6 Fundamental
Principles of Color Combination in Interior Design

How to combine colors in the interior?
It is one of the most popular questions.
Let's talk about the three main principles
of combining colors in interior design.
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Ethan's Color Wheel.

Principle #1
The first principle is Ethan's color wheel. It is a color wheel divided into 12 colors, and each color has its saturation and lightness ranging from the lightest to the darkest.
You can combine these colors according to several color schemes:

Complementary combination - when two opposite colors are taken.

Monochrome combination - when one color with different color saturation is chosen.

There is also a triad, tetrad, square, and so on.

Ethan's color palette is a rather complex principle.

IMAGE PICKER Website Offering a Free Palette Match

Principle #2
This method is much more straightforward and understandable. Take an image and go to any website offering a free palette match. It will analyze and automatically give you the colors that are often used in that image.

How do we distribute the colors of the color palette? The lightest and darkest colors go to the floor, walls, and large furniture.

Use the brightest saturated colors for smaller furniture, decor, textiles, and accessories. This method is much easier than the first one. Try to apply it to your house interior.

Amount of Color

Principle #3
Using the second principle, you can obtain only 5-7 colors on that website. That is not considered an accent color - it is a background.

For example, if you take dark blue walls and a slightly lighter sofa in the color palette, this is not a color accent. The color accent is something contrasting brightly against the background: a pillow and flower - is a color accent. There can be 1,2, or 3 color accents in the interior. If we take two-color accents, the accent of the second-largest item should be less than the first one. If we take three-color accents - the third one should be even smaller than the second one.

The 60-30-10 Rule

Principle #4
Any interior design enthusiast's greatest buddy is the 60-30-10 rule. This guideline may be used to ensure that your color pallet stays balanced no matter what your own aesthetic is or how you want your room to look. Three colors will be used in this configuration. The percentages of your design that each will make up are 60, 30, and 10. The following is how it works: To begin, pick one dominating color that will take up around 60% of the space.

This is usually a neutral or a modest color that can take up a lot of space without seeming claustrophobic. The secondary color, which is usually a bit stronger and takes up around 30% of the area, will come next. Finally, the remaining 10% should be made up of your accent color, which should be your brightest hue. Take, for example, the image above. The main color in this scenario is greige. It's all over the place, including the walls and the sofa. Then there's black, which is the secondary color. It may be found on the bookcase, side table, cushions, dining chair, and rug. Finally, coral serves as an accent color. The throw cushions and potted plants reflect this.
Principle #5

Cool or Warm Colors

The term "warm vs. cold colors" relates to the color wheel's placement of certain colours. Warm colors are traditionally regarded to be those that are more brilliant, such as red, orange, and yellow. Neutrals like brown and tan, on the other hand, are included in the mix. Cool hues, such as blue, green, and purple, as well as gray, are on the other end of the spectrum.

The vitality of the area will be affected by the choice of warm or cold hues. Warm colors are ideal for party venues because they create an optimistic and friendly atmosphere. Consider incorporating these hues into your dining room or kitchen. On the other side, cool colors are more muted. They are most effective in bedrooms and offices, where a relaxing aura is desired.

Principle #6

The Complementary Color Scheme

The complementary color scheme is frequently regarded to be the simplest of all the color guidelines used by interior designers. This is due to the fact that there are only two hues in this color scheme. It employs two hues on the color wheel that is precisely opposite each other, resulting in combinations like blue and orange, yellow and purple, or red and green. As you can see in the photo above, these color combinations have a lot of contrast, which means that although they definitely provide a lot of excitement to the room, they're best employed in limited quantities. Consider them accent colors, and pair them with plenty of neutrals to balance them out and give the eye a somewhere to rest.

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