate all of the effort into it to help me. Now just to see if I can make it work for the laundry room. Ha! I get confused how to match it with the wood trim. I don’t have painted trim.
Thanks again.
My daughter introduced me to your site because she’s encouraging me to choose a special color combo for the garden book I’m publishing encouraging the choice of native plants rather than exotic. You’ve helped me understand what an opportunity I have to make the cover really uniquely appealing. Many thanks, Lida
This was sooooo helpful to me. I love trying new ways of putting colors together, your instructions have helped me immensely! Simple rules to follow if you want the colors to be friends!!!
This is awesome! Thank you for sharing! Some of us cannot afford to pay for an interior designer and information like this from people like you makes all the difference in the world!
I am so glad that I chance upon such a great blog! You made me want to start working on DIY project and not only that, I hope to get my own house soon so I can work with all these!!
I love the curtains you made. I am a 4 year old teacher who has been teaching 24 years. I have used the same primary colors and the EXACT same curtains for all of these years!!! I AM SICK OF THEM! Discovering pinterest has inspired me to finally make a cha much needed change. I like the lime green and pink colors together with some turquoise mixed in. I have bought some darker lime green containers and hot pink containers and turquoise containers to put my manipulatives in on the shelves. However I’m a little stuck on the fabric for my curtains. I have gotten some fabric samples that I like…one is a hot pink with small white polka dots. One is a plaid wih shades of pink and lime green and one is a stripe wih shades of pink, white, a tiny, tiny gray stripe, a tiny tiny black stripe and a small green stripe. The green is not the same color gren though. There is only one green stripe every 2 inches. Its not at all a dominant color in the stripe. Do these fabrics sound ok together to you?? I think I need at least one more fabric for more flare…maybe a solid with a swirl???? Do you have any suggestions?? I know it’s probably hard to imagine what I’m talking about wihout seeing it…I’m not computer savvy enough to uplod pictures though… Any suggestions would be appreciated…I only have 3 fabrics right now for the curtains…I need one with urquoise(maybe a solid with some varying blue swirls) and probably one more…I really want one that would stand out…like a black with varying colored polka dots????not sure…hlp!! Thanks, Martha
Wow! This is the best explanation I’ve on how to use the colour wheel. I feel so excited to use this information. Thank you!
You are very welcome!
Just got home from a friends new “beach house” in Sewalls Point, Fl. I said I’d go on Pinterest to find some “color ideas” before she buys a thing & some not so “beachy looking homes”. Boy am I glad I stumbled upon you. What wonderful lesson on color. Thank you so so much! subscribing now!
Thank you so much for visiting and subscribing… Welcome to The 36th Avenue!
What a terrific site. I love color but am not great at putting it together for the home. Appreciate all of the effort into it to help me. Now just to see if I can make it work for the laundry room. Ha! I get confused how to match it with the wood trim. I don’t have painted trim.
Thanks again.
My daughter introduced me to your site because she’s encouraging me to choose a special color combo for the garden book I’m publishing encouraging the choice of native plants rather than exotic. You’ve helped me understand what an opportunity I have to make the cover really uniquely appealing. Many thanks, Lida
You are very welcome Lida and congratulations in your book!
xo
This was sooooo helpful to me. I love trying new ways of putting colors together, your instructions have helped me immensely! Simple rules to follow if you want the colors to be friends!!!
This is awesome! Thank you for sharing! Some of us cannot afford to pay for an interior designer and information like this from people like you makes all the difference in the world!
Sandra, I love how color can change anything. Thank you for visiting and taking the time to leave me a comment!
I am so glad that I chance upon such a great blog! You made me want to start working on DIY project and not only that, I hope to get my own house soon so I can work with all these!!
That’s awesome! Have fun working on your own DIY projects 🙂
This is lovely. Forget about my blind decorator comment. I can’t wait to toss all that behind me and give these ideas a try! 🙂 Thanks so much.
I love the curtains you made. I am a 4 year old teacher who has been teaching 24 years. I have used the same primary colors and the EXACT same curtains for all of these years!!! I AM SICK OF THEM! Discovering pinterest has inspired me to finally make a cha much needed change. I like the lime green and pink colors together with some turquoise mixed in. I have bought some darker lime green containers and hot pink containers and turquoise containers to put my manipulatives in on the shelves. However I’m a little stuck on the fabric for my curtains. I have gotten some fabric samples that I like…one is a hot pink with small white polka dots. One is a plaid wih shades of pink and lime green and one is a stripe wih shades of pink, white, a tiny, tiny gray stripe, a tiny tiny black stripe and a small green stripe. The green is not the same color gren though. There is only one green stripe every 2 inches. Its not at all a dominant color in the stripe. Do these fabrics sound ok together to you?? I think I need at least one more fabric for more flare…maybe a solid with a swirl???? Do you have any suggestions?? I know it’s probably hard to imagine what I’m talking about wihout seeing it…I’m not computer savvy enough to uplod pictures though… Any suggestions would be appreciated…I only have 3 fabrics right now for the curtains…I need one with urquoise(maybe a solid with some varying blue swirls) and probably one more…I really want one that would stand out…like a black with varying colored polka dots????not sure…hlp!! Thanks, Martha
what a helpful article! you explained it so well! 🙂
<3
H