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House Paint Colors and Schemes 

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Choosing house paint colors is easier with the use of a color wheel. Using color wheel schemes is not for everybody, but sticking with a scheme will keep colors balanced and looking their best.

Color selection should be based on personal preference and taste, but it's also important to understand that color triggers emotion, as well as our perception of size. 

Painting a small room with dark colors causes the room to appear smaller in size, while painting that same room in bright colors makes it appear bigger. 

Cool colors:  Dark Greens, Blues, Purple, Violet - Colors of blue are perfect for a bedroom and baby room. Use cool colors to promote a relaxed and peaceful appearance in a room.

Warm colors:  Yellows, Light Greens, Orange, Red - Warm colors are lively, energetic, and hot. Red is ideal for social rooms where friends and family meet. Yellow used to be a very popular kitchen paint color.

 House Paint Color Schemes

                                                                                                     Complementary

The complementary scheme is simple and pretty common. Choose two colors directly opposite from each other on the color wheel and select one of those colors to be the dominant wall color in the the room. Paint one accent wall using the second darker color, but only one accent wall per room.

The wall that you choose for the accent color is your own preference, but consider using the wall directly opposite of the door opening. An accent wall opposite of a door opening looks nice when entering a room.

You can use any two house paint colors for the complementary scheme, as long as the colors are directly across from each other on the color wheel.

Another common way to paint a room using this color scheme is to use it in a room with chair rail molding. Paint the darker color below the chair rail and the lighter paint color above the rail. 

Split Complementary

Follow the same triangular position shown in the picture below to the left and you can choose any three colors you want for this scheme. This scheme is similar to the complementary scheme, except it uses three colors. This color scheme is often used for blending colors together in a faux finish.

There are different ways to use a split complementary color scheme. If you are designing the interior of a room all together, you could buy furniture in the first color, buy accessories in the second color, and paint the walls in the third color. In that case, it would be best to use the lighter color as the paint color, otherwise the room might look too dark. 

 If you need to choose two colors to complement your existing furniture color according to this color scheme, refer to the color wheel to find the right colors. The use of three colors in this scheme adds character to a room, while maintaining balance in color. 

Analogous

 Choose three paint colors next to each other on the color wheel. The analogous scheme uses similar colors, which reduces the intense contrast found in the complementary color schemes. It's a subtle appearance and easier to plan. Coordinate your house paint colors with your furniture and bedding, or split up all three colors on the walls. You can do it any way you want, but take your time to find something that truly looks nice.

Monochromatic:

Choose monochromatic for a subtle and gradual color change on walls. The easiest way to choose colors using this scheme is to pick house paint colors from one swatch, or card of paint samples, as shown in the picture to the left. The monochromatic color scheme uses one single color, and then different tints of that same color on a paint sample card.

Depending on the colors, there's usually little difference in contrast if you choose colors directly next to each other on the color sample card. If you want a more pronounced color change bewteen the colors, skip every other color instead of choosing colors directly next to each other on the sample.