Colour Schemes
THE TILE SOURCE Guide to Tile Design Colour Scheme Ideas

Have you decorated a room with what you thought was a fantastic colour scheme for it to end up appearing drab and lifeless? Spending a few minutes considering the basic principles of colour schemes will give you a new insight into colour design for the home and help to make your tiling project look absolutely fantastic.

The Colour Wheel
Colour Wheel
can be used to help create a colour scheme for your project. A colour wheel consists of three groups of colours:

Primary Colours
Primary Colour Wheel
of red, blue and yellow.

Secondary Colours
Secondary Colour Wheel
when you mix two primaries to create orange (red + yellow), purple (red + blue) and green (blue + yellow).

Tertiary Colours
Tertiary Colour Wheel
when the primary and secondary colours are mixed. The three groups of colour plus black and white can be mixed in six main combinations to create a huge pallet of colour schemes and remember that the different colours can be made from furnishings, fabrics, ornaments and of course tiles!

Achromatic Schemes
Achromatic Colour Wheel
use shades of black and white.

Monochrome Schemes
Monochrome Colour Wheel
use a single colour, often in several tones to maintain interest. This type of scheme can look monotonous as it is difficult to make things stand out, although it can help to make a room feel bigger.
Analagous Schemes
Analagous Colour Wheel
use two or more colours that are adjacent on the wheel and include a primary colour. One colour is dominant in the scheme with the others used as accents. Provides more contrast than monochrome but can still get monotonous.

Complementary Schemes
Complementary Colour Wheel
use colours that are opposite each other on the wheel, such as blue-green and red-orange. One of the colours is generally chosen as an accent to add punch to the scheme.

Split Complementary Schemes
Split Complementary Colour Wheel
use colours from the wheel in combination with the two colours that are directly on either side of the colour opposite the one chosen.

Triadic Schemes
Triadic Colour Wheel
use three colours spaced equally round the wheel. Often one colour is chosen as the dominant base with the other two colours being used more sparingly as accents.

Further ideas can be found in Colour Scheme Tips or alternatively go straight to Bathroom Tile Ideas and Kitchen Tile Ideas.