How to use a paint colour chart: Selecting the best colours for your home

When it comes to deciding on paint colour combinations for your home it's not uncommon to find the amount of choice overwhelming. Paint colour charts are designed to provide you with a smorgasbord of possible options; however, knowing how to use one can be a confusing task.

Paint colour charts don't just supply you with colours - they also highlight the relationships between differing colours. Knowing how to read these relationships can make the decision a lot easier.

Paint colours: The basics

Paint colour charts are a combination of hues and their various values. A hue refers to a colour in its pure form, for example, red or blue, while a value is various shades of the same hue. For example, light blue and dark blue are different colour values within the same hue.

All paint colours are a part of three different categories:
Primary - this group refers to red, blue and yellow. They are colours which can not be mixed by combining other colours.
Secondary - Secondary colours are the three colours formed by mixing various combinations of the primary colours - orange, purple and green.
Tertiary - These colours are mixtures of secondary colours.

Reading colour relationships using the colour wheel

The relationships between various colours can be determined by using a colour wheel, which is usually provided by paint stores as part of the colour choosing process. Colours are arranged in a circle with similar colours next to each other and contrasts across the other side.

The colour wheel can be used to create four types of colour schemes:
Monochromatic - This involves using various values of the same hue. It creates a light and peaceful look.
Analogous - This scheme combines colours that are next to each other on the colour wheel such as yellow-green, green and blue-green. This provides a discreet contrast.
Complementary - For an eye-catching look, complementary colour schemes combine two opposites, for example, red and green or yellow and violet.
Triadic - Triadic colour schemes utilise a third colour in a triangle shape on the wheel, for example, yellow, blue and red.

Applying these basic principles will make using a paint colour chart and choosing the right colour much easier in the paint buying process.