Monday, June 23, 2008

Colors make the world go round, like a wheel; a color wheel

As you learned from my earlier post I think it is important that a room speak to you, speak of your mood, and how you want to feel in that room. Colors can make you feel many different emotions; blue as many know is a cool color, one that can soothe you and depending on the shade, can give a room a refreshing feel. Red, a primary color, is a warm, passionate color. I am going to try to help explain all the terms you hear; primary colors, hues, tints, shades, monochromatic schemes and more. Understanding these terms can effect the colors you choose in your home.


Here is a quick lesson in color;
There are three primary colors on the color wheel that make up all other colors;
Red, Blue and Yellow, all are located evenly around a circle, a color wheel.

We all learned this in kindergarten, they do say we learned all we need to know there, so why not this. Remember finger painting? and mixing red with blue to get purple, or yellow with red to produce orange? The main concept is that these three primary colors, when mixed with each other, form secondary colors, when mixed further they make up tertiary colors; all of these colors make up the wonderful spectrum in a coloring box, or now as grown-ups, we more likely think of them as the colors in the paint store.

Quick Color Guide:
Primary colors; red, yellow and blue
Secondary colors; orange, green and purple
Tertiary colors; red/orange, yellow/orange, blue/ green, yellow/ green, blue/violet, red/violet

The primary and secondary colors are hues; pure colors.
• Adding white to any of these colors creates a tint, making the color lighter. For example adding white to red, makes pink.
• Adding black creates a shade, a darker version of the color. For example adding black to green can make it hunter green.
Here is an example using blue as the pure color







There is so much to know about color technically, but don't get blogged down with the details. For you, in your home, you need to decide what colors you like, and then once you have an idea of how you want to feel in a room and the colors you like, you have a jumping off point!

1 comment:

JR said...

So - seriously - Adding white is a TINT and adding black is a SHADE ? That's totally new information for me... I'm sure it hasn't held me back in life, but I swear I had no idea what the difference was - and I definitely figured that "a shade of green" meant ANY variation of green (and I just had no idea what the technical meaning of Tint was)...
Also - I have a few questions on the "complimentary" colors...but I think I'll wait on those...
Great post! Thanks!