subject: Interior Design And The Colour Wheel [print this page] The right use of colour will make all the difference to your interior design ideas. To understand the use of colours better, lets look at certain aspects relating to colour. It is important to know not only how to use colour and what the right colour is, but also how to be able to use colours in combination with each other in a design space. Here the colour wheel can help us. A better understanding of the colour wheel can take us far in adding quality to interior design.
Understanding the Colour Wheel
A colour wheel is simply an organisation of the three primary colours viz. red, blue and yellow, and their relationship with secondary colours (colours that are formed by mixing primary colours) and tertiary colours (colours that are formed by mixing a primary colour with a secondary colour). To understand this a little better let us get a deeper understand of the entire spectrum of colour in a colour wheel to help our interior design ideas.
Using the Colour Wheel in its Entirety
As mentioned earlier, colour plays a very important part in interior design. Lets now break down the colour wheel further. Primary colours are red, blue and yellow. Secondary colours are violet (formed by mixing red and blue), orange (formed by mixing red and yellow) and green (formed by mixing blue and yellow). Tertiary colours are formed by mixing a secondary colour and a primary colour. As we continue mixing colours we get hundreds of different colours of different tones (the lightness or darkness of any colour). In addition to this, we get different tints, which are formed by adding white to any colour, and shades, which are formed by adding black to any colour.
The Colour Wheel and Interior Design
Putting all this together, we get an entire spectrum of colour and this spectrum can be used in interior design ideas. A further understanding of warm and cool colours will also help interior design. Warm colours are all those colours from red to yellow on the colour wheel and cool colours are all those colours from blue to yellow on the colour wheel. Interior designers prefer to use warm colours in larger spaces to make a room feel smaller and cosier. On the other hand, they prefer to use cool colours in smaller spaces to make the room appear larger and spacious.
Hence we can see how the colour wheel plays an important role in interior design ideas. Using the just the right colour, the right tone and the right tint or shade will create the perfect atmosphere for any space. Using colour combinations also becomes a lot easier when we have a better understanding of the colour wheel. It also helps to decide the best contrasting colours and the best colour combinations that can be used in any space.
