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Since the Britain’s Sir Isaac Newton conceived the three-colour wheel in the year 1666 his original concept exploded several times. Mathematicians have developed it almost into an art form, hardware stores have colour swatches in an confusing display, yet the principles remain the same.
o There are three primary colours, mainly blue, yellow and red. All other colours come from mixing these in varying proportions. A primary colour cannot be created by mixing any other colours – it exists on its own.
o There are three secondary colours too, namely green, orange and purple. The basic colour wheel is therefore blue, green, yellow, orange, red purple and so on. These colours are the result of mixing the adjacent primary colours in identical proportions.
o Tertiary colours are equal proportions of adjacent secondary colours again. They are yellow-orange, red-orange, red-purple, blue-purple, blue-green and yellow-green respectively. We could add and add colours until there were literally thousands and thousands, however the principles of using colours creatively would not change.
It can be a good idea to choose your colours first before you find a decorator. Colour Harmony is the art of placing colours in pleasing spatial relationships, to produce exciting contrasts or peaceful rhythms according to our needs. These are a few of the more popular theories in practice today.
o Analogous colours are any three next to each other on the tertiary colour wheel. One always seems to predominate, and make the statement for an overall harmonious colour scheme.
o Complementary colours are any pair directly opposite each other on any colour wheel. Using these optimises contrast for a bolder statement.
o Mother Nature provides millions of colour schemes and you find these on leaves, seashells and pebbles everywhere. When you have found what you are looking for, search the individual colours on an extended colour wheel to find the one that is right for you.
After you select a colour scheme on the colour wheel, add white to achieve the tints you really need. Now is the time to get decorator quotes – some painters from London like to be in charge with colours. My advice is – stick to your guns because you know what you want best.