How to Determine a Color Scheme for Your Home

May 20

Picking the right color scheme can make all the difference when it comes to making your home feel like your own. Perhaps that is what makes the task feel so daunting. Fortunately, picking a color scheme doesn’t have to be as scary as it might sound!

Picking the Right Colors

When determining a color scheme for your home, the first thing you should consider is whether you want to use primary colors (red, blue, and yellow), secondary colors (the colors that are made when equal parts of two primary colors are combined), or tertiary colors (other mixtures of both primary and secondary colors). On top of this, you’ll want to determine if your color scheme is going to be monochromatic, analogous, contrast, or complementary.

Monochromatic: This color scheme uses different tones of the same color with the addition of white or black to make the color look lighter or darker. Choosing a monochromatic color scheme allows you to create a harmonious, cohesive aesthetic without drawing attention to the colors, themselves.
Analogous: This color scheme uses colors that would appear next to each other on a color wheel. For example, blue could be used with green or purple since they sit next to each other on the color wheel. This type of color scheme tends to be both colorful and soothing.
Contrast: This is a more dramatic color scheme that consists of three groups of two colors each which contrast with each other (for example, this color scheme could use a yellow-orange group, a green-blue group, and a red-purple group). This combination of contrasting colors introduces energy into your home.
Complementary: This color scheme involves picking two opposing colors that are opposite each other on the color wheel, such as blue and orange. This helps to create a dramatic, high energy environment within your home.

Where to Start?

While your instinct might tell you to paint your walls first and design everything else around that, it may actually be best to start with items that could be harder to find in coordinating colors, such as furniture, rugs, and flooring. That way, you can match your paint colors to the color scheme of those items rather than painting your walls one color and realizing later that you can’t find anything else to match. In fact, some people choose not to incorporate their color scheme into the walls, at all! On the other hand, picking bold, colorful walls and more neutral furniture is also a great way to introduce color into your home.

Always remember that it’s a good idea to test your color scheme using paint swatches and fabric samples and draw out your plans on paper before diving into a project like this. That way, you don’t have to commit to an idea before you’re really sure that it’s going to work in your home. If you think you’ve pinned down a color scheme but aren’t ready to commit to it, bringing in colors with things like rugs, pillows, flowers, and artwork can be a great way to bring color into your home without making any permanent changes. Also, keep in mind that you don’t have to dedicate yourself to just one color scheme-- if you’ve come up with a few that you like, you may want to consider trying them in different rooms or on different stories of your home!