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Color Theory: Basic Color Harmonies

The color theory uses the color spectrum to help you choose colors that complement each other. Decorating with color is mainly about individual taste and experimentation. In the spectrum, we have all the colors of the rainbow and within each color there is a staggering number of shades. Each of these colors has a different wavelength, with red being the longest and violet the shortest.

When you want to understand color theory and the basic color harmonies, you have to think about tone. This term refers to how light or dark a color is. Two different colors can have the same tone because they have the same degree of intensity. You can lighten or darken the shade of each color by simply adding black or white.

When you are choosing colors for a room, you need to consider the answers to basic questions:

1. What basic colors appeal to you?
2. Which colors make you feel relaxed and which seem to give you energy?
3. How do you plan to use the room?

When you have the answers to these questions you are ready to start considering the type of color harmony you want to achieve.

There are three primary colors – red, yellow and blue. You cannot produce these by combining other colors and all other colors come from them. Decorating with primary colors gives you bold results, and is best done in rooms where there is a lot of activity and learning.

When you mix the primary colors, you get secondary colors – orange, green and violet. Mixing any two of these gives rise to six possible tertiary colors and you can keep going on and on. When you look at the color wheel, the complementary colors are opposite each other, such as matching tones of blue and orange. You can use these colors as accents, such as an orange cushion on a blue sofa.

Pastel colors are very light and undemanding. They are perfect for creating calm and serene surroundings throughout the home. However, you should not use too many pastels because they will take away from the effect you want to create. When you look at the color wheel, the colors that appear next to red and orange are warm colors, while blue and violet are cool colors. You can create an uplifting effect when you start combining the colors. Matching colors of the same shade is dull, so you need to have two different colors that have the same tone.

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