Interior designers pick color schemes on paint color sample sheet

Creating Home Color Schemes

A vital tool in interior design is color. Utilizing a small number of colors in various ways in each room of your home will help you create a fantastic color scheme. Your home will feel brighter, friendlier, more sophisticated, or any other vibe you desire when the correct colors are used.   

If you utilize a color wheel when decorating, creating a color palette for your entire house will make it appear more trendy. A color wheel gives you a clear and quick view of which colors work together and assists you with discovering harmonic, tonal, or contrasting room color choices.   

The wheel’s structural elements include the primary colors (red, yellow, and blue) and the secondary colors (green, orange, and purple). 

How Can a Color Wheel Be Used to Create a Color Scheme?

Understanding the many kinds of color schemes for your home design and paint color ideas is necessary when using a color wheel to create a color scheme for your space. Here are a few popular home color schemes: 

Modern, artsy living room with blue sofa and complementary orange throw pillows

Complementary

Complementary colors are opposite to each other on the color wheel, like blue and orange. When placed next to each other, these colors please the eye. Look for the colors opposite one another on a color wheel to find complementary colors. 

If you want to know what shades to use when decorating amidst a blue couch, opt for a bronze or brass coffee table, copper accent pieces, or orange throw pillows.

Monochromatic purple bedroom for home color schemes

Monochromatic

All monochromatic colors, also known as analogous colors, belong to the same color family, and they develop a scheme that blends tones in a single color. Going monochrome is perfect for adding to your list of color scheme ideas and producing a peaceful, harmonious atmosphere. This could, for instance, be a mixture of periwinkle, Pantone’s Color of the Year 2022, and lilac purple. Paired with cool tone LVP flooring, like Silver Seagull in our Signature Longboard Series, a monochromatic purple color scheme is sure to pop. 
Interior design of a bold, contrasting yellow and blue kitchen

Contrasting

Using two colors from opposing sides of the color wheel, such as a strong color from one area of the wheel and a softer color from the opposite side, creates contrast in color schemes. Bold schemes and a bright color palette may be made using these contrasting colors. To use the color wheel to create a contrasting color scheme, opt for a bold color from one side of the color wheel (such as blue) and pair it with a lighter color from a different color family (such as yellow). 

What is the Importance of Color in Interior Design?

The significance of colors varies. Instead of picking colors for each room in isolation, you should consider the complete house while making your selections. They should collaborate and support you to create your desired emotions in your space. Various colors in the home may affect our creativity and productivity, and they can evoke different feelings and moods.   

Color psychology is the scientific study of how different hues influence human behavior. Studies show that whether individuals feel warm, peaceful, cold, relaxed, or uninvited is controlled by the shade they are surrounded by.   

In other words, the colors we use in our homes impact how we feel and act. Making wise color decisions is essential. 

How to Add Color to a Room: Expert Home Decor Tips

In addition to discussing the Pantone Color of the Year 2022, periwinkle, home staging expert Bobbie McGrath offers advice on how to incorporate color most effectively throughout your house.   

Is it worth painting your walls the color of the year? If that trending color catches your eye, McGrath suggests bringing in touches of the color with throw pillows or a piece of art. Adding these subtle pops of color will update your room without painting walls—a great renter-friendly tip!   

“Here’s the secret. Just because it‘s the ‘it color’ doesn’t mean it’s the shade you should be putting in your house,” McGrath says. “What color is your trim? What color is your floor? And what are you willing to invest in changing all of the bedding and everything to have that?”   

To learn more tips and tricks from home staging experts, check out Design Time: From the Floor Up, a video podcast featuring Lindsay the Stager   

This platform, sponsored by Floorily, the go-to resource for designer-inspired flooring, strives to share fun and practical interior design knowledge with viewers of all backgrounds. Design Time: From the Floor Up discusses a range of subjects through regularly featured industry experts covering topics from flooring to paint shades to decorative accessories.

Author

  • Sarah Dyer

    Sarah is the Communications Manager at Floorily. With a strong background in digital marketing, she develops strategies and marketing material to help grow and promote Floorily. In her free time, Sarah enjoys camping, hiking, and being a passenger on flights flown by her aviator husband.