Picking a colour scheme is a task a lot of us struggle with. We usually end up standing, staring at the wall, which has been covered in little samples of every bizarrely named colour under the sun. After getting flustered, we pick the safe option of Cream, Beige or White because we don’t want to choose the wrong colour.

You can do so much better!

As an Interior Designer, I know that colour schemes are an excellent way to make a house or room design feel cohesive. Once you have a finalised colour scheme, it will help determine what colours and finishes will go into the scheme. This will include everything from the fabrics you choose to use to the accessories that will finish the room as well as what will be left out.

Here, I am breaking down how to create a colour scheme, so you can stand staring at the wall, knowing exactly which colour you will pick. Before we decide what the colour scheme will be, we need to start with the types of colour schemes.

Monochromatic Colour Scheme

First off is a Monochromatic Colour Scheme. This is not Black and White, as many people think, but it is a colour scheme that will use only one colour. By varying the shades, tones or tints of that colour, we can create a colour palette with more variation. Monochrome Colour Schemes can be hard to work with but can create a relaxing and peaceful environment. 

Analogous Colour Scheme

Using several colours that are next to each other (adjacent) on the colour wheel is an Analogous Colour Scheme. This is a fancy way of saying that the colours are all of the same family. They are, for example, all Blues or all Reds etc. The colours can then have the tones, tints, or shades changed to create the colour scheme you want. These colour schemes are harmonious and very pleasing to the eye,

Complementary Colour Scheme

A Complementary colour scheme is created using two colours opposite each other on the colour wheel. There is a big variation in the two colours used in this scheme, so it can be very striking. It is good to pick one as the dominant colour and use the other as an accent.

Split-Complementary Colour Scheme

A Split-Complementary colour scheme is very similar to a Complementary colour scheme. One colour is used as the base colour, which will be the dominant colour in the scheme. While the other two colours are on either side of the base colour’s complementary colour on the colour wheel. This creates a more harmonious scheme creating a calming feeling in the room. This palette is sometimes called a Natural Palette as it mimics natural colour patterns.

Triad Colour Scheme

Choosing a colour scheme with 3 colours is known as a Triad Colour Scheme. These 3 colours will create an equilateral triangle within the colour wheel, so all colours are equal distances apart. Some consider these colour schemes the best because of the harmony created between the colours. As with a Complementary Colour Scheme, it is good to pick a dominant colour for the scheme to keep the colours from becoming too overwhelming.

Tetradic Colour Scheme

The last 2 palettes are Quadratic Colour Scheme. Both use 4 colours from the colour wheel. The first is a Tetradic Colour Scheme, which uses two complementary colour pairs to create a scheme of four colours. Creating a rectangle within the colour wheel. These colour palettes give you plenty of variations within the palette. It is best to pick one dominant colour and make sure the other colours are balanced as you add them.

Square Colour Scheme

The second Quadratic Colour Scheme is the Square Colour Scheme. This creates a Square within the colour wheel using four colours equally spaced around the wheel. These colour schemes are the best for multiple colour variations. Still, be careful about using the colours, so the scheme is not overwhelming.

Now on to picking your colour scheme!

Once you understand colour schemes and how they work together, it will be much easier for you to create a cohesive colour scheme. Here are three simple steps to creating your colour scheme.

Step 1 – Choosing your starting point.

You may already have an idea of what colours you want to use. If so, great! Start by picking the colours out. It is a good idea to get paint swatches, and you can pick these up in-store or order them online. They are a great way to play around with a colour scheme without making any final decisions.

If you are unsure where to start, the best place to begin is to choose a piece of art, wallpaper, or a fabric such as curtains or a rug that you like the colours of. This doesn’t have to be used in the final room. From the artwork or rug, you can start looking at the sort of colours to be used within the room.

Take a good look at the rug/art/fabric you have chosen and pick out any colours you can see in it. Again it is helpful to have paint swatches to work with, as you can more easily put colours together to create your scheme.

Step 2 – Choosing the type of colour scheme.

Now you have chosen your starting point, see where your chosen colours sit on the colour wheel. If you are starting with two or more colours, look and see if they fall into one of the colour schemes we spoke about before.

From this, you can determine what kind of colour scheme it is, which will help give you a clear understanding of which colours to use within your space. You can add more colours to complete the scheme, ensuring your overall scheme feels complete.

If you have chosen just one colour, you can decide to use a monochromatic colour scheme. Use this scheme carefully, and make sure to vary the textures you use. This will help break up the one-colour look and add interest to the room. Having just one chosen colour is also a great place to start, as you can select any colour scheme from above. By adding an accent colour, you can lift the whole scheme.

Step 3 – Choosing the colours for your scheme.

Once you have chosen your starting colours and the type of colour scheme you want, it is time to pick out the other colours to create a complete scheme. 

This should be easy to do following the colour schemes from above. Once you have the colours picked out, you can start to play with the shades, tones and tints of the colours. This is a fancy way of saying to make a colour lighter or darker or to change the intensity of the colour. 

Now you will have a completed colour scheme! If you need them, some examples below show how to create a colour scheme. 

Example – Starting with a rug/artwork

I’m going to use a rug here, but the same goes for any fabric, wallpaper or art you choose to use. The colours used here are shades of Blue, Orange, Green, Pink and Purple.

If we chose just three colours to create a Triad Palette, it would look like this.

Or this, both are Triad Palettes from the same rug.

We could add a fourth colour to create a Quadratic Palette. It would look something like this.

Example – Starting with an existing finish

Another way would be to look at the existing room’s or house’s finishes. Are there any tiles in the bathroom or kitchen that you want to keep, or maybe some flooring that you particularly like? It could even be an existing piece of furniture you will keep.
Take the finish you already have and relate it to a colour on the colour wheel. By doing this, you are choosing the starting point of your colour scheme. You could then choose a monochromatic colour palette or one with more colours. Make sure they sit well within the colour wheel and fall into one of the colour palettes we mentioned before. If the finish has multiple colours, follow the steps above using it as your starting point.
Let’s do another example, take the timber floor from this room. If you look at the timber colour, you see that it has a base colour of orange. So we would look for an orange tone when relating it to the colour wheel. Once we have our starting colour, we can build our palette around it.

Choosing what kind of palette is the first step. Using our example from above, a few colour palettes that you could create will look like this.

A Monochrome Palette would look something like this.

By choosing the complimentary colour to create a Complimentary Palette, we can use a shade of blue to make the orange stand out more.

We could choose to use a Split-Complimentary Palette so that the scheme becomes more harmonious. It would look like this.

This post was all about colour schemes and how to create them for your home. Now you have a better understanding of colour, the next step is to work out the furniture layout in the space.

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