Using a color wheel to paint/decorate your room.

   Three months ago I got tired of the color of the walls in my living room that I even thought to repaint them. After that, I ran into some difficulties and decided to leave things as they are and just a little update the furniture. During the time while I was going to deal with repainting the walls I did some research. I did not use these materials yet, but maybe they will be useful to you. The color wheel is one of the nice things that I found.

   As children, most of us learned some basic color theory. We smeared yellow and blue paint together and came up with green. Or we mixed yellow and red and saw orange. By adding white, we turned colors into pastels. With black, we made bright colors dark. In the end, most wound up looking like mud because we mixed too many colors together. Those lessons are the basis of color wheel, a tool that helps predict which shades looks good next to each other and how their combinations influence the mood of a room.

   A color wheel shows the effect of combining equal amounts of two primary colors (yellow, red, or blue) to make a secondary color (orange, purple, or green). It also shows the result of blending a primary color and a secondary color to make a tertiary color, such as yellow-green or blue-purple. The wheel shows how pure color is altered with addition of white, which in color lingo makes a tint; black, which makes a shade; or the opposite (or complementary) color, which produces a grayish tone. Using the wheel, you can pick many successful combinations.

   Monochromatic. For a quit, restful look, stay on one spoke of the wheel to get a single color adjusted with different amounts of white, black, or gray.

   Analogous. To add a bit more life to a room but keep its overall effect quiet, select three color side by side, each with similar amounts of white, black, or the complementary color. You might pick one color for most of the room and use the others as accents on accessories.

   Complementary. For the liveliest look, choose two colors  opposite each other on the wheel: red and green, blue and orange, or purple and yellow. You don’t need to stick to pure colors. Consider those with equal amounts of white, black, or gray.

   Split complementary. If you like unusual combinations, select one color plus those on each side of its complement. Again, use similar intensities.

   Double-split complementary. For something even more intriguing, use four colors – the ones on either side of a pair of complementary colors. You can also select three shades that are an equal distance apart on the color wheel. Unless you want primary colors as your theme, select shades that have been similarly toned down with white, black, or gray.

   Hope it helps you with your hard work, even if you working in your imagination only J!