When to Paint a Wall a Contrasting Color

Walls can be painted to add visual depth as well as an added visual interest and design to a room. Painting a wall in contrasting color is one way to be creative to add an extra visual appeal to a room. To keep the contrasting walls from looking a mess, there are some guidelines to help you to know when to paint walls a contrasting color.

The Color Wheel Theory

Become familiar with the color wheel theory and how it works. This theory outlines the relationship between colors and how they affect us. Primary colors consist of red, blue and yellow. Primary colors combined with each other to form secondary colors, which are violet, green and orange.  Another group of colors called tertiary colors include additional combinations of secondary and primary colors. Examples of tertiary colors are blue-green, yellow-orange, and red-violet.

Complimentary Colors

Opposites attract and this is also true with colors. On the color wheel blue is the opposite of orange, red is the opposite of green, and yellow is the opposite of violet. When you paint a wall one color such as blue, use the color theory to paint the other, which would be orange. Complimentary colors just go together because they are so different from each other; the result looks very exciting and unique.

Analogous Colors

Gather colors together involving three colors in relationship to how they are found side by side on the color wheel, such as blue, green, and yellow. These three related colors form an analogous color scheme. This is a good way to use complementary colors if you are not trying to form such a dramatic complimentary scheme of colors.

Split Complimentary Schemes

A split complimentary scheme can be used when you want to use colors that split off to the left and right of each other. These colors are formed using tertiary colors. On the color wheel instead of combining blue and orange, you would combine yellow-orange and red-orange. This still provides a complimentary scheme affect but in a more subtle way.