How to Choose Complementary Paint Colors
- 1). Choose any color on the color wheel and find the color directly opposite it. These two colors are complementary. Every color has a complement. Using any two complementary colors to decorate a room, create a painting or put together an outfit will always result in a pleasing combination.
- 2). Locate the colors red, blue and yellow on the color wheel. These are the primary colors and are equidistant from each other on the wheel.
- 3). Select one primary color and then imagine mixing it with any one other primary color. Combining any two primary colors creates a secondary color. Blue and red create purple; red and yellow create orange; yellow and blue create green. The complementary color for each primary color is the secondary color creating by mixing the two other primary colors. The complement of blue is orange; the complement of red is green; and the complement of yellow is purple. This principle turns up in holiday decorating and in the selection of school colors.
- 4). Combine any secondary color with one of the primary colors next to it on the color wheel to create a tertiary color. Examples are yellow-orange (the primary color yellow combined with the secondary color orange), red-orange (the primary color red combined with the secondary color orange), red-purple, blue-violet, and so on. Tertiary colors will usually go well together. The key is to pick a red-orange, say, in which the orange is created by using the same red that you are going to put with it.
- 5). Find any three colors equidistant from each other on the color wheel. These are a triad. The three primary colors are one example of a triad. Triads of colors are not complements, but they do create a complementary combination of colors.
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