Area Rug

For those who are not professional designers or artists, choosing the right colors can be somewhat scary. Many people will stay with white walls or neutral colors. That's too bad because color is so much a part of our everyday life.

I'm willing to bet that you have at least once in your life walked into a space that was totally you, and felt like this is the place I want to be! Color (as well as design) has everything to do with that.

The color Wheel originally came about in 1666 when Sir Issac Newton did an experiment using a prism and shining light through it. His discovery of white light containing all the spectrums of color, has been used by artist around the globe ever since.

It is very simple using the chart if you understand the some of the basics.

The color wheel is broken down into 3 main parts. Primary colors, red, yellow blue, secondary colors, green, orange and purple and the intermediate colors which are made by combining primary and secondary colors.

To see what colors work well together, the wheel become invaluable. If you decided to make a green room, you may not want to paint all the walls the same color. What you might want to think about doing instead is painting one smaller wall a darker green and the rest a lighter shade. It would define the space a bit better. When you are unable to make up your mind about what colors to use as accents, the color wheel comes in very handy there. Look at the colors you chose for the wall. Now look on the opposite side. We chose green so on the wheel the color that shows up on the opposite side is purple. If that pleases you then you have an accent color.

Getting an idea of what colors to choose can come from any number of items you may have in the home like a colorful art print. We all have our favorite colors that make us feel good so go with what you love and make it work.

It's easy to obtain a color wheel. You can go online to get one as there are many printable versions you can use. An art or craft store should have them in stock. You can even go to a store like Home Depot! In their paint section you'll see the selection of colors they can make you. They are not set up in a wheel but they do follow the color chart rules.

One more thing about the color wheel, color can be used to show off your personality! If you are an out going type of person then you may be very comfortable with primary or strong secondary colors like shades of red and orange. If you are the calm kind, then maybe soft blues and greens may be your cup of tea. So take that into account when you are designing.

Enjoy!

Learning how to use color can make your day!

Willie is a freelance writer, researcher, and artist. In addition to researching and writing, she promotes Motivational Posters at www.artinspires.com. When art inspires, dreams become reality.