It’s amazing when a color palette comes together. After all, is there anything better than a forest-green pillow propped up on a burn orange armchair? Believe it or not, there is a complex science behind color coordination, even if it’s something that’s purely subjective. In other words, our eyes detect when a room has a satisfying or pleasing color palette, even if you’re unsure why it works.

If you tackle your home decorating with a deliberate color scheme in mind, you can create seriously stunning spaces. Use the following advice to identify cohesive colors and choose features like sofas, rugs, pillows, and art in perfectly balanced shades. Look to The Uncluttered Life’s Declutter Deck® for tips and tricks about home organization.

The Color Wheel

A color wheel may seem intimidating, but once you understand it, you can find shortcuts to designing any room. The color wheel shows the relationship between colors, starting with the three primary ones. Primary colors include red, yellow, and blue. Secondary colors made from combining these are orange, green, and purple. More complex tones arise as you proceed outward to the wheel’s edge.

Here are the types of appealing color shades that you can create by using the color wheel:

Complementary: opposite-facing colors on the wheel that balance each other out, such as blue and orange.

Monochromatic: a tone-on-tone scheme that combines various shades of the same color, such as greens (forest, olive, and aloe).

Analogous: a symphony of like colors with similar base tones - such as emerald and gold, which have primary yellow in common

Triadic: a triangle of three evenly spaced colors on the wheel, such as yellow-orange, turquoise, and fuchsia. This creates a bold, yet balanced contrast.

Tetradic: a four-color scheme that includes two sets of complementary hues.

It’s possible to dive even deeper into color theory, but there are easier ways to do this. One is to use a digital color wheel, such as the one by Canva. This digital palette builds nice hues for your home rather than attempting to construct them on your own. Don’t overthink this. Just try out various schemes and placements on the wheel until you find one that works for you.

Neutrals

Want a shortcut to style without having to work with the color wheel? Try the trend of all-neutral rooms, which feature colors like white, gray, brown, and black. Going neutral is a very trendy approach to design, and rooms with these shades are somewhat easy to arrange. But because such styles are devoid of bolder colors, they need a balance of dark, light, and medium tones to lend visual interest. For example, decorate a tan dining table with medium-gray chairs, then top it with black candleholders and white candlesticks. That’s a very easy option, and the pieces will look fantastic together. It will create a pleasing palette and atmosphere for your home.

You may find the pure-neutral look too sterile and prefer more energetic or soothing pops of color. If so, lean in! Just keep in mind that every room needs neutrals. They balance bolder tones, keep them grounded, and prevent rooms from looking oversaturated with color. And, fortunately, it’s okay to blend neutrals as you’d like without fear of colors clashing. They don’t exist on the color wheel because they’re not based on combinations of red, yellow, and/or blue. Therefore, they won’t compete with other hues.

Inspiration

Now that you understand color theory and how to build a color palette, you can play with various schemes and implement them right at home. Of course, that leads to the next challenge. Inspiration is often difficult for creative projects like home design, especially when you’re dealing with an empty room and don’t know where to begin. How do you build a color scheme when you don’t have a dominant color in mind?

Perhaps the easiest way to begin a design or redesign is to base it on the space’s current color scheme. For example, select your favorite material or decorative piece, maybe a pillow, and work from there. Perhaps you have a beautiful sofa in a deep red and a tropical painting that features vibrant blues. Take the dominant colors of these pieces, and use the color wheel to find suitable colors that pair with them. Continuing the previous example, a deep green would form a triadic scheme with a deep red and sea blue. Therefore, you can add leafy plants and matching accent decor in the room. Throw in some light neutrals like beige pillows and dark neutrals, and walnut end tables, and you have a balanced, harmonious space.

Making a Plan

Once you know where to start, you can shop for home decor that fits neatly into your color scheme. Be sure to print out or screenshot the color palette you’ve designed, or bring swatches, to use as a guide as you seek accurate, easy-to-incorporate items. To stay on track, follow the priority order for adding to your room.

Large Pieces

Opt for broad seating furniture and prominent storage pieces in neutral shades. Remember to balance light tones with dark ones. Alternatively, you can add one eye-popping element to a bold color like goldenrod or amethyst to give a room an attractive centerpiece.

Smaller Decor

Think wall art, armchairs, plants and side tables. These pieces are better for introducing bold colors, but try not to oversaturate rooms. If you ever feel like you’re going overboard, select neutrals to pare back. After all, they will match virtually everything!

Accent Decor

These are the simplest pieces to swap if you’re tweaking the palette of a finished room. Find pillows, throws or blankets, vases, coffee-table books, and other decorative items that directly showcase your color scheme for pops of vibrant color. It’s an easy way to add color in small amounts that blend into the room.

Love Your New Room

If you’re feeling overwhelmed by the many colors or shades on the color wheel and the multicolored patchwork of goods in home decor shops, hand the task off to a professional decorator. But whether you decide to go it alone or get help, there’s a special joy in identifying a beautiful piece of decor and just knowing that it will blend perfectly into its surroundings. Slide a vase onto a shelf, step back, and admire the way it is nestled among its new surroundings.